Question
I am looking for postal code and poverty index/income level across Canada. I have found some low income data but is there anything else?
Answer
Data from the T1 Tax File uses LIM (low income measure), specifically Family, tables 17 (before-tax) and table 18 (after-tax). Postal code data is available, but only as a custom request, which can be costly. There are very strict rules governing the use of postal code data and if your client goes that route then I could send you the guidelines for the client to produce a conversion file.
Another possibility are FSA’s (forward sortation areas), which are the first three characters of an urban postal code, i.e. K1E, K2B etc. The client could receive Family, tables 17 and 18 for all FSA’s and Rural Postal Codes in Canada, cost would be $151.26 + taxes for the most current reference year, 2013. If the client adds more tables or years, then the cost will rise. Adding geography does not impact on the cost for standard tables.
It’s very important that the client understand what an FSA means, therefore I copied the definition right out of the user’s guide.
Definition of FSA:
The urban Forward Sortation Area (FSA, identified by the first three characters of the Postal Code) includes residential addresses covered by the first three characters of a Postal Code in a particular urban area. Only residential FSAs are considered for these databanks. Postal Codes within urban FSAs for which the mail delivery is based on Suburban Service delivery or on Rural Route delivery(level of geography 05 and 04) are excluded from these FSAs, but are included in the City Total (level of geography 08). Non-residential postal codes defined as Other Urban Area (level of geography 08) are also excluded from Urban FSAs, but are included in the City Total (level of geography 08).
Only urban residential FSAs are considered for these databanks. One FSA can be split in different parts if it is associated with more than one postal city.
Custom tabulations can be produced on a cost recovery basis for data based on complete urban and rural FSAs.
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Another possibility for low income statistics is from the Canadian Income Survey. Data can be found within CANSIM series 206. FSA’s are not available from CIS.
