Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition office. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – While the territory’s overall poverty rate appears below the national average, a new report suggests it’s a different story in rural communities.
The Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition’s ‘Yukon Poverty Report Card 2025’ found that 9.9 per cent of Yukoners lived in poverty in 2023, slightly under Canada’s 10.2 per cent rate. The poverty in Whitehorse is seven per cent, but outside the capital, the issue is much larger.
The poverty rate in Ross River is 23.9 per cent, Dawson City sits at 18.2 per cent, and even smaller communities like Watson Lake and Carmacks are over 12 per cent.
The report says the disparity in poverty rates is due to high costs of goods, fewer local jobs, limited access to services and lower average incomes in rural communities.
The authors also state that many government supports and housing benefits are calculated using territorial averages rather than local costs. That model leaves residents in remote communities with less help to cover higher food, rent and utility expenses.
