Canadian Market Research

Canadian Income Data

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For some consumer markets income is a key factor in determining whether or not households will make a purchase.

If you are uncertain of the effect of income on your product/service start by looking at the Survey of Household Spending.  The results are segmented by income quintile which allows you see how the level of household income influences whether or not a household makes a purchase and what is their average annual expenditure on that purchase.

Many other surveys (both government and non-government) also include the variable household/personal income.  The easiest way to access a wide variety of the latest surveys and reports that include the income variable is to use our Source Lists. Especially look at the subsector heading "Income" within out Market Research section of the Source Lists.  If you are only interested in wealthy households, select "Affluent" from the subject index.

To examine the overall financial resources of your community you can consult the the Census as well as the other more current community profile resources identified in the Demographics research guide.

Another source is the provincial and locality (municipal) taxation tables produced by Canada Customs & Revenue Agency.  These tables provide a break down of tax returns by income groupings, by gender, and by source of income.  Make sure you also look at data from previous years in order to observe trends.  Older locality tables can be downloaded from the same address listed above.

You can also access taxfiler data through the Neighborhood Insights database produced by Statistics Canada.  Information on basic demographics as well as income levels, investor behavior, charitable donations and RRSP contributions are available from this source.  For a complete listing of available tables see their on-line catalogue

The Neighborhood Insights catalogue provides sample tables at the provincial level data.  The actual database allows profiling at the postal walk level (the route a letter carrier takes - usually three to five postal codes).  There is a charge for this detailed data which depends on the number of variables and areas you want to examine.  The starting cost is $75.00.  Contact and ordering information are included in the catalogue above.

You can access selected data from the Taxfiler database through CANSIM. See Tables: 111-0001..111-0041.  While it does not include Postal Walk detail, information by metropolitan area is available.  the advantage of CANSIM is that you can gain instant access to specific data for only $3.00.  For more information on CANSIM see our CANSIM research guide. 

Please note: none of the above sources provide the names and addresses of wealthy households in Canada.  For that type of information you would need to contact a Mail List firm such as InfoCanada. Also see the Direct Mailing services from Canada Post.

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© John White, GDSourcing - Research & Retrieval 2006