Most people moving to Canada from the UK go one of two ways. Express Entry, Canada’s points system, leads to permanent residence. International Experience Canada (IEC) gives British citizens aged 18 to 35 up to three years of work permits (24 months, then another 12) with no job offer needed. Whether the move pays depends on your job. Once you allow for tax and for what money buys in each country, a typical full-time worker takes home about 11% less in Ontario than in England. Lawyers, pharmacists, software engineers and nurses come out 4% to 14% ahead. Most trades are a little behind on our numbers, and close to level once Canada’s older data is allowed for.
Most guides on this compare an average salary converted at the exchange rate. Below, we’ve put 11 jobs through both countries’ tax systems using official pay data, converted the result with the World Bank’s price-level rates, and added the visa rules that changed in 2026, including the Express Entry points that start on 3 November.
The key figures
| Figure | UK | Canada | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median full-time pay | £40,911 (April 2026) | C$68,640 (2025) | ONS ASHE; Statistics Canada |
| Take-home at that pay | £32,976 (England) | C$52,897 (Ontario) | Paygrade calculation, 2026 tax rules |
| What £1 buys, in Canadian dollars | C$1.80 (price levels), C$1.87 (exchange rate) | World Bank 2025; Bank of Canada, 28 Oct 2026 | |
| Average private rent | £1,406 a month (London £2,338) | 2-bed asking rent C$2,650 Toronto, C$3,030 Vancouver | ONS, Sep 2026; Statistics Canada, Q2 2026 |
| Inflation | 3.5% (Sep 2026) | 3.1% (Sep 2026) | ONS; Statistics Canada |
| Working holiday (IEC) | Ages 18 to 35, 24 + 12 months, C$2,500 funds | IRCC | |
| Express Entry funds, single applicant | C$15,263 (updated 7 July 2025) | IRCC | |
| PR fees, principal applicant | C$1,590 plus C$85 biometrics | IRCC, from 30 April 2026 |
Will you earn more in Canada? Take-home pay, job by job
Canadian salaries look far bigger because the currency is worth less: the median full-time worker earns C$68,640 in Canada against £40,911 in the UK. The fair comparison is what you keep after tax, measured in what it buys. So for each job we took the official median for full-time workers in both countries, ran it through each tax system (England and Ontario, 2026 rules, a single person with one job), and converted the Canadian take-home at the World Bank’s purchasing power parity rate for household spending: C$1.80 buys what £1 buys (2025).
| Job | UK gross | UK take-home | Canada gross | Canada take-home | Canada take-home in UK buying power | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawyer | £57,198 | £43,732 | C$124,301 | C$89,777 | £49,966 | +14% |
| Pharmacist | £55,410 | £42,695 | C$115,419 | C$84,599 | £47,084 | +10% |
| Software engineer | £59,862 | £45,277 | C$117,499 | C$85,890 | £47,803 | +6% |
| Registered nurse | £44,928 | £35,868 | C$90,002 | C$67,198 | £37,400 | +4% |
| Cybersecurity analyst | £55,373 | £42,674 | C$103,002 | C$76,263 | £42,445 | -1% |
| HVAC technician | £42,198 | £33,902 | C$78,000 | C$58,952 | £32,810 | -3% |
| Plumber | £39,179 | £31,728 | C$70,720 | C$54,259 | £30,198 | -5% |
| Electrician | £40,717 | £32,836 | C$72,800 | C$55,597 | £30,943 | -6% |
| Welder | £35,977 | £29,423 | C$62,400 | C$48,883 | £27,206 | -8% |
| All full-time employees | £40,911 | £32,976 | C$68,640 | C$52,897 | £29,440 | -11% |
| Aircraft mechanic | £48,965 | £38,774 | C$81,120 | C$61,059 | £33,983 | -12% |
| Accountant | £50,745 | £39,990 | C$83,949 | C$62,970 | £35,046 | -12% |
UK figures: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026 (provisional), median for full-time employees. Canadian job figures: Job Bank median hourly wage times 2,080 hours (40 a week), from 2023 to 2024 data. National medians: ONS (April 2026) and Statistics Canada’s median weekly wage for full-time employees in 2025 (C$1,320) times 52.
