Incomes in Windsor and London are $10-12,000 below incomes in Detroit, Buffalo and Cleveland

TORONTO—In a ranking of employment incomes in the largest 107 metropolitan areas around the Great Lakes region for 2019, London (93rd) and Windsor (99th) are right near the bottom, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“Southwestern Ontario’s once prosperous cities are now economic laggards, with lower incomes from employment than people in large manufacturing cities south of the border,” said Ben Eisen, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of Measuring Ontario’s Prosperity Gap at The Metropolitan Area Level.

The study compares median employment income—wages, salaries and commissions from paid and self-employment income (net) before taxes and government transfers—in the 107 largest metropolitan areas in Ontario, Quebec and American states bordering the Great Lakes.

Ontario’s metro areas are clustered near the bottom of the rankings. Specifically, out of the 20 bottom ranked jurisdictions, seven are found in Ontario, including London (93rd with median employment income of $36,180) and Windsor (99th and $34,190).

By comparison, other large manufacturing cities in the region such as Buffalo ($46,003), Cleveland ($45,096), Detroit ($45,419), and Chicago ($50,735) all had median employment income levels far in excess of Windsor and London.

“Employment incomes are generally higher in US metropolitan areas of the great lakes region—big and small—than they are in Ontario’s large urban areas,” said Eisen.

Median employment income in selected manufacturing metropolitan areas, 2019

Media Contact:
Ben Eisen, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:
Bryn Weese, Fraser Institute
604-688-0221 ext. 589
bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org

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