Alberta’s wage and salary rates are competitive with the rest of Canada and with the United States. When total compensation rates are compared, Alberta provides a significant cost advantage compared to the U.S., largely because of publicly funded health care.

Detailed wage and salary information for over 400 occupations in Alberta is available here

Red Deer is one of the most affordable places in Canada to live. Here’s a look at some of the financial benefits of life in Alberta.

Higher Incomes

Families in Red Deer typically enjoy a higher family income than other parts of Canada.  The median family income in Red Deer is $95,630, which is 34% higher than the Alberta average of $62,950, and 45% higher than the Canadian average of $52,330.

Lower Cost of Living

Alberta offers many cost-of-living advantages:

• No provincial health-care premiums
• No provincial sales tax (PST) residents in every other province pay up to 10 per cent in addition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) paid by all Canadians
• Tax rebates and credits are available to further help with your finances.

You can compare how Canadians spend their incomes in major cities here

Affordable Housing

Owning your own home is more affordable in Red Deer than in many other Canadian cities. The average home sale price in Red Deer (2018) was $313,424, compared to the average price of $387,453 in Alberta, or $490,554 in Canada during the same time period.

For the current data on housing prices, please visit The Canadian Real Estate Associations National Price Map, or the Central Alberta Real Estate Association. 

The Workers Compensation Board (WCB) of Alberta was created by government to administer the Workers Compensation Act for the province’s workers and employers. Funded by employers the WCB provides cost-effective disability and liability insurance for work related injury and illness. The WCB compensates workers for lost income and coordinates the health care and other services that may be required to recover from a work-related injury. Learn more

Source: WCB rates by sector and industry

A full list of WCB rates and industries can be found at 2020 WCB Rates

The Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) is the governing federal body for all legislation related to employment insurance (EI) in Canada. Businesses must deduct employment insurance from an employee’s insurable earnings if that employee is in insurable employment during the year.

Insurable employment includes most employment in Canada under a contract of service (employer – employee relationship). There is no age limit for deducting EI premiums.

Learn more: Canada Revenue Agency, Employment Insurance for Employers

Source: Payworks Payroll Legislation

Red Deer has an excellent business environment with advantages for all businesses to assist them in being more competitive in the provincial, national and world markets. View an interprovincial tax comparison and learn more at Alberta’s Tax Advantage. Simple things, like having no machinery/equipment tax can represent savings of up to 8-9%. Some of the advantages that Red Deer businesses enjoy are:    

• Complimentary pre-development meetings to ensure business development success with full circle representation from city departments to maximize efficiency
• Lowest provincial fuel tax
• No business taxes
• No capital tax
• No machinery/equipment tax
• No payroll tax
• No inventory tax
• No provincial sales tax
• 2% small business tax
• Competitive municipal tax rates
• No health care premiums and free provincial health care insurance
• Canada-Alberta Jobs Grant is an opportunity for eligible Albertan employers to offer 2/3 of training costs for existing employees up to $10,000 per employee to a maximum of $300,000 per company. If hiring and training an unemployed Albertan these incentives increase to $15,000 and can be covered 100%. Portions are refunded after training is successfully completed
• Corporate Taxes Plan is new legislation from Bill 3, the Job Creation Tax Cut (Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment) Act will see the general income tax rate on businesses reduced from 12% to 8% over the next 4 years. Effective, July 1, 2020 our corporate tax rate moved to 8% making it the lowest in Canada

Red Deer College is proud to be part of the fabric of what makes central Alberta such a dynamic place to live, to work and to play. RDC has played a prominent role in helping train our highly skilled and educated workforce since it was founded in 1964, and is a major asset to Red Deer and central Alberta's economy.

Among many teaching and learning spaces at the College, the Centre for Innovation in Manufacturing provides opportunity for instructors and students to collaborate with local businesses and entrepreneurs to bring prototypes and innovative ideas to life. This Centre also provides a unique space where students participate in applied research, preparing RDC’s highly sought after graduates to directly impact the strength of many sectors in our region.

RDC’s Donald School of Business provides a great connection to our region’s business community as a hub of learning and research in business administration, management, marketing, human resources and many other disciplines.

RDC offers more than 100 different programs, and had nearly 7,000 full-time and part-time students in 2017-18. RDC continues to pursue university status, which would allow them to continue offering the same breadth of programming it does now, with the opportunity to grant its own degrees. The College’s transition to a comprehensive regional teaching university would impact students for generations to come.  Perhaps most importantly, becoming a university would give more students the opportunity to study, work and raise a family in central Alberta – keeping the best and brightest here.

RDC is proud of its legacy, providing practical learning opportunities for diverse learners to ensure graduates are ready to join central Alberta’s vibrant businesses and industries, contributing to one of the most thriving economic regions in Canada.