Nunavut's Minimum Wage Hits $20.17 — First in Canada Above $20, Effective September 1, 2026

Canada's first $20-an-hour minimum wage

Nunavut's general minimum wage rose from $19.75 to $20.17 an hour on September 1, 2026 — a 42-cent increase (about 2.1%) that makes it the first minimum wage anywhere in Canada to pass $20. The Government of Nunavut announced the new rate on June 30, 2026, calculated under the territory's annual formula, which combines the change in the Consumer Price Index for Iqaluit and Nunavut with the change in the territory's average hourly wage over the previous year.

The Northwest Territories raised its own minimum wage the same day, from $16.95 to $17.20 an hour — a 25-cent increase (about 1.5%), confirmed by the Government of the Northwest Territories and reported by CBC News. It is the fourth consecutive year the GNWT has used its current CPI-and-average-hourly-wage formula.

We ran both new rates through the CanPay Insights tax engine (2026 federal and territorial brackets, CPP, and EI) to see exactly what they are worth after tax.

The rates, in one table

What it's actually worth after tax

Full-time hours (40/week, 2,080/year), 2026 federal and territorial tax rates, CPP, EI, and basic personal amounts only:

Calculated by CanPay Insights using the 2026 tax engine for a single worker with no other income or credits, paid biweekly (26 pay periods).

A minimum-wage worker keeps roughly 76 cents of every extra dollar in Nunavut ($662 of the $874 gross raise) and about 74 cents on the dollar in NWT ($385 of the $520 gross raise) — the rest goes to federal tax, territorial tax, CPP, and EI.

Where Nunavut and NWT now rank nationally

Nunavut was already Canada's highest minimum wage before this increase; it now pulls further ahead. NWT's raise doesn't change its rank, but it widens the gap behind it:

Yukon, BC, and Ontario rates are unchanged as of this writing. Ontario rises to $17.95 on October 1, 2026. For the full 13-jurisdiction ranking, see our minimum wage take-home pay study.

Nunavut's $20.17 is now $1.66 above Yukon's $18.51 (the next-highest in Canada), $1.92 above BC's $18.25, and more than $2.00 above the federal minimum wage of $18.15 that applies to federally regulated employers. NWT, at $17.20, has closed to within $151 a year of Ontario's take-home pay despite a wage rate 40 cents lower — a reminder that low territorial income tax, not just the hourly rate, drives take-home pay in the North.

A busy fall for minimum wage across Canada

Nunavut and NWT's September 1 increases are the first of several this fall. Five more provinces raise their minimum wage on October 1, 2026: Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, plus Saskatchewan. Between September 1 and October 1, seven of Canada's 13 provinces and territories will have raised their minimum wage.

See your own numbers

These figures assume a single worker with no other income or credits. Check your own paycheque with the free Nunavut paycheck calculator or Northwest Territories paycheck calculator, read the Nunavut take-home pay guide or Northwest Territories take-home pay guide, or compare either territory against every other province with compare provinces.

Sources & disclaimer

Rate and effective-date figures are based on the Government of Nunavut's June 30, 2026 announcement and the Government of the Northwest Territories' announcement, cross-checked against CBC News and Bloomberg Tax coverage of both increases. Take-home pay figures are calculated with the CanPay Insights tax engine using 2026 federal and territorial tax rates, full-time hours (2,080/year), a single worker, and basic personal amounts only — real paycheques vary with credits, benefits, and actual hours worked. This is general information, not tax advice.