Earlier this month the Alberta Living Wage Network released updated living wages for 21 municipalities within our province.
Unfortunately, the Town of Drumheller was not one of them. The only area in our region that information has been provided for is the Special Areas near Hanna, Oyen, and Consort.
A living wage is the hourly wage a worker needs to earn to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community. It reflects the real cost of living in each community and the belief that everyone deserves to live with dignity.
For Special Areas, the living wage is $21.25 per hour. If you were to earn minimum wage and lived in Hanna, you would be short around $6.35 per hour. A nearby example would be Brooks, which has a living wage of $22.00 per hour as per the 2025 data. The last data for Drumheller was back in 2022, when the living wage was $21.20.
2025 has been a year that has seen Albertans face several economic challenges that have impacted the cost of living, key among those for most communities has been continued rising housing costs and rising costs in transportation.
The purpose of this calculation is to highlight the true cost of living in Alberta; to provide municipalities with local data to support their decision making; to encourage action on policies and programs that positively impact the affordability of our province; and to celebrate employers who commit to paying a living wage.
-With excerpts from a release by the Alberta Living Wage Network-
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