Three things stand out:
- Canada pays professionals relatively more. The jobs that come out ahead are graduate, licensed professions, where Canadian pay is about twice the UK figure in dollars. For the typical full-time worker the ratio is 1.68, which isn’t enough to beat the higher Canadian deductions and prices.
- The trades gap is smaller than it looks. Canada’s job-level data is about two years older than the UK’s. Statistics Canada’s median hourly wage for full-time employees rose 4.2% between 2024 and 2025 alone, so today’s Canadian figures are probably several percent higher than the table shows. That would bring electricians, plumbers and HVAC technicians roughly level. Our ranking of the highest paying trades in Canada shows which trades pay best and in which province.
- At the exchange rate, Canada looks worse. The Bank of Canada rate was C$1.87 to the pound on 28 October 2026, above the C$1.80 price-level rate. That means Canada is about 4% cheaper than the exchange rate suggests. Convert at the bank rate instead and every row drops by about 4 points: nurses come out level instead of 4% ahead.
For full pay ranges, entry and senior pay and take-home by province, see our registered nurse salary in Canada, software engineer salary in Canada and electrician salary in Canada pages, or compare every career on the Canada and UK salary hubs.
Tax: what comes off a Canadian payslip
At the median full-time wage, deductions take 19.4% of pay in England and 22.9% in Ontario:
| At the median | England (£40,911) | Ontario (C$68,640) |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | £5,668 | C$7,012 federal, C$3,736 Ontario (including the Ontario Health Premium) |
| Social insurance | £2,267 National Insurance | C$3,876 Canada Pension Plan, C$1,119 Employment Insurance |
| Take-home | £32,976 | C$52,897 |
A few differences matter when you move:
- Two income taxes. Canada taxes you federally and again in your province, so take-home differs by province. Our figures use Ontario, Canada’s most populous province.
- CPP is a pension. The Canada Pension Plan contribution builds your Canadian state pension, so it is partly savings rather than pure tax.
- The tax year is the calendar year, not April to April, and you file your own return each spring.
- Tell HMRC you’re leaving. If you don’t normally file a Self Assessment return, HMRC asks you to fill in form P85. Once you’re non-resident, “you do not pay UK tax on income or gains you get outside the UK”, though UK income such as rent from a flat you let out can still be taxed.
Cost of living: rents and prices
Housing is where the move is won or lost, and the figure that matters is what a newcomer pays, not what long-term tenants pay:
| City | Average rent paid, 2-bed (CMHC, Oct 2025) | Asking rent for a 2-bed (Statistics Canada, Q2 2026) | Asking rent in pounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | C$2,364 | C$3,030 | £1,623 |
| Toronto | C$2,045 | C$2,650 | £1,419 |
| Calgary | C$1,908 | C$1,890 | £1,012 |
| Ottawa | C$1,916 | not published | |
| Montréal | C$1,346 | not published (down 5.2% in a year) |
CMHC’s figures are for purpose-built rental flats and include tenants who moved in years ago; Statistics Canada’s asking rents are for flats listed now. In Toronto and Vancouver the gap is about C$600 to C$670 a month. Pounds are at the Bank of Canada rate of C$1.8673 (28 October 2026).
For comparison, the ONS puts the average UK private rent at £1,406 a month in September 2026: £2,338 in London, £1,466 across England, £1,011 in Scotland, and £1,239 for a 2-bed in Manchester. Two trends run opposite ways: Canadian asking rents for a 2-bed fell 3.6% in a year across the big cities, while UK private rents rose 3.8%.
Beyond rent, the World Bank’s price-level rates suggest everyday spending costs about 4% less in Canada than the exchange rate implies. Inflation was similar in September 2026: 3.1% in Canada, 3.5% in the UK.
