Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Nunavut has the lowest income tax in Canada for 2026. On $60,000 of taxable income a single person pays about $7,932 in federal and territorial tax there, against $9,171 in Alberta and $12,205 in Nova Scotia. That’s a gap of roughly $4,300 a year between the cheapest and the dearest province we could compare.
Who pays the lowest income tax in Canada?
The federal part is the same everywhere. Every resident pays 14% on the first $58,523 of taxable income and 20.5% up to $117,045. The difference comes from the provincial or territorial bill on top, and from how big a slice of income each place leaves untaxed through its basic personal amount.
The table shows total federal plus provincial tax on taxable income of $60,000, $100,000 and $150,000. It uses basic personal credits only, so think of it as a clean comparison and not as your actual bill. The lowest rates in the second column match the CRA’s 2026 tax rates and income brackets page. You can run your own figures in the income tax calculator.
| Province or territory | Lowest rate | Tax on $60,000 | Tax on $100,000 | Tax on $150,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nunavut | 4% | $7,932 | $18,932 | $35,263 |
| Northwest Territories | 5.9% | $8,848 | $20,488 | $38,434 |
| British Columbia | 5.6% | $9,015 | $20,295 | $38,433 |
| Yukon | 6.4% | $9,018 | $20,818 | $38,007 |
| Alberta | 8% | $9,171 | $21,347 | $38,410 |
| Ontario | 5.05% | $9,417 | $21,521 | $41,626 |
| Saskatchewan | 10.5% | $10,462 | $23,662 | $41,975 |
| New Brunswick | 9.4% | $10,901 | $24,701 | $44,670 |
| Nova Scotia | 8.79% | $12,205 | $27,060 | $47,872 |
Why the lowest rate doesn’t tell you much
Look at Ontario. It has the smallest first-bracket rate on the list, 5.05%, and yet it lands in the middle at $60,000. Ontario adds a health premium (it was $600 at this income in our calculation), and a surtax starts to bite above roughly $100,000. Alberta’s headline rate is 8%, but its basic personal amount of $22,769 is far bigger than most, so the first chunk of pay is untaxed.
The ranking also moves as you earn more. At $100,000 British Columbia beats the Yukon and Alberta. At $150,000 the Yukon is cheaper than both, and Alberta edges out BC by a few dollars. So the honest answer depends on your pay. Nunavut stays first at all three levels, and it’s the only place where that’s true.
Want to see where your own next dollar goes? The marginal tax rate calculator shows it by province.
Who is cheapest at each income level?
Nunavut wins every time, but the places behind it shuffle as pay rises. Here are the three lowest totals in the table at each income.
| Taxable income | Lowest | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | Nunavut, $7,932 | Northwest Territories, $8,848 | British Columbia, $9,015 |
| $100,000 | Nunavut, $18,932 | British Columbia, $20,295 | Northwest Territories, $20,488 |
| $150,000 | Nunavut, $35,263 | Yukon, $38,007 | Alberta, $38,410 |
Say Mika earns $150,000 in Whitehorse. On these numbers her tax is about $3,600 lighter than in Ontario and about $9,900 lighter than in Nova Scotia, enough to notice at tax time. At $150,000 the gap between second and fifth place is only a few hundred bucks, though, so past the first spot don’t read too much into the order.
What we left out of the comparison
Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island aren’t in the table. Official sources disagree on key figures for both (the Newfoundland basic amount and the top of PEI’s fourth bracket), and we’d rather leave a row out than guess. Manitoba is out of the dollar comparison too, because CRA pages show two different sets of bracket limits. Its lowest rate is 10.8%, which is on the high side, and that part isn’t in dispute. Quebec has its own return and a federal abatement, so a straight comparison would mislead.
BC deserves a note. Its lowest rate went to 5.6% for the whole 2026 tax year, and payroll withholding in the first half of the year used an older rate. Your return uses 5.6%.
Is low tax the same as low cost?
No, and we haven’t priced housing, food or travel in any of these places. A low tax bill in the North may be eaten up by what everyday life costs there. Tax is one line of the budget, and for most people in most places it isn’t the biggest one, so don’t pick a home on this table alone.
A better question is what you keep each month. The take-home pay calculator turns a salary into net pay after tax, CPP and EI, for any province. Try the same salary in two places, then set the difference against what you’d really pay for rent and groceries where you’d be living, which is the number that decides whether a move pays off.
One more trap: moving on paper. Tax follows where you live on 31 December, not where your employer sits or where you’d like to be taxed. Residency is about ties, such as a home, family and where your belongings are, and we haven’t covered the test here. The CRA explains it on its residency pages.
A worked example at $100,000
Take $100,000 of taxable income. Federal tax comes to $14,393 in every province. Add $4,540 of Nunavut tax and you get $18,932. Add $6,954 for Alberta and it’s $21,347. So the same pay costs $2,415 more in Alberta, and $8,128 more in Nova Scotia at $27,060.
Credits change these totals in real life. Tuition, pension income, the age amount and spousal amounts all pull the bill down. The tax credits calculator covers the federal ones, though it doesn’t include provincial credits.
What this page is based on
Federal and provincial brackets and basic amounts are the 2026 figures published by the Canada Revenue Agency in its payroll tables and rates page. The BC rates come from the BC government’s 2026 tax rates page. Totals are our own calculation with the maths shown in the calculator. Figures were checked in late September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Which province has the lowest income tax in Canada?
Nunavut, at $60,000, $100,000 and $150,000 of taxable income in our 2026 comparison. Among provinces, BC, Alberta and Ontario are close, and the order changes with income.
Is Alberta the lowest taxed province?
Not at every income. Alberta's basic personal amount is large, so it's cheap at higher pay, but BC is slightly lower at $60,000 and $100,000.
Does a lower tax rate always mean less tax?
No. The basic personal amount, health premiums and surtaxes change the bill. Ontario has a 5.05% first rate but sits mid-table at $60,000.
Do I pay tax where I work or where I live?
Provincial tax follows your residence on 31 December. The CRA has the residency rules, and we haven't tested them here.
Why aren't Newfoundland, PEI and Manitoba in the dollar table?
Official sources disagree on some of their 2026 figures, so we left their totals out rather than guess.
- How Canadian income tax works: brackets and credits
How federal and provincial Canadian income tax stack up, what marginal and average rates mean, and how credits and deductions change your bill