Cost of living in Canada climbs—milk, data, and taxes hit hardest
Canada ranks 31st globally for affordability, with mobile plans costing 30 times the world average and Quebec's tax burden nearly double the rest of the country.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
Canada has dropped a few spots in global cost-of-living rankings, but the slide masks a harder truth: certain basics here cost significantly more than almost anywhere else on the planet.
According to Numbeo's 2026 Cost of Living Index, Canada ranks 31st most expensive country globally—a dip from 2023 that largely reflects rapid cost increases abroad rather than price decreases at home. For Montréal residents doing groceries, paying phone bills, or hunting for rent, the pinch remains very real.
Milk offers a clear example. Canada ranks 12th in the world for milk prices at an average of $3.08 per litre in 2026, up from $2.83 in 2023. That puts Canada ahead of most of Europe and well above the U.S. Retail milk prices vary by province based on local competition, transportation costs, and provincial marketing boards. Ontario tends to see lower prices because grocers use milk as a loss leader; smaller markets in the Maritimes pay more due to higher distribution costs and smaller processing operations.
Cell phone service is another outlier. Canada ranks 11th most expensive globally for mobile data at $5.94 per gigabyte—just below the U.S. at $6.00 and roughly 30 times the global average of $2.59 per GB. A gigabyte costs $0.20 in France and $0.02 in Israel. The gap persists because Rogers, Bell, and Telus control the vast majority of the Canadian wireless market. Without meaningful competition, prices stay high.
Québec faces its own cost burden. The province has carried the highest tax burden in Canada since 1982. According to research from Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec's tax burden works out to 38.5 percent of provincial GDP, compared to 30.4 percent for the rest of Canada. If Quebec were its own country, it would rank among the most taxed in the developed world. The silver lining for lower-income families is that Quebec's social programs partially offset what goes out—a single parent earning a median salary or less can actually end up with a negative net tax burden, receiving more through the system than they pay in.