Quick answer
Two job offers compare on take-home pay, not gross salary: in 2026 the calculator runs each through the same federal and provincial tax, CPP and EI engine and reports the yearly difference. In its example, $90,000 in Alberta nets $67,508.50 a year against $63,679.43 for $85,000 in Ontario, so the offer that pays $5,000 more also keeps more after tax.
What this calculator compares
Enter a province and a gross annual salary for each of two job offers, with an optional RRSP contribution for either, and this calculator runs both through the identical shared tax engine used across every Canadian calculator on this site — the same federal brackets, the same CPP/QPP and EI/QPIP rules, each province's own tax rules, and the payroll tax the Northwest Territories and Nunavut charge their employees, computed independently for Offer A and Offer B. The headline is the signed difference in yearly take-home pay and which offer actually keeps more; below it, a side-by-side table breaks both offers down line by line — gross pay, each tax and contribution line, and net pay by year and by month — so you can see exactly where the difference comes from rather than just the final number.
Why the same salary nets differently by province
Federal tax, CPP and EI work the same way for every province outside Quebec — same brackets, same basic personal amount, same rates and caps. The second layer, provincial or territorial income tax, is set independently by each province and territory, and it can vary widely. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut add a third, a payroll tax of 2% of gross pay that appears as a row of its own and that no other jurisdiction in this calculator has. At an identical $95,000 salary with no RRSP, Alberta and Nova Scotia both charge the same $12,276.60 of federal tax, $4,646.45 of CPP and $1,123.07 of EI — but Alberta's provincial tax is $5,970.38 against Nova Scotia's $11,216.19, a $5,245.81 gap that flows straight through to take-home pay: $70,983.50 in Alberta versus $65,737.69 in Nova Scotia, for the identical pre-tax salary. Ontario layers on its own surtax and Health Premium. CRA's T4127 payroll formulas include a provincial tax reduction for Ontario and British Columbia only, so those are the two reductions this calculator applies; the 2025 return forms for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador each carry a low-income tax reduction of their own, which is claimed when you file and is not modelled here. Quebec sits apart entirely, running its own tax, QPP and QPIP system, so a Quebec offer needs its own line-by-line comparison rather than a simple rate lookup.
The method, in plain language
Each column's federal tax, provincial tax, CPP or QPP, and EI (plus QPIP in Quebec, and the payroll tax in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut) are computed exactly as described on the take-home pay calculator — CRA's own T4127 payroll formulas applied to the whole year, and Revenu Québec's TP-1015.F-V for a Quebec offer — run twice with two independent sets of inputs that never mix. The one new calculation here is the break-even gross salary: provincial surtaxes, low-income reductions and phase-outs only apply above or below certain thresholds, so there's no single algebraic formula to invert province by province. Instead, the calculator searches for the answer — testing candidate salaries for Offer B and narrowing in by half each time until its net pay matches Offer A's to within a fraction of a cent, a technique called bisection. It works here because take-home pay rises with gross salary in everything this calculator models: no bracket, surtax, premium or reduction in its tax engine takes 100% or more of an extra dollar.
Worked example — $85,000 in Ontario vs $90,000 in Alberta
Offer A: $85,000 gross salary in Ontario, no RRSP contribution. Offer B: $90,000 gross salary in Alberta, no RRSP contribution — this calculator's own defaults.
- Offer A (Ontario, $85,000): federal tax $10,226.60, Ontario tax $5,324.46 (including the Health Premium), CPP $4,646.45, EI $1,123.07. Net pay: $63,679.43 a year, or $5,306.62 a month.
- Offer B (Alberta, $90,000): federal tax $11,251.60, Alberta tax $5,470.38, CPP $4,646.45, EI $1,123.07. Net pay: $67,508.50 a year, or $5,625.71 a month.
- Even though Offer B pays $5,000 more before tax, it nets $3,829.08 more after tax — Alberta's lower, flatter provincial tax rate over this range adds to the higher starting salary rather than eating into it.
- The break-even figure asks the reverse question: what would Alberta have to pay, on its own, to match Ontario's $63,679.43 net? The answer is $84,469.31 — so Offer B's actual $90,000 gross already clears that bar by $5,530.69.
Figures are rounded to the cent for readability; the calculator itself carries full precision throughout, so a live result can differ from this worked example by a fraction of a cent. That is also why the $3,829.08 difference is one cent more than subtracting the two rounded net figures gives: it is the difference of the unrounded amounts.
Cost of living is deliberately not modelled
This calculator answers one question only: after tax, CPP/QPP, EI/QPIP and, in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, payroll tax, how much of each offer's gross salary reaches your bank account? It says nothing about how far that money goes. A $90,000 salary in Fort McMurray and the same salary in downtown Toronto produce an identical result here, even though rent and groceries typically cost very differently in each. This calculator does not model cost of living, moving costs, signing bonuses, or the value of any benefit beyond salary itself — folding a cost-of-living index into the tax math would hide the one thing this tool exists to show. If cost of living matters to your decision, as it should for most people relocating between cities, compare these take-home figures against a cost-of-living index or your own budget for each city, as a separate step.
