A new survey says the cost of living in Kamloops is more affordable than many other parts of southern B.C.

According to Living Wage for Families, the hourly wage needed in Kamloops is $16.71 per hour.

The living wage calculation includes a family of four – two parents working full time with two children, aged four and six years old – and how much they need to be able to make ends meet. It takes into account the cost of housing, childcare, food and a few other basic essentials.

Out of 16 cities surveyed, only Comox ($16.44) and Nanaimo ($16.33) were considered more affordable.

“I’m sure that there are people hearing this who might be earning that amount of money and thinking, ‘I’m really struggling to make ends meet.’ And that’s fair, it is the minimum a family needs,” Anastasia French said, spokesperson for Living Wage for Families.

“Our calculation for housing and how much the rent is, is how much the average family in Kamloops is paying. And so there are some people who will have been in their home for a decade or so, and they’d be paying a lot less in rent than someone who is looking today.”

At $16.71 per hour, the living wage in Kamloops is only four cents cheaper than the Fraser Valley.

According to the survey, the living wage in Kamloops has risen by 4.8 per cent, or 78 cents, since 2019.

French says the living wage in Kamloops is $1.51 more than minimum wage.

“The gap between the minimum and living wage is growing. Sometimes it got reduced, but now it’s back up there again. And so those workers who are earning minimum wage, they’re working an extra few hours – usually at multiple jobs – just to try to make sure they’ve got enough money to put food on the table.”

According to the survey, the most expensive regions of the province were Metro Vancouver and greater Victoria, where the living wages are $20.52 and $20.46, respectively. The third-most-expensive region was Nelson ($19.56), followed by Revelstoke ($19.51), Pentiction ($18.55) and Kelowna ($18.49).