Toronto city councillors just gave themselves a $33K raise — Here's how much they make now
If you've ever wondered how much money Toronto city councillors make — or how their salaries stack up across Canada — buckle up. They were already earning six figures, and they've just given themselves a giant raise.
Toronto City Council just approved a remarkably massive raise for themselves following a compensation review led by the city manager and the City's chief people officer, and it puts Toronto councillors near — but not at — the top when compared to other major cities across the country.
On Thursday, City Council voted to give themselves a whopping 24% raise, bumping their base salary from $137,537.40 to $170,588.60, effective January 1, 2025.
This is their second raise of the year already, putting these civil servant salaries nearly $37,000 ahead of where they were last year, before they received a comparatively modest $3,761 cost-of-living raise in January.
Now with this much larger raise, it puts them squarely at the 75th percentile when compared to other big-city councillors in Canada, which was the goal of the review. In other words, Toronto City Councillors will now earn more than three quarters — but less than a quarter — of their peers in other major cities.
According to the report from the city manager and chief people officer, Toronto councillors had been sitting at the 62nd percentile, despite managing Canada's largest city.
The City's analysis also pointed out that Toronto councillors manage way more constituents and a way bigger budget than anywhere else in the country — with the lowest pay per resident among peer cities at just $1.08.
"Toronto is the only municipality in the comparator group that does not provide additional compensation for appointments to Boards of service agencies," the report added.
Mayor Olivia Chow spoke out against the increase earlier this week, reports CBC. "It is too steep," she reportedly said on Tuesday. "These are hard economic times for everyone, and it's also uncertain times, uncertain because of the Trump tariff."
Chow's salary isn't affected by the increase. She made $225,304.04 last year and received a small cost-of-living adjustment earlier this year as well.
Here's how 2024 city councillor salaries compare across the cities included in the review:
- Mississauga: $173,117 ($2.66 per constituent)
- Brampton: $170,813 ($2.07 per constituent)
- Toronto (post-raise): $165,933 ($1.33 per constituent)
- Markham: $161,054 ($5.24 per constituent)
- Vaughan: $157,853 ($4.02 per constituent)
- Hamilton: $142,961 ($2.73 per constituent)
- Toronto (pre-raise): $133,776 ($1.08 per constituent)
- Calgary: $130,155 ($1.09 per constituent)
- Winnipeg: $129,934 ($2.30 per constituent)
- Edmonton: $129,579 ($1.47 per constituent)
- Ottawa: $119,517 ($1.98 per constituent)
After the raise, Toronto councillors will earn more than most of their peers — but still trail slightly behind Mississauga and Brampton. However, their per-constituent pay is still the second-lowest in the group, passing only Calgary.
The change wasn't without drama. Fifteen councillors voted in favour, eight voted against, and three — including Mayor Olivia Chow — were absent. A motion to slash the proposed amount by about $5,000 failed. Then, a last-ditch effort to reconsider the vote also lost.
The raise reflects a return to the city's old policy of aligning councillor pay with the 75th percentile of comparable municipalities — a rule that was quietly dropped back in 2014. So while the jump may seem sudden, proponents of the increase argue it's a course correction more than a windfall.
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