Visa routes from the UK in 2026
1. International Experience Canada (working holiday). The quickest route if you’re 18 to 35. British citizens can take part twice: 24 months in any category, then 12 more. The Working Holiday category is an open work permit with no job offer needed; Young Professionals and International Co-op need a job or placement offer first. You need C$2,500 in funds and health insurance for your whole stay. Fees are C$184.75 plus a C$100 open work permit holder fee and C$85 for biometrics. The 2026 pools have closed, so the next chance is the 2027 season.
2. Express Entry (permanent residence). Three programmes feed one pool: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (skilled work experience anywhere, at least a year, plus at least CLB 7 in an English or French test), the Canadian Experience Class (skilled work in Canada) and the Federal Skilled Trades Program. Candidates are ranked by Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points. If you apply from the UK, three facts matter in 2026:
- Recent draws have all been targeted. None in September or October 2026 was open to every candidate. Invitations went to the Canadian Experience Class (cut-offs of 518 to 521), provincial nominees, French speakers and job categories: healthcare and social services (475 on 4 September), trades (476 on 1 October) and transport (477 on 28 October). Without Canadian experience, your best chances are a category that matches your job, a provincial nomination or French.
- New points from 3 November 2026. Candidates with at least 12 months of Canadian experience in a high-wage occupation (a median wage at least 1.3 times Canada’s overall median) get 20, 40 or 70 extra points, and a qualifying job offer in one earns 50, 70 or 100. An LMIA is no longer needed for those job offer points. IRCC says recalculating scores may pause draws for up to two weeks.
- Money and fees. Federal Skilled Worker applicants must show settlement funds of C$15,263 for one person or C$19,001 for two (IRCC’s table, updated 7 July 2025). Permanent residence costs C$1,590 per adult (C$990 processing plus the C$600 right of permanent residence fee), C$270 per child and C$85 per person for biometrics. IRCC’s standard is a decision within 6 months; it met that for about 76% of Federal Skilled Worker and Canadian Experience Class applicants between September 2025 and August 2026.
3. Provincial Nominee Programs. Each province picks people for its own shortages. A nomination linked to Express Entry adds 600 CRS points, which in practice guarantees an invitation. Quebec runs its own selection, so if you want to live there you apply to Quebec first.
4. Employer-sponsored work permits. A Canadian employer can hire you on an employer-specific permit, usually after getting a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) showing no Canadian could fill the job. For in-demand tech roles, the Global Talent Stream aims to process the LMIA in 10 business days and the work permit in 2 weeks.
Canada is taking fewer people than it did: the plan for 2026 is 380,000 new permanent residents, 109,000 of them through Express Entry and 91,500 through provincial programmes.
If your job is regulated
Nursing, medicine, teaching and most trades need a Canadian licence, and it’s issued by the province, not the federal government. Start before you move:
- Nurses: most provinces accept a report from the National Nursing Assessment Service (NNAS), which assesses your education but doesn’t license you. Ontario’s College of Nurses now verifies credentials through listed assessors (WES, ICAS or BCIT), then you sit the NCLEX-RN and a jurisprudence exam.
- Tradespeople: experienced workers can have their skills assessed by the provincial trades body (in Ontario, Skilled Trades Ontario) as the first step to a Certificate of Qualification. Our Ontario electrician guide covers the exam and the trade equivalency route.
Before you go: pension, healthcare and driving
- Your UK State Pension will be frozen. It is paid if you live in Canada but doesn’t go up each year: GOV.UK says “you cannot get increases in Canada or New Zealand”.
- Topping up National Insurance from abroad got harder in April 2026. You can no longer pay voluntary Class 2 contributions for time abroad. Class 3 (£18.40 a week in 2026/27) is still open, but only if you’ve lived in the UK for 10 continuous years or built 10 qualifying years.
