Rural areas of P.E.I. lead in household income, census shows

The richest areas of P.E.I. are not the cities and towns, according to information from the 2021 census.

The census divided the province up into 98 communities — known as census agglomerations — and included the median household income for 76 of them.

Charlottetown ($58,000) and Summerside ($56,000) ranked toward the bottom of the list, at 62nd and 67th respectively. Both were well below the provincial average of $64,000.

The urban areas of Tignish, Alberton, O'Leary and Souris rounded out the bottom of the list, all with median household incomes under $50,000.

The rural areas around the towns and cities tended to be toward the higher end of the scale.

Household income in Souris West, just across the river from Souris, was $73,000, which is $31,000 more than the median income in the town.

Similarly, Up West, in the area surrounding the town of Tignish, the median income was $74,500, while it was just $49,200 in the town itself.

Many of the areas surrounding Charlottetown had incomes in the $80,000 range, including Crossroads, North Shore, Warren Grove and West River. The highest median household income in the province was recorded in Kingston, at $89,000.

Lennox Island rises up

The province's two cities did manage a bit of catch-up with the rest of the province since the 2016 census.

Median incomes in Charlottetown (14.2 per cent) and Summerside (11.1 per cent) both grew above the provincial average rate of 10.3 per cent.

O'Leary (11.5 per cent) also gained some ground.

But Tignish (7.9 per cent), Alberton (5.3 per cent) and Souris (2.9 per cent) all fell behind.

The highest income growth in the province was on Lennox Island, which saw incomes rise 32.2 per cent to $62,400.

That raised the Indigenous community from the fifth poorest on the Island to just below average, ranking at 49th.

More stories about P.E.I. and the 2021 census