Driven by food inflation and rising rent costs, Kamloops living wage sits at $24.45 per hour

“Having weathered the storm of several years of rental costs increasing and food costs increasing, there is some hope on the horizon,” French said. “Landlords aren’t cutting anyone’s rents, so rent is still rising generally across the board but they’re not rising at the rate that we’ve seen in previous years. Food costs continue to rise because of climate change, supply chain issues and other kinds of factors, so we need to get more of a grip on food affordability.”

Living Wage BC considers the costs of a single person, a single parent and a family of four when weighing one living wage in the province.

“We don’t want to have employers hiring one group of workers because they’re cheaper than another,” French says.

In its calculation, Living Wage BC believes a single person in Kamloops — assuming they live in a one-bedroom home and own a car — needs a living wage of $0.50 greater than the wage-earners in a family of four. Living Wage BC also has the living wage of a single parent in Kamloops close to the province’s minimum hourly wage of $17.85, citing government support.

“It shows the power government policy can have when it’s targeted and helping certain groups of people,” French told CFJC Today. “Unfortunately, single people without children haven’t been getting that support and their costs are rising. They’re not getting that support from the government to help them.”

Compared to neighbouring communities, the living wage in Kamloops is $0.35 higher than Vernon but $1.50 and $0.65 lower than Kelowna and Penticton, respectively. According to French, rental costs is the driving factor for Kamloops having a lower living wage than Kelowna and Penticton.

As of the 2025 report, French said there are around 10 to 15 employers in Kamloops who have committed to paying a living wage.

“It lowers staff turnover, improves retention and makes for a happier, more successful workforce,” she said. “As the living wage has jumped, we’ve seen a bit of a stagnation in a number of new living wage employers joining us, and we know it’s a hard time right now for many small businesses, but we hope that by producing this report we can encourage more employers to step up and join us.”

While noting food inflation is a question mark, French hopes rental costs come down and the provincial government continues to rollout $10-a-day child care to drive down the living wage in Kamloops and the province.

More details on the 2025 Living Wage BC Report can be found here.

by Aaron Schulze

Driven by food inflation and rising rent costs, Kamloops living wage sits at $24.45 per hour

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