Many Canadians are entering each pay period with much of their income already committed as sustained cost pressures continue to reshape household budgets, lifestyle decisions, and financial progress. According to the latest MNP Consumer Debt Index, three in five Canadians (61%) say at least half of their income is already committed to bills, debt payments, and regular expenses before it arrives. A third (32%) say most of their paycheque is already committed before it arrives, and one in six (16%) say all of it is spoken for or their expenses exceed their upcoming income payment.
“Many Canadians are not just living paycheque to paycheque, they are entering each pay period with much of that paycheque already committed before it arrives,” says Grant Bazian, president of MNP LTD, the country’s largest insolvency firm. “The difference is that the next paycheque is not a reset point. It is already assigned to bills, debt payments, and regular expenses. That may help people stay current in the short term, but it can also create a rolling shortfall, where each paycheque is used to catch up from the last one. This leaves households more vulnerable when costs rise, income changes, or debt payments become harder to manage.”
Details behind MNP’s Consumer Debt Index, along with media coverage and our provincial and national news releases can be found below. To view data from previous releases of the MNP Consumer Debt Index, visit our Historical Data page.
Browse through our previous MNP Consumer Debt Index results.
Archives arrow_forwardMNP LTD, a division of the national accounting firm MNP LLP, is the largest insolvency practice in Canada. For more than 50 years, our experienced team of Licensed Insolvency Trustees and advisors have been working with individuals to help them recover from times of financial distress and regain control of their finances. With more than 240 offices from coast to coast, MNP helps thousands of Canadians each year who are struggling with an overwhelming amount of debt. Visit MNPdebt.ca to contact a Licensed Insolvency Trustee or use our free Do-it-Yourself (DIY) debt assessment tools. For regular, bite-sized insights about debt and personal finances, subscribe to the MNP 3-Minute Debt Break Podcast.
The MNP Consumer Debt Index measures Canadians’ attitudes toward their consumer debt and gauges their ability to pay their bills, endure unexpected expenses, and absorb interest-rate fluctuations without approaching insolvency. Conducted by Ipsos and updated quarterly, the Index is an industry-leading barometer of financial pressure or relief among Canadians.
Now in its thirty-seventh wave, the Index has increased modestly to 91 points. Visit MNPdebt.ca/CDI to learn more.
The data was compiled by Ipsos on behalf of MNP LTD between June 11 and June 16, 2026. For this survey, a sample of 2,000 Canadians aged 18 years and over was interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error.
2026-07-13
MNP Consumer Debt Index
Atlantic Canadians (68%) are more likely than those in other provinces to say at least half of their income is already committed to bills, debt payments, and regular expenses before it arrives.
2026-07-13
MNP Consumer Debt Index
According to the latest MNP Consumer Debt Index, three in five Canadians (61%) say at least half of their income is already committed to bills, debt payments, and regular expenses before it arrives.
2026-07-13
MNP Consumer Debt Index
According to the latest MNP Consumer Debt Index, nearly three in five British Columbians (58%) say at least half of their income is already committed to bills, debt payments, and regular expenses before it arrives.
