According to the data, the average household income in the oilsands sits at $131,676, surpassing both Calgary (at $120,566) and Edmonton (at $112,565)

Fort McMurray is known for being Alberta’s oil rich region, and new data reveals that wealth continues to trickle down to residents – renters specifically, who are keeping more money in their pockets even after making rent payments.

The Rent Cheque: 2026 Rental Intelligence Report, by Single Key – a Canadian risk intelligence platform – showed rent as a share of household income is one of the lowest of any market in the country, at just 20.5 per cent – a number that is nearly 10 per cent below the 28.1 per cent national average.

According to the report, data was analyzed by parsing through “hundreds of thousands” of rental applications processed via the platform across numerous data points to determine who the average renter was, affordability and risk signals for the second quarter of 2026.

The report highlights income as a major factor playing into this wealth index.

Household incomes are “gross household incomes,” the report defines, which means that they are a total of all incomes earned in any singular rented home. While personal incomes are “single household applicants” where “applicants with a co-signer are excluded, since their rent is financially backed by someone else.”

Fort McMurray, amongst its neighboring regions, has the highest household and personal incomes of any Alberta market: The average household income, according to the data, sits at $131,676 – surpassing both Calgary (at $120,566) and Edmonton (at $112,565). While personal income, at $87,623, remains one of the highest in any secondary market, surpassing Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Medicine Hat.

According to the report, “the average Canadian renter earns a personal income of $72,900 and a household income of $113,900. Rent alone consumes a little bit over one-quarter (28.1%) of earnings, and if debts are factored in, overall financial strain is increased to one-third (33.8%).

This puts Fort McMurray well below national averages of both household income (at 20.5 per cent, which is 7.6 per cent lower than the national average) and personal rent-to-income at 33.4%, which is well below the national average of 40.8%.

SingleKey CEO, Viler Lika, told Postmedia Fort McMurray’s household rent-to-income is “the lowest” he has seen.

He explained that the rent-to-income ratio is one of the most important ways of measuring affordability in the context of any given region.

“If you’re in a low-income territory and you’re paying low rent, relative affordability is still not great. It’s about how much of your bills are left relative to your income,” he said.

The data also showed Fort McMurray houses the highest shares of renters in full-time employment in the country, at 88.2 per cent; and with these strong employment rates, comes about lower decline rates.

The rental application decline rate in Fort McMurray, the report found, is only 4.2 per cent – a stark contrast to some of Alberta’s larger regional markets like Red Deer, which has a decline rate of a staggering 30 per cent, and much lower than Edmonton’s 12.7 per cent, which is the lowest of all other major Albertan markets.

This means that most tenants in Fort McMurray are getting approved for their desired rentals, signaling trust in the market.

With nearly 90 per cent of applicants in full-time employment in the region, landlords and property owners may worry less about job security, as the average earner in Fort McMurray is typically making more than any Albertan, meaning there is even less anxiety geared towards getting those rent payments each month.

Long-time property manager, Jessie Wyatt, explained there could be other factors playing into the shockingly low rental application decline rates in Fort McMurray.

In the past 13 years of her career, the market value of rentals has shown a steady decrease. Rent prices, as the report indicates, fell “1.1 per cent, year-over-year,” bringing the average price to just a little over $1700 per month.

“I can remember, at one point, we were renting a two-bedroom apartment for $3,200 in Timberlea per month, now those same apartments might be $2,100 a month,” Wyatt said, pointing out that “tenants who were in a one-bedroom apartment can now afford a two-bedroom apartment, or if they were in just the upper level of a house, they could now afford a full house.”

Wyatt said because the prices had changed so drastically in such a short period of time, property owners were more likely to accept lower rent payments to keep their properties, but now, she said, the rent prices in the region are on “a nice incline.”

“We’re starting to see some hope. We’re starting to see some financial stability.”

As more oilsands companies mandate their current contract workers to live locally, Fort McMurray may continue to see an influx of new residents, increasing the demand for rental units.

One major hurdle for Fort McMurray’s high earning renters is debt.

The report highlighted that when debt is included, Fort McMurray’s personal rent-to-income ratio surges to 58.0 per cent. An alarming 37.5 per cent increase takes a cut out of left-over wealth.

Lika described the region as a “unique market,” where incomes are high, but so are risks such as debts and bankruptcy “such as unpaid utility bills, telecommunications balances, or other delinquent accounts,” which eat up a large chunk of personal income despite high wages and steady employment.

This shows up for renters as a negative in credit health. While national credit averages sit somewhere around the 700-mark, Fort McMurray’s renters sit at a whole 40 points below that benchmark at around 660.

The bankruptcy rate (7.9%) is also among the highest of any city, the report showed.

But perhaps where Fort McMurray boasts much of its financial strength is through its low average in adults per household. The report notes that in most major markets, rental affordability highly depends on multiple income earners where house-sharing is a no-brainer to save costs.

While unrelated adults sharing a single home becomes the norm for many cities, Fort McMurray has the lowest average number of adults per household of any major market, with more independent renters and few roommates.

Wyatt said a possible contributing factor towards residents’ high debts could be lifestyle choices, describing Fort McMurray as a “work hard, play hard town.”

“We live in a town where people enjoy nice things, and they can provide those nice things for themselves. So with that comes debt,’ she said.

“You want to go camping, and you want to take your kids out of their quads, their dirt bikes, and give them that outdoor life. I think that’s incredibly important to a lot of people here.”

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