A new report warns that renting in Toronto has become out of reach for most workers, even as prices have softened slightly in recent months. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in its Making Rent: Rental Wage Update 2024, calculated that someone would need to earn almost $38 an hour—about $78,000 a year—to comfortably afford a one-bedroom apartment in the city while working full time and spending no more than 30 per cent of income on housing.
The average rent for a one-bedroom in Toronto during the second quarter of 2025 was $2,326, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. That figure is down 5.1 per cent year-over-year but still amounts to nearly $28,000 annually. The situation looks even worse when it comes to vacant or unoccupied units, where the report pegs Toronto’s “rental wage” at $41.73 an hour for a one-bedroom and $51.73 for a two-bedroom.
By comparison, Ontario’s minimum wage sits at $17.20 per hour—set to rise slightly to $17.60 on October 1—leaving minimum wage earners with an annual income of about $33,000. “For those earning minimum wage, it is virtually impossible to afford housing on their own,” the report concludes, noting that in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, the required rental wage is more than double the minimum wage.
While the affordability gap is sharpest in Canada’s largest cities, the problem spans the country. Out of 62 cities studied, just eight—six of them in Quebec—offered a rental market where a full-time minimum wage worker could afford the average one-bedroom unit.
Still, the report points to some short-term optimism. Rising vacancy rates in major cities reflect slower immigration and population growth, while years of government efforts to boost rental housing construction are beginning to deliver results. Large numbers of condo units are also expected to enter the rental market in 2025 and 2026, as investors abandon costly pre-sale commitments in the face of high interest rates.
Even so, the long-term picture remains bleak. The report emphasizes that closing the affordability gap will require bold measures, including higher minimum wages linked to local housing costs, stronger renter protections, investment in non-market and publicly owned housing, and limits on Real Estate Investment Trusts acquiring affordable units. Rent control and affordability-focused policies, the authors say, must remain a top priority at both federal and provincial levels.
“Too many households have to spend more than a reasonable share of their income on rent, compromising their ability to pay for food, transportation and other necessities,” the authors warn.