The living wage for Squamish has gone up by more than a dollar in the last year.
To be exact: $1.63 from $25.13 to $26.76.
"That was quite a jump, and it was also mostly due to rent—a rent increase," said Karen Clarke, executive director of Squamish Community Foundation. "So that was surprising to me."
While Living Wage 小蓝视频, along with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 小蓝视频 Office, released the living wage—what it costs for a two-parent family of four to get by—for 25 小蓝视频 communities last month, it's local organizations that provide much of the data.
Locally, the Squamish Community Foundation provided numbers and then released their own report honing in on this community last week.
"A striking gap exists between the 2024 Squamish living wage and 小蓝视频's current minimum wage of $17.40 per hour," the report said. "Based on this living wage, a family of four in Squamish must earn a gross household income over $91k. Housing alone commands $2,993 monthly from their budget, while food, the second largest expense in the family budget, adds an additional $1,359 per month."
This year, for the first time, Living Wage 小蓝视频 also calculated the living wage for a single parent with one young child ($29.13 with expenses over $57,300) and a single adult ($26.03 with expenses over $40,000).
"I think it's a better representation of the population, and it just gives us more information about the reality of people's expenses and what they need to live, so definitely the single parent was higher than the family of four, and that's significant," Clarke said.
Overall, Squamish ranks sixth on the list, while Whistler tops it with a living wage of $28.09.
Every year, tweaks are made to the report, including where it draws its data from. Child care, for example, is listed at $596 a month for Squamish. That's meant to include one spot for full-time licensed group care for ages 3 to 5 for a year with a fee reduction and before-and-after school care for a seven-year-old for 10 months with a fee reduction.
"That was one issue we never completed talking about with Living Wage 小蓝视频," Clarke said of the child-care numbers. "We felt it was low as well. I think we'll have a better look at it next year."
With the cost of housing on the rise each year, for many people, the goal of spending only 30% of their income on rent is no longer attainable. In 2021, 38% of renters in Squamish were spending more than 30%of their income on rent and utilities, according to the Squamish Community Foundation's 2023 Vital Signs report.
"I think the reality is people are paying more than 30%," said Alanna Gillis, marketing co-ordinator with the foundation. "That's just reality. And it's significantly higher … There's so many systemic issues that go into affordability."
The goal, ultimately, is just to provide communities with data. For some, it can be referenced when setting wages, but the Squamish Community Foundation also recognizes challenges to small businesses, too.
"I think the main thing is just how much it costs to live in Squamish and you know what the reality is for business owners, landlords, any employers at all and is it possible for them to offer a living wage and, if so, what does that mean for their business?" Clarke said. "And I think, overall, that's what we want people to take away."
