By both prevailing measures, Prince George and area had a lower percentage of low-income people than for Canada and British Columbia, according to recently-released Statistics Canada numbers from the 2016 census.
When measured in terms of the low-income cutoff - the level at which 20 percentage points more than the average of a family's income is spent on food, shelter and clothing - 10.7 per cent of the population were below the line on a before-tax basis in 2015, down from 13.4 in 2005.
After-taxes, the percentage declined to 7.6 per cent compared to from 10 per cent in 2005.
For B.C., the level stood at 14.4 before tax, down from 17.3 in 2005. And after tax, it dropped to 11 from 13.1 in 2005.
For Canada, before tax it declined to 12.8 from 15.3 in 2005, and after tax, it stood at 9.2, compared to 11.4 in 2005.
For a community the size of Prince George, the before-tax LICO varied from $21,055 per year for a single person to $39,124 for a family of four to $55,719 for a family of seven or more by Statscan's measurement.
Looking at low-income measure - set at 50 per cent of adjusted median household income - 14.8 per cent of Prince George residents lived below that line before tax, down from 15.6 in 2005. After tax, the proportion was 12.6, down from 13.4 in 2005.
For B.C., it was remained steady at 18.8 before tax and after tax rose marginally to 15.5 from 15.4.
And for Canada, it was 17.5 before tax, down slightly from 17.6 in 2005, while after tax it was 14.2 per cent, up from 14.0 per cent in 2005.
According to the census, the median after-tax income for a Prince George household was $67,399. For a one-person household, it was $33,689 and for a household of more than one, it was $82,601.
Either way, the numbers are nothing to celebrate as far as Iglika Ivanova is concerned. The economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says anyone living at or below LICO or LIM levels is effectively living in poverty.
"The people who have income less than that are living in strained circumstances, really hard times," she said.
For Ivanova, a "living wage" as calculated by the CCPA, is a better measure of whether a family can make ends meet. Although still a "basic-needs-type budget," she said the threshold provides more security and less worry about whether the wage earner will be able to pay rent, buy groceries and stay out of debt.
"If somebody earned a living wage, they are o.k." Ivanova said. "You don't have to worry about them as opposed to someone at the poverty line, who I would say would need more help."
For a family of four, it works out to just under $59.659.60 a year. Once such transfers as the GST credit and the child benefit are included it rises to about $63,900 before taxes.
"That's almost double the low-income cut-off," Ivanova noted.
