Key facts at a glance
£80,000 UK, net
£56,957/yr
71.2% retained, £4,746/month
Equivalent CAD (Ontario)
C$148,800
£1 = C$1.86 (mid-July 2026)
Ontario net at C$148,800
C$101,876/yr
68.5% retained, C$8,490/month
Here is the answer before the mechanics: a UK salary of £80,000 nets £56,957 a year (£4,746/month) after Income Tax and National Insurance, keeping 71.2% of gross. Converted to CAD at roughly £1 = C$1.86, that's C$148,800, and as an Ontario salary, it nets roughly C$101,876 a year (C$8,490/month) after federal tax, Ontario tax, the Ontario Surtax, the Ontario Health Premium, CPP, CPP2 and EI, keeping 68.5%. The UK comes out ahead at every income band we checked, and the gap widens as salary rises: at £100,000 (C$186,000 equivalent), it's 68.6% UK retention versus 65.7% in Ontario.
That gap isn't down to any single tax being dramatically higher, it's Ontario stacking more separate deductions (federal tax, provincial tax, a surtax, a frozen health premium, and three payroll levies instead of the UK's one) that each take a small additional bite.
Run your own UK figure against the Ontario calculator.
Open the Ontario calculatorHow the comparison actually works, step by step
Start with your UK gross salary and run it through Income Tax (20%/40%/45% bands above the Personal Allowance) and National Insurance (8%/2%) to get your UK net. Convert your target Canadian offer to GBP, or your UK salary to CAD, at a current live rate, we've used £1 = C$1.86, the mid-July 2026 rate, throughout this article, but check a live rate before making any real decision since GBP/CAD moves week to week.
Then run the CAD figure through 2026 CRA federal brackets (14% to 33%) and Ontario provincial brackets (5.05% to 13.16%), add the Ontario Surtax if Ontario tax payable clears roughly $5,818 to $7,307, add the Ontario Health Premium (a step function, not a percentage, capping at $900), and deduct CPP, CPP2 and EI. Six separate deductions instead of the UK's two is exactly why the same converted salary retains less in Ontario, and it's the step most people miss when eyeballing a Canadian offer for the first time.
UK take-home vs Ontario take-home, three salary points
Converted at £1 = C$1.86 (mid-July 2026). The UK retains more at every level shown, and the gap widens as income rises, mostly because the Ontario Surtax and CPP2 both bite harder further up the scale.
| UK gross | CAD equivalent | UK net (retained) | Ontario net (retained) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £60,000 | C$111,600 | £45,357/yr (£3,780/mo) (75.6%) | C$80,525/yr (C$6,710/mo) (72.2%) |
| £80,000 | C$148,800 | £56,957/yr (£4,746/mo) (71.2%) | C$101,876/yr (C$8,490/mo) (68.5%) |
| £100,000 | C$186,000 | £68,557/yr (£5,713/mo) (68.6%) | C$122,215/yr (C$10,185/mo) (65.7%) |
UK net figures from the UK Take-Home Calculator (2026/27 HMRC rates). Ontario net figures from the Ontario Salary Calculator (2026 CRA and Ontario Ministry of Finance rates). See our Ontario Surtax and Health Premium breakdown for the full mechanics behind the Ontario column.
Two caveats: the FX rate, and the Ontario-only scope
This comparison is a point-in-time snapshot at £1 = C$1.86. GBP/CAD moves week to week, so re-check a live rate before treating any of these CAD figures as fixed, especially if you're negotiating an offer or planning a currency transfer for relocation costs.
The second caveat matters just as much: every Ontario figure here is Ontario-specific. British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, and every other province set their own brackets, their own Basic Personal Amount, and in some cases (Quebec especially) an entirely different provincial tax system with no direct Ontario equivalent. If your offer is for Vancouver, Calgary, or Montreal rather than Toronto or another Ontario city, treat only the federal-tax portion of this comparison as transferable.
Relocation basics worth knowing before you compare offers
Ontario residents are covered by OHIP, publicly funded healthcare partly paid for through the Ontario Health Premium already included in the net figures above. Unlike the NHS, OHIP typically doesn't cover dental, vision, or prescription drugs for working-age adults, so most employer offers include extended health benefits, worth confirming as part of any package comparison. CPP and CPP2 build toward a Canadian retirement benefit that isn't automatically portable into a UK pension, so it's worth researching how the two systems interact if you're planning a permanent move rather than a short-term contract.
