A new study from Statistics Canada, entitled Trends in the wealth gap between immigrant and Canadian-born families from 2016 to 2023, finds that Canadian-born families held double the median wealth of recent immigrant families, but that established immigrant families experienced gains, surpassing Canadian-born families in median wealth by 2023.
The advantage was concentrated among families where the major income earner did not have a university degree. Established immigrant families with a university educated primary income earner continued to trail their Canadian-born counterparts.
“Equity in principal residences was the primary source of wealth. Recent immigrant families held less housing equity than Canadian-born families, while established immigrant families held more. Pension assets were lower among both immigrant groups with a persistent gap for recent immigrant families and a reduced gap for established immigrant families,” they write.
The analysis compares recent immigrant families with Canadian-born families where the major income earner (MIE) was between 25 and 44 years of age; it also compares established immigrant families with Canadian-born families where the MIE was between 35 and 64.
They say recent immigrant families had a median net worth of $132,300 in 2023, up from $77,500 in 2016. The median net worth of Canadian-born families was $293,900, more than double that of recent immigrant families in 2023. The median net worth of established immigrant families increased from $593,400 in 2016 to $751,500 in 2023, more than $143,100 higher than the median net worth of Canadian-born families with an MIE in the same age group.
Home equity accounted for the largest shares of wealth across all families, they add. Among those in the older age groups, equity in a principal residence among established immigrant families was $432,100 or 47 per cent of their total wealth. This compares to $283,400 in home equity, 35 per cent of their total wealth, among older Canadian-born families.
“Both recent immigrant and established immigrant families had greater equity in other real estate than their Canadian-born counterparts,” they write. In 2023 this accounted for about 10 per cent of wealth among recent immigrant families (compared with just five per cent of Canadian-born families), while eight per cent established immigrant families’ wealth was invested in other real estate. Again, among Canadian-born families, other real estate accounted for five per cent of wealth across all years.
Finally, among families with a lower age profile, recent immigrant families had less in registered plans than Canadian-born families, making up just seven per cent of their wealth, compared with 15 per cent share of Canadian-born families’ wealth. Among the older cohorts, registered assets made up 22 per cent of established immigrant families’ wealth, compared with 36 per cent of their Canadian-born counterparts.
