TORONTO – The wealth gap between immigrants and Canadian-born families remains wide, but those who have been in Canada longer surpass those born in the country. This emerges from a study by Statistics Canada analyzing the evolution of wealth between immigrant families and Canadian-born families from 2016 to 2023, distinguishing between recent immigrants (0–9 years in the country) and long-term immigrants (10 years or more).
Taking just a few examples from the many data points in the study (available in its whole version here), in 2023, recent immigrant families had a median wealth of CAD 132,300—less than half the CAD 293,900 of Canadian-born families in the same age group (25–44 years). In absolute terms, the gap is therefore CAD 161,600, up from CAD 86,200 in 2016 and CAD 130,000 in 2019.
Among recent immigrants, families with a university degree have more wealth than those without, but the difference with their Canadian peers remains significant in both cases.
The situation is reversed for long-term immigrants (aged 35–64). In 2023, their median wealth was CAD 751,500, higher than the CAD 608,400 of Canadian-born families in the same age group. This advantage, totaling CAD 143,100, is concentrated mainly among those without a university degree, while among graduates, immigrant families still lag slightly, although the gap has narrowed compared to 2016.
The main component of wealth (which is not income, but what a family owns minus what it owes—this includes houses, bank accounts, investments, private pensions, other assets, less debts) is represented by so-called home equity in the principal residence—that is, the portion of the home actually owned by the family (essentially: the value of the house minus the remaining mortgage debt). Recent immigrants own less real estate equity than Canadians, while long-term immigrants own more, although their advantage has slightly decreased.
Finally, regarding private pensions, both categories of immigrants lag behind: the gap with Canadian families remains stable for recent arrivals and has decreased for long-term immigrants.
In summary, the study shows that newcomers to Canada face difficult initial years in terms of wealth, while those who stay in the country long-term can catch up and even surpass “native-born” families in median wealth.
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