Cost of living, particularly Toronto housing, is genuinely a separate and important question, but it's out of scope for this take-home comparison. Treat the net-pay numbers above as the tax side of the equation only, and weigh Toronto rents and typical commute patterns separately before finalizing any relocation decision.
Compare your own UK and Ontario offers
Run your UK salary and your Ontario offer side by side, and check a live FX rate before treating either figure as final.
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Frequently asked questions
Is take-home pay actually higher in Canada than the UK?
At the same converted salary, no, the UK generally retains more. Converting a £80,000 UK salary to CAD at roughly £1 = C$1.86 gives C$148,800. As an Ontario salary, that nets roughly C$101,876 a year (C$8,490/month) after federal tax, Ontario tax, the Ontario Surtax, the Ontario Health Premium, CPP, CPP2 and EI, a 68.5% retention rate. The UK salary itself nets £56,957 a year (£4,746/month) after Income Tax and National Insurance, a 71.2% retention rate. The gap widens further up the income scale: at £100,000 (C$186,000 equivalent), the UK retains 68.6% versus Ontario's 65.7%. Ontario's stack of federal tax, provincial tax, the surtax once you clear roughly $95,000, the frozen Health Premium, and three separate payroll deductions (CPP, CPP2, EI) simply adds up to more than the UK's two-deduction system (Income Tax and National Insurance).
Why is Ontario's tax burden higher than the UK's at comparable income?
It comes down to how many separate deductions stack on top of each other. The UK has essentially two: Income Tax (20%/40%/45%) and National Insurance (8%/2%). Ontario has federal tax, Ontario provincial tax, the Ontario Surtax (which only appears once your Ontario tax crosses roughly $5,818, effectively adding a 20 to 56% surcharge on top of provincial tax at higher incomes), the Ontario Health Premium (a frozen step function up to $900/year), plus CPP, the newer CPP2 tier, and EI, three separate payroll levies where the UK has only National Insurance. None of these individually looks huge, but they compound.
Does the FX rate used here change the comparison much?
It can, and it's worth checking a live rate before making any real decision. This comparison uses £1 = C$1.86, the mid-July 2026 rate, but GBP/CAD moves week to week and has ranged meaningfully across single quarters in recent years. A meaningfully weaker or stronger pound shifts every CAD figure in this article proportionally, so treat these numbers as a snapshot for relative comparison, not a fixed guarantee, and re-check the live rate close to when you'd actually be negotiating an offer or transferring relocation funds.
Does this comparison apply if the Canadian role is outside Ontario?
No, not directly. This calculator and comparison are scoped to Ontario only, since Ontario is where the bulk of Canada's tech roles concentrate (Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa). British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, and every other province set their own provincial brackets, their own Basic Personal Amounts, and in some cases entirely different surtax or premium structures (Quebec in particular differs substantially, with its own separate provincial tax system). If your offer is for Vancouver, Calgary, or Montreal, treat the federal-tax portion of these figures as a rough guide and expect the provincial portion to differ meaningfully.
What about the cost of living difference between the UK and Toronto?
That's a genuinely separate question from take-home pay, and Toronto housing costs in particular are high enough to matter a great deal in any real relocation decision. This article is deliberately scoped to the take-home pay comparison itself, since that's the number people get wrong first (missing the surtax, or not realizing CPP2 is a newer, additional deduction on top of base CPP). A full cost-of-living comparison covering rent, groceries, and healthcare extras deserves its own dedicated piece.
Does Canada have free healthcare the way the UK has the NHS?
Broadly similar in spirit, publicly funded and not tied to your employer, but the mechanics differ. Ontario residents are covered by OHIP, funded partly through general taxation and partly through the Ontario Health Premium already included in the net figures above. Unlike the NHS, dental, vision, and prescription drugs typically aren't covered by OHIP for working-age adults, so many Ontario employees carry employer-provided extended health benefits to fill that gap, worth factoring in as a real (if usually employer-paid) cost difference from the UK's more comprehensive NHS coverage.
Is Canada's CPP the same thing as a UK pension?
Similar in purpose (both are compulsory retirement contribution systems), but structurally different. UK National Insurance doesn't fund a personal retirement pot the way CPP does; CPP and CPP2 are genuinely deducted from your pay and build toward a defined Canada Pension Plan retirement benefit. It is not automatically portable into a UK state pension, and the two systems interact through specific international social security agreements rather than a direct transfer, so it's worth researching how UK and Canadian pension credits combine if you're planning a permanent move.
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