Income growth in Hamilton over the past decade was the highest of Ontario's five largest metropolitan areas, according to new census data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

That, along with a noticeable drop in the city's poverty rate, is the good news.

The bad news is that Ontario's income performance between 2005 and 2015 lagged far behind every other province and territory in Canada.

Median total household income in the Hamilton census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, grew by 5.3 per cent over the past decade, substantially better than the 3.8 per cent rise in income across Ontario as a whole.

But the Hamilton CMA's income growth was just half of the national average of 10.8 per cent between 2005 and 2015.

Hamilton's growth rate was better than Toronto, which grew 3.3 per cent, and London, which saw its median income shrink by 2 per cent over a decade.

Median total household income in the Hamilton CMA rose from $71,660 in 2005 to about $75,460 in 2015.

At the municipal level, Hamilton and Burlington each grew by 5.5 per cent, while Grimsby's median household income edged up by 1.6 per cent.

Between 2005 and 2015, Hamilton's household income rose from $65,440 to $69,020, Burlington's went from $88,740 to $93,590 and Grimsby's rose from $91,720 to $93,150.

Hamilton's steady income growth is likely a function of an unemployment rate that has been one of the lowest in Ontario for several years, according to Sara Mayo, a social planner with the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton.

"We have the most diverse economy in all of Canada so it would make sense that the income data in general would look better," Mayo said.

At the national level, though, the story was Ontario's stagnant income growth compared to the rest of the country.

Saskatchewan's median income grew by nearly 37 per cent between 2005 and 2015, more than three times the Canadian rate. Even the worst performing census area in Saskatchewan still grew at twice the national rate.

Nunavut's median income also rose by nearly 37 per cent, and the income growth rate in the Northwest Territories was nearly 25 per cent, about the same as Alberta.

Newfoundland and Labrador, at 29 per cent growth in income, and Manitoba at just over 20 per cent also significantly outperformed the national average.

"An important factor in the economic story of Canada over the decade was high resource prices that drew investment and people to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador," Statistics Canada reports in the latest release of data.

"This boom in the resource sector coincided with a decline in the manufacturing sector," the report added. "The bulk of these manufacturing job losses were in Ontario and Quebec."

Hamilton's poverty rate dropped from 18.1 to 16.7 per cent over the past decade.

Mayo cites three factors that may have helped: an increase of about 50 per cent in the minimum wage between 2005 and 2015, better child tax benefits and the city's low unemployment rate.

"But we also know that many low income people are being pushed out of Hamilton because of increased rents," Mayo said.

"The problem isn't being solved; it's just being moved around the province," she added, "so that's something that needs more attention."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Mayo also noted there are still about 88,000 people living in poverty in Hamilton, "so it's still a huge number."

Across the country, Statistics Canada found a shift in poverty, with a smaller proportion of children living in poverty but a growing number of seniors below the poverty line