U.S. incomes better than in Ontario in Great Lakes Region: STUDY

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A new study shows incomes in Windsor and London were $10,000 to $12,000 below those in Detroit, Buffalo and Cleveland four years ago.

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The information is contained in a 2019 ranking by the Fraser Institute of employment incomes in the largest 107 metropolitan areas around the Great Lakes region, with London (93rd) and Windsor (99th) right near the bottom.

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“Southwestern Ontario’s once prosperous cities are now economic laggards, with lower incomes from employment than people in large manufacturing cities south of the border,” said Ben Eisen, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of Measuring Ontario’s Prosperity Gap at The Metropolitan Area Level, in a statement.

The study compares median employment income — wages, salaries and commissions from paid and self-employment income (net) before taxes and government transfers — in the largest metropolitan areas in Ontario, Quebec and American states bordering the Great Lakes.

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Specifically, out of the 20 bottom ranked jurisdictions, seven are found in Ontario, including London (with a median employment income of $36,180) and Windsor ($34,190).

By comparison, other large manufacturing cities in the region such as Buffalo ($46,003), Cleveland ($45,096), Detroit ($45,419), and Chicago ($50,735) all had median employment income levels far in excess of Windsor and London.

“Employment incomes are generally higher in U.S. metropolitan areas of the great lakes region — big and small — than they are in Ontario’s large urban areas,” Eisen said.

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