This post focuses on the cost of shelter and its financial burden on households grouped by income. Statistics Canada conducts the Survey of Household Spending including the cost of shelter. Shelter includes all expenditures of the respondent’s “principal accommodation (either owned or rented) and all other accommodation (such as vacation homes or accommodation while travelling).” Household spending is tabulated by income quintile for Canada and each of the provinces and territories. For survey details and definitions see the User Guide for the Survey of Household Spending (62F0026M).

Shelter expenditures at the national level, by quintile, for three survey years are illustrated in Figure 1.

General observations regarding Figure 1 include:

1. expressed as a share of current expenditures by income class, the burden is positively corelated to income, i.e. a greater burden on lower income groups and a lighter burden on higher income quintiles.
2. the burden generally increased over the six years portrayed in the graph

Figure 2 covers a longer period of time and focuses on the lowest and highest quintiles for clarity.

In all years the lowest income quintile’s shelter expenditures were significantly higher than the highest quintile.