High-income Canadians grew richer between 1992 and 2004, while the rest of the population made little financial progress, according to a new study released today by Statistics Canada.

The study, which used used tax returns to explore trends among high-income earners, found the 5% of the taxfiling population accounted for 25% of total income in 2004, up from about 21% in 1992.

Between 1992 and 2004, constant-dollar income for people in the top 20% of the taxfiler population rose substantially, and the gains got bigger the higher up the income distribution. However, individuals in the rest of the population generally saw little improvement in constant-dollar income.

An annual income of $89,000 was enough to put an individual among the 1.2 million Canadians who made up the top 5% of the country’s taxfiler population in 2004.

Similarly, an income of $181,000 was sufficient to put someone among the 237,000 people in the top 1% of the taxfiler population.

But to be part of the richest one-hundredth of a percent (0.01%) of taxfilers, Canadians had to have income of more than $2.8 million, the study found.

Of the 1.2 million Canadians who comprised the top 5% of income recipients in 2004, three-quarters were men, even though men were a minority (48%) of individual income recipients in general.

In 1982, women accounted for one in seven of the top 5% of income earners; by 2004, they accounted for one in four. However, their share of the top 0.01% declined from 12% to 11%.

The study found that the prevalence of high income peaked in the pre-retirement years. In 2004, individuals aged 45 to 64 represented 33% of all income recipients, but they were the majority in the top 5% (54%).

In the top 0.01%, taxfilers aged 45 to 64 accounted for three out of every five individuals.

Taxfilers aged 25 to 44 were the second largest group in the top 5% of high-income recipients. However, seniors were in second place in the top 0.01%, accounting for 23%.

Over three-quarters (78%) of all high-income individuals were married, as were 83% of the top 0.01%.

Almost half (46%) of the top 5% of the taxfiler population lived in Ontario. Quebec was a distant second, at 18%, followed by Alberta (15%) and British Columbia (13%).

Among the top 0.01% of the taxfiler population, more than one-half (51%) lived in Ontario. However, Alberta was second at 23%, while Quebec was fourth at just 10%.