In this section you will find:
Components of welfare incomes
In Alberta, households that qualify for basic social assistance payments also qualify for:
- Recurring additional social assistance payments from the province,
- Federal and provincial child benefits for households with children, and
- Federal tax credits and/or benefits.
Together, these components form a household’s total welfare income. Households may receive less if they have income from other sources, or more if they have special health- or disability-related needs.
Table 1AB shows the value of the welfare income components of the five example household types in Alberta in 2025. All five households are assumed to be living in Calgary, receiving provincial social assistance starting January 1 and for the entire year, and earning no employment income. The child in the single-parent household is two years old and the children in the couple household are ten and 15. Other assumptions for calculating incomes are in the Methodology section.
Table 1AB: Components of welfare incomes for all example households in Alberta, 2025
Note: Amounts in the table are rounded to the nearest dollar and, as such, totals may not exactly add up.
* The Barriers to Full Employment (BFE) category of Alberta’s Income Support program provides the unattached single with a disability with slightly higher basic benefits than those provided to the unattached single considered employable. To access BFE, an applicant must show evidence that they will likely never be able to work continuously on a full-time basis in the competitive labour force. This includes people whose employment is intermittent due to their health problems.
**The Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) provides recipients with a flat-rate living allowance that is not linked to household size. Some additional benefits for recipients and any dependent children are available, depending on their circumstances. To access AISH, an applicant must show evidence that they have a severe handicap that is likely to be permanent and substantially limits their ability to earn a livelihood.
Total annual welfare incomes in 2025 ranged from $10,902 for the unattached single considered employable to $39,207 for the couple with two children. The income of the unattached single with a disability who qualified for Barriers to Full Employment (BFE) benefits was $12,553 and that of the unattached single with a disability who qualified for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) benefits was $23,791. The income of the single parent with one child was $26,826.
Basic social assistance: Monthly Core Essential and Core Shelter benefit amounts for the unattached single considered employable, the unattached single with a disability who qualified for BFE benefits, the single parent with one child, and the couple with two children, as well as the Living Allowance amount for the unattached single with a disability receiving AISH benefits, increased by 2 per cent as of January 1 due to indexing.
Additional social assistance: The couple with two children received the annual School Expense Allowance, which also increased by 2 per cent as of January 1 due to benefit indexing. This benefit provided $118 for the ten-year-old and $203 for the 15-year-old in that household.
Federal child benefits: Both households with children received the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which increased with inflation in July from $648.92 to $666.42 per month for a child under six years of age and from $547.50 to $562.33 per month for a child aged six to 17.
Provincial child benefits: Both households with children received the Alberta Child and Family Benefit (ACFB). The monthly ACFB amount for the single parent with one child was $122.42 between January and June, increasing to $124.92 between July and December. The monthly amount for the couple with two children was $183.67 between January and June, increasing to $187.33 between July and December.
Federal tax credits/benefits: All five households received the GST/HST credit, which increased with inflation in July. The households received the following total amounts, paid in quarterly instalments throughout the year: all unattached single households received $344.50, the single parent with one child received $689, and the couple with two children received $1,052.
Three households also received the GST/HST credit supplement, in the following total amounts: the unattached single with a disability (BFE) received a reduced amount of $7.60, whereas both the unattached single with a disability (AISH) and the single parent with one child received the maximum amount of $181.50.
All five households received the Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR). However, in 2025, the federal government removed the federal fuel charge (the “carbon tax”), which also meant the end of carbon tax-related rebate payments. As a result, the CCR ended in spring 2025, meaning that households in Alberta received significantly reduced rebate payment amounts in 2025 compared to 2024. The differences in CCR payment amounts between 2024 and 2025 for the Alberta households are indicated in Table 2AB.
Table 2AB: Difference in carbon tax rebate payments in Alberta, 2024 to 2025
Note: Amounts in the table are rounded to the nearest dollar and, as such, totals may not exactly add up.
Provincial tax credits/benefits:
No provincial tax credits or benefits were available to the example households in 2025.
Changes to welfare incomes
Figures 1AB and 2AB show how the total welfare incomes for each of the five example household types in Alberta have changed over time.
Note that the values are in 2025 constant dollars, not current dollars, and are calculated using the Canada Consumer Price Index (CPI). Using constant dollars takes into account the effect of inflation, given that inflation reduces current dollar values over time. Also note that using the CPI for Alberta would have resulted in a slightly different trendline.