Benefits and pension matching: price them yourself
Two offers with the same take-home pay are not necessarily equal. An employer RRSP or pension match is the most common gap: a 4% match on a $90,000 salary is worth $3,600 a year of employer money that never shows up in a salary figure at all, and some employers match considerably more. Extended health, dental, vision and life insurance are worth pricing too — what you'd pay for equivalent private coverage is a fair stand-in if an offer doesn't state a dollar value. Add these on top of whatever this calculator shows for net pay before treating either offer as the clear winner; a smaller salary with a strong match and full benefits can easily outnet a larger salary with none.
FAQ
Why does the same salary net differently in two provinces?
Outside Quebec, federal tax, CPP and EI work the same way everywhere in Canada, but each province sets its own tax brackets and basic personal amount, and a few add extra rules of their own — Ontario's surtax and Health Premium, BC's low-income reduction, Quebec's separate tax and pension system, and a 2% payroll tax in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut that comes off gross pay as its own line. A $95,000 salary nets about $70,984 in Alberta but only $65,738 in Nova Scotia — a $5,246 gap from provincial tax alone, since the federal tax, CPP and EI are identical in both and neither is a territory, so there is no payroll tax line.
What does the break-even gross salary mean?
It's the gross salary Offer B would need to pay, in its own province, to leave you with the same take-home pay as Offer A. The calculator finds it by testing gross salaries for Offer B until its net pay matches Offer A's. If Offer B's actual salary already exceeds this figure, it already wins on take-home pay; if not, that's exactly how much of a raise it needs to catch up.
Does this calculator account for cost of living?
No, deliberately not. A $90,000 salary in Alberta and the same salary in downtown Toronto or Vancouver produce an identical after-tax result here, because this tool answers one question: what does each offer pay after federal and provincial tax, CPP/QPP, EI and, in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, payroll tax? What that money is worth locally is a separate comparison — a cost-of-living index or your own budget for each city — and folding the two together would hide the tax math this tool exists to show.
How should I compare benefits and pension matching between two offers?
This calculator only prices salary, so benefits and an employer pension or RRSP match need adding by hand. Take the match percentage times your salary as its own dollar figure (a 4% match on $90,000 is $3,600 a year of essentially free money), add what you'd otherwise pay for equivalent health, dental and life insurance, and only then compare the totals against this calculator's take-home figures. A generous match can easily outweigh a few thousand dollars of salary.
Can I compare a Quebec offer to an offer in another province?
Yes. Put Quebec in either column and the calculator switches to Quebec's own combined system automatically: QPP instead of CPP, the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) alongside a reduced EI rate, a federal tax abatement, and Revenu Québec's own provincial tax formula, all folded into the same federal tax, provincial tax, CPP/QPP and EI/QPIP rows so the two columns stay directly comparable line for line.
Why do the CPP/QPP and EI/QPIP rows differ even at the same salary?
Outside Quebec, CPP and EI use the same national rates and caps everywhere, so two non-Quebec offers at an identical salary always show identical CPP and EI figures, and the only things that change are the provincial income tax and, for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, a separate payroll tax row. Quebec is the exception: QPP runs at a slightly higher combined rate than CPP, and Quebec's EI is reduced because QPIP, a separate premium, covers the parental benefits EI provides elsewhere, so a Quebec row differs even at an identical salary.
Does the comparison include the Northwest Territories and Nunavut payroll tax?
Yes. If either offer is in the Northwest Territories or Nunavut the table gains a payroll tax row: 2% of that offer's gross salary, withheld by the employer. It is not income tax and an RRSP contribution does not reduce it, and the other offer shows $0.00 on that row. Residents of a territory can also claim a refundable cost of living tax credit when they file, up to $942 in the Northwest Territories and up to $1,500 in Nunavut, which the comparison does not include.
Does the comparison include the northern residents deduction for Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut?
No. People who live in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut can claim the northern residents deduction on their return (line 25500), and this comparison does not include it. CRA's page for the 2025 tax year says every place in the three territories is in a prescribed northern zone, and that someone who has lived there on a permanent basis for a continuous period of at least six consecutive months can deduct $11.00 for each day they lived in the zone, plus a further $11.00 a day for a dwelling they maintained there when they are the only person in the household claiming the basic amount. Both amounts for all 365 days of 2025 add up to $8,030, the most the two daily amounts can come to; that total is this page's own multiplication, and Form T2222, on which the claim is worked out, was not read. CRA also allows a travel deduction, which is not counted here, and this page has not checked the 2026 amounts. It is a deduction, so it lowers the tax of an offer in a territory: that offer's take-home pay is higher than this calculator shows, and the comparison moves in its favour. Whenever either offer is in a territory, the result shows a short note saying so.
This page is general information based on published 2026 federal and provincial payroll formulas, not tax or financial advice. Your own situation may differ — talk to a licensed accountant before making a decision between job offers.