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In an interview, Credit Canada CEO Bruce Sellery said a poll the organization conducted with Harris found that 68% of respondents did not know how much they spend on housing. The interview listing does not provide the poll’s field dates, sample size, methods, exact question wording or definition of “housing,” so the figure should be read as Sellery’s account—not as a fully documented survey result.
Knowing your own housing total is different from knowing whether it takes a large share of your income. Statistics Canada’s separate affordability measure found that 23.2% of Canadian households spent at least 30% of their before-tax income on shelter costs in 2024. That figure says nothing about whether those households knew their costs.
What the 68% figure does—and does not—tell us
Sellery described the Credit Canada/Harris poll in an interview listed by AM 800 CKLW and Omny.fm: “And Credit Canada did a poll with Harris to look at that very specific question. And we found that 68% of people don’t know. They have no idea.” The interview page does not link to a poll report or spell out how the result was collected.
The interview discusses how much people spend on housing, but it does not establish whether respondents were asked for a monthly or annual amount, what costs counted as housing, or whether the question used those exact words. The result is therefore best treated as a reported finding about respondents’ awareness, not a precise measure of all Canadians’ budgeting knowledge.
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It is also separate from Statistics Canada’s affordability statistics. One asks whether people know their housing costs; the other compares shelter costs with household income. Neither can be used as proof of the other.
How many households spend 30% or more of income on shelter?
Statistics Canada’s 2024 housing-affordability release reports that 23.2% of Canadian households spent 30% or more of their before-tax household income on shelter costs in 2024, compared with 22.0% in 2022. The 2024 rate was 33.7% for renters and 17.4% for owners. Statistics Canada says the renter-owner gap has been stable since 2018.
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| Measure | 2024 result |
|---|---|
| All Canadian households spending at least 30% of before-tax income on shelter | 23.2% |
| Renters at or above the 30% threshold | 33.7% |
| Owners at or above the 30% threshold | 17.4% |
These are Statistics Canada estimates for 2024, published in 2026. The 30% threshold is the convention used in that release to identify housing as unaffordable; it is not a personal budgeting rule or a measure of whether a household can name its costs. The underlying measure is the share of total before-tax household income spent on shelter.
Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending (SHS) also measures spending patterns across categories, including shelter. Its averages describe groups, not an individual household’s complete monthly bills. For example, the agency’s 2023 SHS brochure reported that Canadian households spent an average of $20,200 on shelter in 2019. That is a historical population average, not a current budget target or a reliable estimate of what a particular household spends today.
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For a useful personal figure, choose a period—usually a month—and add costs for that same period. The list below is a budgeting aid; it is not a claim about the poll’s question or Statistics Canada’s exact shelter-cost definition.
- Start with your main payment. Include rent or the mortgage payment. If you pay property tax separately, record it separately rather than assuming it is included in a mortgage payment.
- Add recurring housing bills. Consider utilities, home or tenant insurance, and regular building or maintenance charges that apply to your household.
- Include irregular costs in a comparable way. For an annual bill or periodic repair, divide the amount by 12 to estimate a monthly average, and keep the original bill handy so the estimate is transparent.
- Keep the period consistent. Compare monthly costs with monthly income, or annual totals with annual income. Do not add an annual insurance premium to one month of rent without converting one of them.
- If calculating a share of income, use before-tax income for the Statistics Canada comparison. Divide shelter costs by total before-tax household income for the same period, then multiply by 100. A take-home-pay ratio can still help with cash-flow planning, but it is not the same measure.
For example, if a household’s counted monthly shelter costs total $2,400 and its monthly before-tax household income is $8,000, the ratio is 30%: $2,400 ÷ $8,000 × 100. This arithmetic helps compare a household’s own figures; it does not determine eligibility for a program or replace the definitions used in an official statistic.
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What population spending surveys can and cannot do
Statistics Canada says the Survey of Household Spending gathers information about household spending habits and helps measure changes in spending patterns, including what households spend on necessities such as shelter, food and clothing. Such data help describe patterns across a population. They cannot reveal your own total: only your bills and records can establish what your household pays and which costs you choose to include.
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