Figure 1AB: Welfare incomes for example unattached single households in Alberta 1986–2025, in 2025 constant dollars
The welfare income of the unattached single considered employable declined between 1986 and 1989. A slight increase in 1991 was followed by a period of gradual decline until 2008. After an increase in 2009, their income was fairly stable at around $10,000 until 2018. The rise in total welfare income in 2019 was the result of increasing and indexing basic social assistance payments to inflation; the 2020 increase was due to the addition of federal climate action incentive and COVID-19 pandemic-related payments. Declines in 2021 and 2022 resulted from the removal of inflationary indexing, the loss of pandemic payments, and high inflation. Their welfare income rose again in 2023 with the reinstatement of indexing, new provincial payments intended to address the impacts of inflation, and an increased CAI payment. In 2024, the removal of provincial and federal inflation-related payments led to a slight income decrease. A further decrease occurred in 2025 due to the reduction in Canada Carbon Rebate payment amounts and new provincial legislation capping annual indexation at a maximum of 2 per cent. Overall, the total welfare income of this household decreased by 4 per cent between 2024 and 2025, and by 28 per cent across the time series, in constant 2025 dollars.
The total welfare income of the unattached single with a disability receiving Barriers to Full Employment (BFE) program benefits began being tracked in 1989 and has hovered at around $12,900, with a high in 2020 and a low in 2005, across the entire 36-year time series. Like the unattached single considered employable, declines in 2021 and 2022 were due to the removal of inflationary indexing, the loss of COVID-19 pandemic-related payments, and high inflation. The increase in 2023 was largely due to an inflationary 6 per cent increase to basic social assistance benefits, the addition of provincial payments intended to address the impacts of inflation, and an increase in the federal CAI payment. In 2024, despite the 4.5 per cent inflationary increase to basic social assistance benefits, the loss of temporary provincial and federal inflation-related cost-of-living payments resulted in a decline. Another decrease in 2025 was due to the reduction in Canada Carbon Rebate payment amounts and new provincial legislation capping annual indexation at a maximum of 2 per cent. Overall, the total welfare income of this household decreased by 3 per cent between 2024 and 2025, and by 5 per cent across the time series, in constant 2025 dollars.
The welfare income for the unattached single with a disability receiving Alberta’s Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) benefits has only been tracked since 2006. Several fluctuations have occurred since then, with incomes reaching highs in 2013 and 2020 but declining thereafter with the loss of COVID-19 pandemic-related payments and the impact of high inflation. The increase in 2023 was largely due to the same factors impacting the other unattached single households: an inflationary 6 per cent increase to basic social assistance benefits, the addition of provincial payments intended to address the impacts of inflation, and an increase in the federal CAI payment. In 2024, despite the 4.5 per cent inflationary increase to basic social assistance benefits, the decrease was the result of the loss of temporary provincial and federal inflation-related cost-of-living payments. Another decrease in 2025 was due to the end of Canada Carbon Rebate payments and new provincial legislation capping annual indexation at a maximum of 2 per cent. Overall, the total welfare income of this household declined by 2 per cent between 2024 and 2025 but increased by 26 per cent across the entire time series in constant 2025 dollars.
Figure 2AB: Welfare incomes for example households with children in Alberta 1986–2025, in 2025 constant dollars
The welfare incomes of both households with children followed a similar trendline across the time series, with upticks in 1991 and 2006, as well as a general increase after 2014 to the high point for both households in 2020. The large increases in 2019 were primarily due to increasing and indexing basic social assistance benefits, while the increases in 2020 were mostly due to the addition of federal COVID-19 pandemic-related benefits and climate action incentive payments. Decreases in 2021 and 2022 were due to the loss of COVID-related payments as well as the impact of high inflation, especially given the pause in inflationary indexing of basic social assistance benefits that occurred between 2020 and 2023. The increases in 2023 were due to an inflationary 6 per cent increase to basic social assistance benefits, the addition of provincial payments intended to address the impacts of inflation, and an increase in the federal CAI payment. In 2024, despite the 4.5 per cent inflationary increase to basic social assistance benefits, the loss of temporary provincial and federal inflation-related cost-of-living payments contributed to a decrease for both households with children. A further decrease occurred in 2025 due to the reduction in Canada Carbon Rebate payment amounts and new provincial legislation capping annual indexation at a maximum of 2 per cent.
In 2025, the single parent with one child received a total welfare income of $26,826, which is a 2 per cent decrease compared to 2024 but a 9 per cent increase across the entire time series, in constant 2025 dollars. The income of the couple with two children in 2025 was $39,207, which is a 2 per cent decrease compared to 2024 but a 2 per cent increase across the entire time series in constant 2025 dollars.
Adequacy of welfare incomes
The adequacy of a household’s total welfare income can be assessed by comparing it to established thresholds of poverty and/or low income.
Two measures of poverty are commonly used in Canada:
- The Market Basket Measure (MBM), Canada’s Official Poverty Line, identifies households whose disposable income is less than the cost of a “basket” of goods and services that represents a basic standard of living.
- The Deep Income Poverty (MBM-DIP) threshold identifies households whose disposable income is less than 75 per cent of the MBM.
There are also two commonly used measures of low income:
- The Low Income Measure (LIM) identifies households whose income is substantially below what is typical in society (i.e., less than half of the median income).
