Canadian Income Survey (CIS)

Start your survey

Have you been invited to participate in this survey via email or mail? To log in to the survey, complete the following steps.

Step 1: Visit the electronic questionnaire portal and select Start my survey.

Step 2: Enter your secure access code (you will find this code in the invitation letter or email you previously received from Statistics Canada).

Step 3: Complete the survey.

Are you missing your secure access code, or do you need help?

Phone:

1-877-949-9492
(TTY: 1-800-363-7629)
Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern time

If you use an operator-assisted relay service, you can call us during regular business hours. You do not need to authorize the operator to contact us.

Email:

The information collected will be used to complement the Labour Force Survey in order to monitor the economic well-being of individuals and families.

Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.


Collection period:

From Sunday, January 21 to Monday, February 5, 2024
From Sunday, February 18 to Monday, March 4, 2024
From Sunday, March 17 to Monday, April 1, 2024
From Sunday, April 21 to Monday, May 6, 2024
From Sunday, May 19 to Monday, June 3, 2024
From Sunday, June 16 to Tuesday, July 2, 2024


Collection methods:

Electronic questionnaire, telephone interview and personal interview


Survey participation:

Voluntary

Your participation in this survey is voluntary. However, since each household represents many other similar households across Canada, it is important that the selected households participate. This ensures that accurate information is available for all provinces and territories, and at the national level. For scientific reasons, we cannot replace your household with another one. Every household that does not participate reduces the amount of data that we collect.

Confidentiality

Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19.

Data sharing agreements and record linkage

To enhance the data from this survey and reduce response burden, Statistics Canada will combine the information you provide with personal tax data. Statistics Canada may also combine the information you provide with data from other surveys or administrative sources.

Topics covered in the survey

The survey asks questions about

  • labour market activity
  • school attendance
  • support payments
  • child care expenses
  • income
  • disability
  • unmet health care needs
  • housing
  • food security.

Published data

Statistics Canada publishes the results of its surveys in many formats. To find all the documents related to this survey, follow the links below and type the name of the survey in the search engine located at the left of your screen to filter the results.

Data: You will find tables, profiles of a community or region, thematic maps, public use microdata files, and data visualization tools.

Analysis: You will have direct access to Stats in brief (e.g., releases from The Daily, fact sheets), articles and reports, and journals and periodicals.

Survey-specific questions

What is the Canadian Income Survey?

The Canadian Income Survey is a supplement to the Labour Force Survey. It is a cross-sectional survey that collects data about income, labour market activity, school attendance, support payments, disability, unmet health care needs, food security, and characteristics and costs of housing. The information collected will be used to complement the Labour Force Survey in order to monitor the economic well-being of individuals and families.

Who is surveyed?

Approximately 70,000 households are surveyed throughout all provinces and territories. Information is collected for all household members 15 years of age and older.

It is also important that the Canadian Income Survey includes all types of households, whether they consist of parents with their children, seniors only, students only, or one person living alone. Each and every household is typical of many others like it and some users of Canadian Income Survey data will be interested in working-age respondents while others are looking at retirement or other seniors' issues.

Why was my household selected?

It would be very expensive, and not very practical, to survey every household in Canada. Instead, Statistics Canada uses a statistical method called sampling. It is an established way to determine characteristics of an entire population by surveying only part of the population. Every region is included with people from all walks of life.

During this process, your address was initially chosen and not you personally. The people in your household represent hundreds of other Canadians in similar households. To ensure that the sample is an accurate reflection of the population as a whole, it is important to have the participation of all selected respondents.

When will the results be available?

As soon as data from a particular year of the Canadian Income Survey have been processed, the survey results are announced in The Daily, Statistics Canada's official release bulletin.

For more information about this survey