On raw median after-tax household income, Brampton is actually #1 of the 15 largest municipalities at $98,000. The word “Household” does a LOT of heavy lifting in that sentence
For a one-person household, Brampton drops into a tie around 6th, at $40,400. Who does this include? Young adults moving out of their family homes to start a career. A portion of the labour force that large employers are very interested in.
But remember:
Median rents in Brampton are $1,502 per month. On before tax median earnings of $3,366 per month of gross earnings, ignoring taxes for a minute, we are already talking about 45% of your gross income going to rent. That’s huge, especially if the social value of living in Brampton vs Toronto is arguably not in place.
Also consider that 59.2% of people work outside of Brampton, and 85.9% commute via car. Even assuming a young professional wishes to take transit, the cost of commuting gets deducted from the remainder of your gross income. Not to mention the time cost of commuting. Thats also significant. Cars cost hundreds of dollars a month to own, insure and maintain.
Its no wonder we lose the young professional demographic. There is little justification for them to stay in Brampton as they start their careers. Its too expensive, and the smaller the numbers, the lonelier it is as well.
But retaining that demographic is one of the keys to attracting large, or new and emerging businesses to Brampton to set up corporate head offices.
As Mayor, deploying the tools available as a municipality and a region to build the affordable housing and transit connectivity needed to attract and retain young talent will be a high priority for my administration.
Four Years. One City. Let’s Build.