The typical Canadian pays 70% more income tax than the typical American

The “typical Canadian”—defined as someone earning the median income—currently pays an average income tax rate of just over 17%, combining both federal and provincial taxes. A planned tax cut is expected to lower that rate slightly, trimming it by about half a percentage point to just under 17%.

However, how much income tax you actually pay depends heavily on where you live and what the median income looks like in your province. In Nova Scotia, which has the highest income taxes in the country, a median earner gives up roughly 20% of their income to taxes. On the other end of the spectrum, median earners in British Columbia and Ontario pay the lowest rates—around 15%. Most other provinces, including Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, fall in the middle, with typical earners paying around 18%.

So, are these rates considered high? They are—especially when compared with what Americans pay.

In fact, median earners in every U.S. state face a lighter tax burden than their Canadian counterparts, often by a wide margin. Even in California, known for being a high-tax state, the median worker pays about 10% of their income in federal and state taxes combined—right on par with the U.S. average. That rate drops to between 7% and 8% in the nine states that don’t charge income tax at the state level, such as Texas, Florida, and Washington.

To put that in dollar terms, if Canadians paid income taxes at the same combined rate as Americans, the average Canadian could keep almost $4,000 more each year. Still, even modest cuts like the one coming on July 1—lowering the bottom federal tax bracket by one percentage point—can have a meaningful effect, saving the typical Canadian about $400 annually.

Of course, income tax is only one piece of the bigger picture. Other taxes—like sales tax, property tax, and payroll deductions—also affect take-home pay. But when comparing Canada and the U.S., differences in these taxes don’t clearly favor one country over the other.

And while Canadians do pay more in taxes overall, those higher contributions help fund a broader range of public services. Canada offers more extensive family and unemployment benefits, subsidized university tuition, and universal health care. Americans may pay less in taxes upfront, but many of those same costs eventually show up in their household budgets through private insurance and out-of-pocket expenses.