- The Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) identifies households that are likely to spend a disproportionately large share of their income on food, clothing, and shelter.
Note that MBM thresholds vary by province and community size, and LICO thresholds vary by community size. As such, we use the thresholds for the province’s largest city, Calgary, in the analysis below. Note also that we use after-tax LIM and LICO thresholds, and that the LIM thresholds for 2025 are estimates based on increasing the 2024 thresholds to account for inflation.
Also note that none of the poverty or low-income measures currently in use in Canada accounts for the higher cost of living faced by people with disabilities, and that these additional costs are not reflected in our analysis.
More information about the thresholds is available in the Methodology section.
A spreadsheet containing comparisons of the welfare incomes of the five example household types in Alberta with all four poverty/low-income thresholds is available for download.
Poverty threshold comparisons
The welfare incomes of all five example household types in Alberta were below Canada’s Official Poverty Line (MBM) in 2025, and four of the five were below the Deep Income Poverty threshold (MBM-DIP). This means that all five Alberta households were living in poverty in 2025, and four of the five were living in deep poverty.
Figures 3AB and 4AB compare 2025 welfare incomes for the five example household types to the 2025 MBM and MBM-DIP thresholds for Calgary.
Figure 3AB: Welfare incomes and poverty thresholds for example unattached single households in Alberta, 2025
The income of the unattached single considered employable was the least adequate relative to the poverty thresholds. Their income was $11,281 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $18,675 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 49 per cent of the MBM-DIP and only 37 per cent of the MBM.
The income of the unattached single with a disability receiving Barriers to Full Employment (BFE) program benefits was marginally more adequate relative to the thresholds. Their income was $9,629 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $17,023 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 57 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 42 per cent of the MBM.
The unattached single with a disability who qualified for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program benefits had the most adequate income relative to the thresholds. Theirs was the only welfare income of all five example households in Alberta that was above the Deep Income Poverty threshold. However, although their income was above deep poverty by $1,609, it remained below the Poverty Line by $5,785. This means their income was 107 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 80 per cent of the MBM.
Note that the poverty experienced by people with disabilities is underrepresented because neither the MBM nor the MBM-DIP accounts for the additional costs associated with disability. See the Methodology section for more information.
Figure 4AB: Welfare incomes and poverty thresholds for example households with children in Alberta, 2025
The income of the single parent with one child was $4,545 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $15,001 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 86 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 64 per cent of the MBM.
The income of the couple with two children was $5,158 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $19,946 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 88 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 66 per cent of the MBM.
Low-income threshold comparisons
The welfare incomes of the example households were also below, and in some instances far below, the low-income thresholds, as shown in the spreadsheet linked below.
The lowest income relative to the thresholds was that of the unattached single considered employable, whose total welfare income was only 34 per cent of the LIM and 41 per cent of the LICO. The unattached single with a disability receiving BFE benefits was also low relative to the thresholds, at 39 per cent of the LIM and 47 per cent of the LICO. The highest income relative to the thresholds was that of the unattached single with a disability receiving AISH benefits, whose income was 74 per cent of the LIM and 90 per cent of the LICO.
The households with children had comparable income-to-threshold levels: 59 per cent of the LIM and 83 per cent of the LICO for the single parent with one child, and 61 per cent of the LIM and 78 per cent of the LICO for the couple with two children.
The LIM and LICO thresholds used are for after-tax income, as noted above.
Changes to adequacy of welfare incomes
Figures 5AB and 6AB show the total welfare incomes of each of the five example household types in Alberta as a percentage of the Market Basket Measure (MBM) threshold for Calgary, starting in 2002.
The black line at the top of each graph (i.e., the 100 per cent threshold) represents Canada’s Official Poverty Line. This means that the graphs show how far below or above the Poverty Line the five households’ total welfare incomes have been in each year over the past 24 years.
The grey line indicates the Deep Income Poverty threshold, which is 75 per cent of the MBM. The graphs therefore also show the relationship between total welfare incomes and deep poverty in each year over the past 24 years.
Four trendlines for each household are shown in the graphs. These lines illustrate the relationship between welfare incomes and the MBM, including changes made to the MBM due to “rebasing.” The three rebasings, occurring in 2008, 2018, and 2023, are indicated with a dotted vertical line. Rebasing updates the measure, including the items and costs included in the basket, to better reflect contemporary circumstances. The trendlines in these graphs demonstrate changes to household poverty levels within the years in which each base is applied. A trendline rise within those periods indicates an improvement in a household’s level of poverty while a decline indicates a deepening of their poverty. For the years in which rebasing took place (2008, 2018, and 2023), we include the percentage of welfare income relative to the MBM using both the previous and the new base to show how rebasing affects adequacy.