- Health cover may not start straight away. Ontario has no waiting period for OHIP. Alberta can cover you from the date you become resident if you apply within 3 months. British Columbia makes you wait the rest of the month you arrive plus two more months, so buy private cover for the gap.
- Swap your licence quickly. Ontario exchanges a GB car licence for a full G licence if you have at least two years’ equivalent experience (not motorcycle licences). Alberta exchanges a UK Class 5 licence without tests with two years’ experience, within 90 days for permanent residents. British Columbia exchanges some foreign licences without testing; check ICBC.
Limits of these figures
- Different surveys, different years. UK pay is from ASHE 2026; Canadian job pay is Job Bank’s 2023 to 2024 data, converted at 40 hours a week, while ASHE counts actual pay. The national medians are closer in time (April 2026 against 2025).
- One province, one person. Take-home is for Ontario and England, a single person with one job and no other income or deductions. Alberta’s provincial tax is lower and Quebec’s higher.
- Price levels are national. The World Bank rate covers all household spending across each country, so it can’t capture the gap between, say, Vancouver and Manchester.
- Rules change. Fees, draw cut-offs and the levels plan were checked on 29 October 2026. This is information, not immigration advice: check IRCC or a licensed consultant before applying. How we use official data is set out in our methodology.
If you’re weighing a move against staying put and working remotely for a Canadian or US employer, our guide to remote work and global pay arbitrage runs those numbers.
FAQ
Can I move to Canada from the UK without a job offer? Yes. The IEC Working Holiday permit doesn’t need one, and neither does the Federal Skilled Worker Program, as long as you have the points and the settlement funds. Since March 2025 a job offer earns no points in Express Entry, but from 3 November 2026 an offer in a high-wage occupation earns 50 to 100 points.
How long does Express Entry take? After you’re invited and apply, IRCC aims to decide within 6 months and did so for about 76% of Federal Skilled Worker and Canadian Experience Class applicants between September 2025 and August 2026. Getting the invitation can take much longer, because it depends on your score and on which draws IRCC holds.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026, provisional, released 22 October 2026 (median full-time pay £40,911; job medians from Table 14.7a, on each UK salary page).
- Job Bank, Government of Canada, Wages dataset, revised 19 November 2025 (median hourly wages by occupation, 2023 to 2024 data).
- Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0064-01, Employee wages by industry, annual (median weekly wage of full-time employees C$1,320 in 2025; median hourly C$32.28 in 2024, C$33.65 in 2025).
- Take-home pay: Paygrade’s tax engine with HMRC 2026/27 rates and CRA 2026 rates (T4127 payroll formulas), checked against hand-worked examples.
- World Bank, PPP conversion factor, private consumption (2025: Canada 1.2605, UK 0.7015 per international dollar), updated 8 October 2026.
- Bank of Canada, Daily exchange rates (£1 = C$1.8673 on 28 October 2026).
- CMHC, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (average rents by bedroom type); Statistics Canada, Quarterly rent statistics, second quarter 2026, 9 September 2026.
- ONS, Private rent and house prices, UK: October 2026 (September 2026 rents) and Manchester local data.
- Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, September 2026; ONS, Consumer price inflation, September 2026.
- IRCC: IEC eligibility by country (modified 7 August 2026), IEC rounds, fee list (modified 21 September 2026), proof of funds, Express Entry rounds, changes for high-wage occupations and news release (16 October 2026), processing results, Levels Plan 2026 to 2028, Provincial Nominee Program, employer-specific work permits; ESDC, Global Talent Stream.
- Ministerial Instructions 2025-1, removal of job offer points, effective 25 March 2025.
- NNAS FAQs; College of Nurses of Ontario, applying from outside Canada; Skilled Trades Ontario, experienced workers.
- GOV.UK: State Pension if you retire abroad, voluntary National Insurance abroad from April 2026, Class 3 rates, tax if you leave the UK.
- Provincial health cover: Ontario OHIP, BC MSP wait period, Alberta AHCIP. Driving licences: Ontario, Alberta, ICBC.