Personal Finance Stress Index
CanadaCanadian household financial stress was high in April 2026, led by housing affordability and debt-service burden.
What changed this month
In April 2026, the index rose 1 point to 70, in the high range.
The heaviest pressure came from housing affordability, debt-service burden, and monetary policy, each well above its long-run norm.
Groceries versus wages climbed the most over the month, while insolvencies eased back.
At 70, the reading stands above the long-run midpoint of 50, so households faced more financial pressure than in a typical month since 2009.
Every figure traces to public data from Statistics Canada, the Bank of Canada, and the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. See the method.
What this measures
The Personal Finance Stress Index (PFSI) is one number for how much pressure Canadian household budgets are under each month, built from public data on housing, groceries, debt, jobs, savings, and interest rates. It covers 2009 to today. The method and the full series are published, so anyone can check the reading or rebuild it from scratch.
Fifty is a historically normal month. Each of the seven measures is ranked against its own past, so an ordinary month settles near the middle by design; the index drops in calmer stretches and climbs in harder ones.
The seven measures, in real numbers
What each measure reads right now, and how unusual that is against its own history. The large number is this month's actual value; the score beneath it places that value on the 0 to 100 stress scale.
The share of a representative household's disposable income it takes to cover a home, on the Bank of Canada's measure, the mortgage and utilities together.
How far grocery prices have run ahead of hourly pay over the past year. A positive gap means food is rising faster than wages.
The year-over-year change in consumer insolvency filings per person. A rising count means more households are filing for bankruptcy or a consumer proposal.
The share of household disposable income going to debt payments, principal and interest together, across the country.
Joblessness and the pace of job loss. The reading blends the unemployment rate, its 12-month change, and how many people are drawing EI.
How much of their income households are setting aside. A thinner savings rate leaves less buffer before a shock turns into debt.
The Bank of Canada's policy rate measured against the 2.75% midpoint of its estimated neutral range. Above neutral tightens budgets; below it loosens them.
How the stress breaks down
Each band is one measure's contribution to the headline. The height of the stack is the index itself, so you see both how high stress is and what it is made of, shifting across the years. Hover to read any month.
The index in context
Where this month ranks against the full record since 2009, and what the index was registering during the months people remember.
Lockdowns stopped much of everyday spending and emergency support lifted the savings rate, so household stress fell to near its calmest reading on record even as the economy shrank.
A year of Bank of Canada increases hit mortgage renewals and debt payments at the same time, pushing the index to its highest reading on record.
The latest complete reading, in the high range. Hover the line at the top of the page to walk any month between then and now.
Across the provinces
Each province is scored against its own history. Insolvencies, the labour market, and groceries-versus-wages are measured provincially; affordability, debt-service, the cushion, and policy are national and shown for context. Colour the map by a measure, then tap a province.
Overall stress runs highest in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, lowest in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
Provincial measures shown. Affordability, debt-service, cushion, and policy use the national reading.
| # | Province | Overall | Food vs pay | Insolvency | Labour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saskatchewan | 74 | 62 | 62 | 90 |
| 2 | British Columbia | 71 | 87 | 43 | 65 |
| 3 | Ontario | 68 | 84 | 55 | 36 |
| 4 | Manitoba | 67 | 82 | 41 | 48 |
| 5 | Nova Scotia | 64 | 46 | 53 | 48 |
| 6 | Quebec | 63 | 42 | 61 | 37 |
| 7 | Newfoundland and Labrador | 61 | 74 | 23 | 28 |
| 8 | Alberta | 61 | 45 | 33 | 45 |
| 9 | New Brunswick | 59 | 40 | 27 | 47 |
| 10 | Prince Edward Island | 56 | 3 | 79 | 9 |
Each province is scored against its own history, so this ranks how far each sits above its own normal, not which province has the highest prices or debt. Affordability, debt-service, the cushion, and policy are national, so the provincial picture rests on food versus pay, insolvencies, and the labour market. Click a row to load it on the map.
Where your household sits
The index above reads the whole country. Here you can drop your own household onto the same 0 to 100 scale: we swap in three things only you know, your shelter cost, your debt payments, and your savings, scored against the affordability, lending, and emergency-fund benchmarks, and pull the rest of the picture from your province. Everything happens in your browser.
Everything stays in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere or saved on our side.
Enter your income, housing cost and monthly essentials to place your household on the index.
The three personal measures are scored against published benchmarks (the CMHC affordability line, the standard lending ceilings, the emergency-fund standard); the rest come from your province in the index. See the method.
How it's built
The index combines seven measures at equal weight. Each one becomes a stress signal, ranked as a percentile against its own history to give a 0 to 100 score, then averaged into the headline. Ranking every measure against its own past keeps a normal month near 50 and lets the number move in both directions.