Note that fluctuations in the graph trendlines are due to a combination of changes in welfare incomes and the cost of living. Both factors must be considered when analyzing trends.
Figure 5AB: Welfare incomes as a percentage of the MBM for example unattached single households in Alberta, 2002–2025
The total welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was the least adequate relative to the Poverty Line of all five example households in Alberta. In 2002, their income was only 36 per cent of the Poverty Line. After a slight increase to 39 per cent in 2009, a period of relative stasis followed, with their income hovering at about 40 per cent of the Poverty Line for nearly ten years. A decline with the 2018 rebasing to 34 per cent was followed by several years of fluctuation through the global COVID-19 pandemic. After a slight increase with the 2023 rebasing, their income declined slightly through 2024 and ended the time series in 2025 at 37 per cent of the Poverty Line.
Overall, the total welfare income of the unattached single considered employable improved by only 1 percentage point relative to the Poverty Line between 2002 and 2025; their income was also below the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the entire time series. This means that households in these circumstances would have been living at virtually the same level of deep poverty in 2025 as they were in 2002.
The total welfare income of the unattached single with a disability receiving BFE benefits started the time series at 54 per cent of the Poverty Line and remained at about the same level, with a slightly declining trend, over the following 16 years. After the MBM rebasing in 2018, their income was at only 43 per cent of the Poverty Line, which was followed by several years of fluctuation during the global COVID-19 pandemic. After a slight increase with the 2023 rebasing, their income declined slightly through 2024 and ended the time series in 2025 at 42 per cent of the Poverty Line.
Overall, the total welfare income of the unattached single with a disability receiving BFE benefits declined by 12 percentage points relative to the Poverty Line across the time series, from 54 to 42 per cent. In addition, their income was below the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the entire time series. As such, households in these circumstances would have experienced a deepening of their already very deep poverty over the past 24 years.
The total welfare income of the unattached single with a disability receiving AISH benefits was consistently the most adequate relative to the Poverty Line of all the example households in Alberta. This household had the only income that was above the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the entire time series, which started in 2006 with the introduction of the AISH program. In 2006, this household’s total welfare income was 81 per cent of the Poverty Line, increasing sharply over the following years to a high of 101 per cent in 2013. Their income declined to 82 per cent after the 2018 rebasing and fell further to 76 per cent in 2022; it rose to 83 per cent after the 2023 rebasing but declined again over the next two years, ending the time series at 80 per cent of the Poverty Line in 2025.
Overall, the welfare income of the unattached single with a disability receiving AISH benefits ended the time series 1 percentage point lower relative to the Poverty Line than where it began. As such, households in these circumstances would have seen a slight worsening of their poverty level across the 20-year time series, despite some improvement in the intervening years. Although the income of this household was above the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the time series, households in these circumstances would have lived in poverty in all but one of the last 20 years.
Figure 6AB: Welfare incomes as a percentage of the MBM for example households with children in Alberta, 2002–2025
The total welfare income of the single parent with one child started the time series at 59 per cent of the Poverty Line. An increase to 65 per cent in 2006 was followed by a slight decline in 2007 and a steep decline after the 2008 rebasing. Their income hovered between 59 and 62 per cent for several years before increasing to a peak of 69 per cent in 2017. However, this peak was erased with the 2018 rebasing, which lowered their income to 60 per cent of the Poverty Line. Two years of increases resulted in this household reaching the peak of 69 per cent again in 2020, at the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a decline to 61 per cent in 2022. Their income increased to 67 per cent after the 2023 rebasing but declined over the subsequent two years, ending the time series in 2025 at 64 per cent of the Poverty Line.
Overall, this household’s income improved by 5 percentage points relative to the Poverty Line across the 24-year time series, which represents limited progress. As well, their income remained below the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the entire time series, meaning that households in these circumstances would have lived in deep poverty for the last 24 years.
The total welfare income of the couple with two children followed a nearly identical trendline across the time series, starting at the slightly higher level of 66 per cent of the Poverty Line and ending at the same percentage. As such, this household made no progress over the time series, despite temporary improvements in 2006, 2017, and 2020. Their income declined after the 2023 rebasing and ended the time series in 2025 at 66 per cent of the Poverty Line.
As with the single parent with one child, the income of the couple with two children remained below the Deep Income Poverty threshold across the time series. As a result, households in these circumstances would have been living at virtually the same level of deep poverty in 2025 as they were in 2002.
Access to data
The data for Alberta is available for download, including:
- Components of welfare income for all households, including the 2024-2025 difference in carbon tax-related rebate payments.
- Welfare incomes in 2025 constant dollars over time for all households.
- Welfare incomes in current dollars over time for all households.
- Adequacy of welfare incomes: a comparison of each household’s welfare income with all four poverty and low-income thresholds.
- Adequacy over time: each household’s welfare income relative to the Official Poverty Line (MBM) from 2002–2025.