The UK keeps more at every level, but the interesting part is where the two nearly meet. At the equivalent of £120,000 a UK employee keeps 63.5% and an Ontario employee 63.3%, a gap of two tenths of a point.
At £50,000 the gap is 6.1 points. The convergence is not Canada easing off; it is the UK's personal allowance taper dragging the UK line down exactly where Ontario's is flattening.
Gap at £50,000
6.1 pts
79.0% against 73.0%
Gap at £120,000
0.2 pts
effectively identical
Province modelled
Ontario
surtax and health premium included
Ontario is not Canada. Compare the provinces.
Open the Province ComparatorWhere the two systems nearly meet
The share of gross kept after federal and Ontario tax, the Ontario surtax, the Ontario Health Premium, CPP and EI. Independent of the exchange rate.
| Equivalent salary | UK keeps | Ontario keeps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | 83.7% | 77.8% | 5.9 pts |
| £50,000 | 79.0% | 73.0% | 6.1 pts |
| £80,000 | 71.2% | 68.5% | 2.7 pts |
| £120,000 | 63.5% | 63.3% | 0.2 pts |
| £200,000 | 58.9% | 56.9% | 2.0 pts |
The gap narrows to almost nothing and then reopens. If you are comparing offers at around £120,000 equivalent, tax is simply not the deciding factor between these two countries.
Two Ontario lines with no UK equivalent
The Ontario surtax is a tax on your Ontario tax, not on your income. It applies at 20% of Ontario tax above one threshold and a further 36% above a second, and the tiers stack, so the marginal surtax rate reaches 56% of Ontario tax at higher incomes. It is a large part of why Ontario's effective rate climbs faster than its published brackets suggest.
The Ontario Health Premium is an income-tested annual charge structured as a step function with ramps between plateaus, from nothing below C$20,000 to a C$900 cap above about C$200,600. It has not been indexed since 2004, so it captures more people in real terms every year without any announcement.
Neither has a UK counterpart, and both are easy to miss when reading Ontario's headline brackets. Our guide to the surtax and health premium works through both.
CPP and EI stop, and your payslip changes mid-year
Unlike National Insurance, both CPP and EI have annual maximum contributions. Once you reach them your take-home visibly increases for the remainder of the year, which catches people out in both directions: a strong autumn payslip is not a raise, and January's drop is not a pay cut. Our CPP and EI maximum guide shows when it happens at different salaries.
The same three salaries in cash
Converted at £1 = C$1.8705, European Central Bank reference rates, 23 September 2026, Ontario. Check the live rate; the percentages above do not move with it.
| UK gross | Canadian gross | UK net | Ontario net |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | C$93,526 | £39,520 (£3,293/mo) | C$69,677 (C$5,806/mo) |
| £80,000 | C$149,641 | £56,957 (£4,746/mo) | C$104,117 (C$8,676/mo) |
| £120,000 | C$224,461 | £76,157 (£6,346/mo) | C$143,731 (C$11,978/mo) |
How these figures were produced
PayMetric Labs' own calculations with our UK and Canadian tax engines at 2026 rates. Canada is federal plus Ontario, including the income-tested basic personal amount, the Ontario surtax, the Ontario Health Premium, CPP and EI. No RRSP contributions; no UK pension contributions, salary sacrifice or student loan. Other provinces will differ, in some cases substantially.
Compare your own two offers
Use the actual province, since Alberta and Quebec produce very different answers from Ontario.
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Frequently asked questions
Does the UK or Canada leave you with more of your salary?
The UK, at every level on these figures, but the two almost converge in the middle. At the equivalent of £50,000 the UK keeps 79.0% of gross against 73.0% in Ontario, a gap of 6.1 points. At £120,000 the gap is just 0.2 points, 63.5% against 63.3%. They are effectively the same at that salary.
Why do they converge at £120,000?
Because the UK's personal allowance taper bites hardest exactly there. Between £100,000 and £125,140 a UK earner faces an effective 60% marginal rate, which pulls the UK line down sharply just as the Canadian line is flattening. Above that band the UK recovers slightly and edges ahead again.
Which province do these figures use?
Ontario, including the Ontario surtax and the Ontario Health Premium. Canadian provinces differ substantially, so this is a specific answer rather than a national one. Alberta, for example, has no provincial surtax or health premium, while Quebec runs its own system entirely with different rates and its own pension plan.
What is the Ontario surtax?
A tax on your Ontario tax rather than on your income. It applies at 20% of Ontario tax above one threshold and a further 36% above a second, so the two tiers stack to a 56% marginal surtax rate on Ontario tax at higher incomes. It is one of the reasons Ontario's effective rate climbs faster than its headline brackets suggest, and it has no UK equivalent.
What is the Ontario Health Premium?
An income-tested annual premium built as a step function with phase-in ramps between plateaus, running from nothing below C$20,000 up to a C$900 cap above roughly C$200,600. The table has not been indexed since it was introduced in 2004, so it quietly captures more people in real terms each year.
Do CPP and EI stop at a ceiling like National Insurance?
They stop entirely, which National Insurance does not. Both CPP and EI have annual maximum contributions, so once you hit them mid-year your take-home visibly rises for the rest of the year. That is a real cash-flow pattern worth planning around, and it is part of why the Canadian effective rate flattens through the upper middle of the range.
How reliable is the currency conversion here?
Treat it as illustrative and check the live rate. The percentages are the durable part, because the share of gross you keep does not depend on the exchange rate. The rate used is stated and dated beside the cash table above, and comes from the European Central Bank's daily reference rates.
What does this comparison leave out?
Provincial variation, since these are Ontario figures. RRSP contributions, which are deductible and a major Canadian planning lever. TFSA, which is not deductible but tax-free on growth. UK pension salary sacrifice and student loan repayments. And provincial healthcare, which is funded differently from the NHS but broadly comparable in effect.
Figures are PayMetric Labs' own calculations using our UK and Canadian tax engines at 2026 rates, for federal plus Ontario tax with CPP and EI, against a single UK taxpayer with no pension contributions or student loan. RRSP contributions are excluded and other provinces differ. Currency conversions use £1 = C$1.8705, European Central Bank reference rates, 23 September 2026 and will drift; the percentages do not depend on the rate. General information only, not personal tax advice.