Monthly inputs arrive one to two months after the month they describe. Quarterly inputs, the debt-service ratio, the savings cushion, and affordability, are held at their last published value rather than guessed at, and the two most recent months stay provisional until their slower inputs arrive. The full seven-measure index begins in 2012, when national insolvency figures start; the earlier months back to 2009 use the measures available then. Each release recomputes the full history and freezes a dated copy, so any past reading can be reproduced exactly.
| Measure | What it tracks | Source | Updates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing affordability | The share of a representative household's disposable income it takes to cover a home, on the Bank of Canada's measure, the mortgage and utilities together. | Bank of Canada | Quarterly, held |
| Groceries vs wages | How far grocery prices have run ahead of hourly pay over the past year. A positive gap means food is rising faster than wages. | Statistics Canada | Monthly |
| Insolvencies | The year-over-year change in consumer insolvency filings per person. A rising count means more households are filing for bankruptcy or a consumer proposal. | Supt. of Bankruptcy | Monthly |
| Debt-service burden | The share of household disposable income going to debt payments, principal and interest together, across the country. | Statistics Canada | Quarterly, held |
| Labour market | Joblessness and the pace of job loss. The reading blends the unemployment rate, its 12-month change, and how many people are drawing EI. | Statistics Canada | Monthly |
| Savings cushion | How much of their income households are setting aside. A thinner savings rate leaves less buffer before a shock turns into debt. | Statistics Canada | Quarterly, held |
| Monetary policy | The Bank of Canada's policy rate measured against the 2.75% midpoint of its estimated neutral range. Above neutral tightens budgets; below it loosens them. | Bank of Canada | Monthly |
Questions about the index
Is this just bad news?
No. A normal month registers 50 by design, and the number declines when conditions ease. In the summer of 2020 it reached its calmest reading on record.
How often does it update?
Monthly. Most inputs arrive one to two months after the month they cover, and the two most recent months stay provisional until the slower data lands.
How is this different from the debt headlines?
It is one consistent measure from public Statistics Canada, Bank of Canada, and insolvency data, computed the same way every month, with the method and the numbers open. It is not built to sell a product or a service.
Can I reproduce the number myself?
Yes. The seven inputs, the percentile method, and the equal weights are published, and the full series downloads as a CSV. Each release freezes a dated copy so any past reading can be rebuilt.
What can it not tell me?
It measures pressure across the country and the provinces, not your own household, and it reads current conditions rather than forecasting them. For your own situation, the household section above puts your numbers on the same scale.
Where does the data come from?
Statistics Canada (prices, wages, jobs, debt service, and savings), the Bank of Canada (the policy rate and housing affordability), and the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (insolvencies).
An original measure, built and published every month by
CreditUnionDirectory.caRelated tools
Each one opens up a piece of what the index measures: your housing, your groceries, your debt, and the cushion you are building.
Whether renting or buying leaves you further ahead, year by year, on your own numbers.
A 12-item Canadian grocery cart, priced from Statistics Canada data every year since 1995.
Avalanche versus snowball, side by side: months to debt-free and the interest you save.
How many months your savings would cover, and the three-to-six-month buffer to aim for.
More reading
From the blog
Credit Unions
Louis Rossmann's Ownership Argument Applies to Your Bank, Too
How Louis Rossmann's broader fight for real consumer ownership, from John Deere tractors to Bambu Lab 3D printers, connects to the member-owned structure of Canadian credit unions and what it means for where you keep your money.
Investing
Is r/JustBuyXEQT a Cult? Canada's XEQT and 100% Equities
A measured look at the all-equity ETF that's become the default answer on Canadian personal-finance Reddit. What XEQT holds, how it compares to VEQT and ZEQT, what the research says about 100% equities, and where community confidence becomes a substitute for individual financial thinking.
Investing
The $10 Billion Canadians Pay for Mutual Fund Advice Each Year
On a typical mutual fund, fees can take more than half your investment growth. They come out before the return ever shows on your statement.
Credit Unions
Do Credit Unions Offer Free Chequing in Canada?
Free chequing is common at Canadian credit unions, with conditions that range from mild to none. What the three forms look like, how the bar to qualify compares with the Big Five, and what to confirm before signing up.
The Personal Finance Stress Index is published for general information. It is an objective measure that draws together public economic and financial indicators into a single reading of the financial pressure Canadian households face as a whole, so a broad and otherwise abstract picture can be quantified and tracked over time.
Because it reflects national and provincial conditions, it does not describe any individual household, and it is not a measure of your own financial stress or a view on what that level should be. Nothing on this page is financial, legal, or tax advice, or a substitute for guidance suited to your own circumstances.
If money is weighing on you, support and options are available, and reaching out for help is a reasonable step to take.