Payroll administrators: salary in Canada
What payroll administrators are paid across Canada and in each province, from the wage data the Government of Canada publishes on Job Bank.
Median wage (an hour)
CA$30.00 an hour
2023-2024
Average wage (an hour)
CA$31.47 an hour
2023-2024
Como ler este número
How to read this figure
De onde vem o dado
Source: Employment and Social Development Canada / Job Bank, Wages (2025 open data)
Cuidado
What this number does not tell you
O que fazer com isso
What to do with this figure
What payroll administrators earn in Canada
The median wage for payroll administrators (National Occupational Classification 13102) in Canada is CA$30.00 an hour an hour. Half of the people in this occupation earn less than that and half earn more.
At 2080 paid hours a year, a full-time job at the median works out at about CA$62,400 a year before tax and deductions. Job Bank itself publishes hourly figures, so treat the annual figure as an illustration.
These figures come from the Labour Force Survey, reference period 2023-2024.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Low wage | CA$20.00 an hour |
| First quartile | CA$24.73 an hour |
| Median wage | CA$30.00 an hour |
| Average wage | CA$31.47 an hour |
| Third quartile | CA$36.06 an hour |
| High wage | CA$43.27 an hour |
Wages by province and territory
Wages for the same occupation differ a lot across Canada, mostly with the cost of living and the local industry mix.
Payroll administrators: wages by province and territory
| Province or territory | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | CA$19.64 an hour | CA$27.40 an hour | CA$35.90 an hour |
| Nova Scotia | CA$20.00 an hour | CA$28.57 an hour | CA$36.06 an hour |
| New Brunswick | CA$22.50 an hour | CA$31.00 an hour | CA$38.46 an hour |
| Quebec | CA$21.80 an hour | CA$30.00 an hour | CA$40.84 an hour |
| Ontario | CA$19.23 an hour | CA$30.00 an hour | CA$44.41 an hour |
| Manitoba | CA$20.00 an hour | CA$29.05 an hour | CA$39.60 an hour |
| Saskatchewan | CA$21.15 an hour | CA$30.00 an hour | CA$46.03 an hour |
| Alberta | CA$19.63 an hour | CA$31.18 an hour | CA$45.19 an hour |
| British Columbia | CA$22.00 an hour | CA$31.00 an hour | CA$41.83 an hour |
Job Bank publishes a low, median and high wage rather than a full distribution. The low wage is roughly what the lowest paid tenth earn and the high wage roughly what the best paid tenth earn.
Benefits beyond the wage
Job Bank reports that 91.3% of employees in this occupation receive at least one non-wage benefit, such as a pension plan, health insurance or paid sick leave.
How this compares with all workers
Across Canada, average employment income was CA$59,900 in 2024 and the median CA$46,300, counting everyone with employment income. For people who worked full year, full time, the average was CA$85,500.
How does payroll administrators: salary in canada compare with the rest of Canada?
At CA$30.00 an hour, payroll administrators: salary in canada is well below the CA$59,900.00 an hour that average salary in canada publishes for Canada as a whole — a difference of 100%. That gap is the first thing worth checking before comparing two job offers.
How tight is the pay range for payroll administrators: salary in canada?
A quarter of people in this group are paid below CA$24.73 an hour and a quarter above CA$36.06 an hour; the median sits at CA$30.00 an hour and the mean at CA$31.47 an hour. The two ends are close together, which points to a fairly standard rate for this group rather than a wide negotiating range.
What does "wage data revised 2025-11-19" mean for payroll administrators: salary in canada?
The figures for payroll administrators: salary in canada come from Employment and Social Development Canada / Job Bank, Wages (2025 open data), with a reference period of wage data revised 2025-11-19. Pay statistics like this one are not updated in real time: the underlying survey or register takes months to collect and process, so the number reflects pay around that date, not today. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Glossário: os termos desta página
Median vs. mean
The median is the middle value when every salary is lined up from lowest to highest: half earn less, half earn more. The mean is the simple average. A handful of very high salaries pulls the mean up without moving the median, so the median is usually the better guide to what a typical person earns.
Percentile
A percentile splits the distribution into 100 equal parts. The 10th percentile is the value only a tenth of people earn below; the 90th percentile is what only a tenth earn above. Looking at several percentiles shows the full spread, not just one average.
Fonte: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) — Office for National Statistics.
Full-time equivalent
A way of converting part-time hours into the pay a full-time version of the same job would earn, so that a two-day-a-week role can be compared fairly with a five-day one. Figures that mix full-time and part-time workers without adjusting for this tend to understate typical full-time pay.
Reference period
The point in time, or the stretch of time, that a published figure actually describes. Pay surveys take months to collect and process, so the reference period is usually well before the date the figures are released, and always before the date you are reading them.
Occupational classification
A standard code that groups similar jobs so that pay statistics can be compared across employers and over time — the UK uses SOC, Canada uses NOC, the United States uses SOC as well, and the European Union uses ISCO. The same job title can sit in different codes depending on the classification used.
Fonte: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Pay statistics glossary — todos os 10 termos.
Source: Employment and Social Development Canada / Job Bank, Wages (2025 open data)
Licence: Open Government Licence - Canada
Reference period: wage data revised 2025-11-19
Data collected on: 7 October 2026
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Licence: Open Government Licence - Canada
Reference period: 2024 (2024 constant dollars)
Data collected on: 7 October 2026
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 11-10-0240. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Figures are statistical averages for a whole group of employees. Your own pay depends on your employer, your experience, your hours and where you work.