Teachers at these universities are among Canada’s highest median salaries, new data reveals

As post secondary education becomes more expensive many parents worry they won’t be able to afford it.

Teachers from Canada’s highest paying universities have median salaries of nearly $200,000, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

The three post-secondary institutions with the highest median salaries were the University of Waterloo ($198,125), the University of British Columbia ($198,000) and Queen’s University ($197,050).

Some of the highest paying institutions saw median salaries jump by about a third in the last decade, according to the data published Thursday by Statistics Canada, in what they referred to as a partial release.

The three schools with the highest year-over-year median salary hikes were all in Ontario. In 2025-26, the University of Guelph’s median salary jumped from $166,750 to $190,250; Carleton University’s median pay rose from $157,100 to $176,525 and the University of Ottawa’s went from $181,450 to $190,625.

A median is the middle of a group of values, in this case the midpoint between the highest and lowest teaching salaries at Canadian universities.

Staff sizes

The size of school staffs stayed mostly consistent with numbers during the 2015-2016 academic year.

The University of Alberta gained 141 teaching positions since 2015-2016. The University of British Columbia added 285 teaching jobs, and Dalhousie University added 180 in the same period.

Some major metropolitan universities, including University of Toronto, Concordia, McMaster, and others were not included in this Statistics Canada release.

The number of total jobs in the education sector shrunk in March, according to other StatCan data. The education sector lost more than 4,100 jobs, the third-largest dip among industries tracked.

Changing Canadian schools

The data comes amid ongoing shakeups in Canadian universities.

Tuition is expected to increase by about 30 per cent over the next 20 years, according to a 2025 report.

Canada has been working to attract global talent, particularly academics working in the United States amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing crackdown against higher education institutions.

Gabriel Miller, leader of Universities Canada, told CTV News in March that changing federal policy has damaged Canada’s international reputation as a stable study site.

Ontario, where the most students from abroad go to study, lost nearly 100,000 international students between the 2023-2024 and 2025-2026 academic years.

Miller told CTV News in April that Canada is “falling behind” in its efforts to attract top talent. Student visas dropped by more than 60 per cent in 2025, according to Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada data analyzed by Apply Board.

Miller suggested to CTV News that a combination of chronic underfunding of Canadian schools and the major drop in international students, who pay significantly higher tuitions than domestic students, has resulted in Canadian higher education being “hit hard.”