A new SingleKey analysis finds Vancouver renters paid 27.7% of household income on rent in 2026, slightly below the national average but still shaped by income levels.
The Story
Vancouver remains Canada’s priciest rental market, and new data from SingleKey suggests the city’s rent affordability is increasingly tied to renter income rather than just rent levels. According to SingleKey’s Rent Cheque: 2026 Rental Intelligence Report, renters in Vancouver spent 27.7% of household income on rent.
SingleKey says the figure is slightly lower than the national average of 28.1%, indicating a modest improvement compared with the previous year. The report points to a substantial change from 2025, when Vancouver renters were spending 33.9% of household income on rent.
The analysis argues that income growth, more than rent, is now what is determining affordability for many renters in major cities. SingleKey attributes the shift to differences in how quickly incomes have moved relative to housing costs, noting that the biggest affordability gap is between markets where incomes have kept pace and those where they have not.
SingleKey’s report highlights that some secondary markets can place a greater financial burden on renters than Toronto or Vancouver even when rent levels are lower, as a result of weaker income growth. In that framing, wages are presented as the strongest driver of affordability rather than rent prices alone.
The report also describes how shared housing can function as a practical response to rent pressure. It notes that dual-income households, roommates, or co-signers can improve affordability by distributing shelter costs across more people. SingleKey adds that larger households are driven not only by traditional family formation, but also by unrelated adults sharing rent.
SingleKey further identifies demographic characteristics of renters on average. The report describes the typical renter as a person with a median age of 33, who is mostly full-time employed and increasingly settled. It says 12% of renters have children and 28% have pets, reflecting renting later into life while starting families.
In B.C., the report states the median renter age is slightly higher at 34. It also says B.C. has the highest share of self-employed renters at 6.9%.
For Vancouver specifically, SingleKey reports that the city has one of the strongest employment profiles among major cities. It states that 76.6% of renters have full-time employment, which it says provides more income stability even as rent costs remain high.
Taken together, the report suggests that while Vancouver’s rental costs remain substantial, the affordability picture is being influenced by how renter incomes are changing over time—shown by the sharp drop in the income share spent on rent from 2025 to 2026.
← More stories