Financial Resilience Institute
August 6, 2025 · 3 mins
June 2025 Index Release highlights persistent financial vulnerability in Canada despite a desire for change
The June 2025 Canada Mean Financial Resilience Score is 52.39, nearly unchanged from June 2024 (51.74). Affordability challenges are persistent, with 82% of Canadians reporting the cost of living has outpaced income growth with 91% of ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ households facing significant financial hardship. The Institute has also released new data on the financial literacy and financial resilience gap for youth.
VANCOUVER, B.C. July 3, 2025/ CNW – Financial Resilience Institute, a leading authority on financial resilience and well-being in Canada and globally, has published its June 2025 Topline Index Report. The Fourteenth Index release based on independent data from the Institute’s peer-reviewed Financial Resilience Index Model which measures and tracks household financial resilience in Canada with a robust sample size of 5354 adult Canadians and a pre-pandemic baseline of February 2020, containing longitudinal data and insights on the financial resilience of Canadians at the national, provincial and individual level. The Index also tracks financial resilience of the customers, employees and communities of tier-one banks and purpose-led organizations working with the non-profit [1].
The June 2025 Canada Mean Financial Resilience Score is 52.39 which is very similar to a year ago (51.74, June 2024) with financial vulnerability still a mainstream issue, spanning all household income demographics. Canadians at the national level just ‘Approaching Resilience’ [1,2]. The data validates the need for policy makers, financial institutions, employers and others continuing to play a role in helping their customers and communities. This is extremely critical given the high cost of living, with 82% of Canadians overall reporting the increase in the cost of living outpacing any household income growth in the past year. Additionally, as of June 2025, nearly a quarter of households have a liquid savings buffer of less than three weeks. While 36% of households have negative or zero savings rate, with this unchanged from a year ago, 56% of households report they have drawn down on their savings to pay for essential expenses.
While affordability continues to be a key challenge for many Canadians, there is continued evidence of exasperated challenges and inequities for more financially vulnerable populations. For example, 99% of ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ households live pay cheque to pay cheque, compared to 43% of ‘Approaching Resilience’ and 7% of ‘Financially Resilient’ households [3]. This underscores the increased financial strain faced by those who are most vulnerable as inequities pervade, with more data available through the Institute’s trended data and reports.
Even with these increased challenges, there is a strong appetite to improve financial resilience within Canada, with 72% of Canadians reporting that they want to better understand their financial resilience and how they can improve it. This is a key opportunity for Financial Institutions to support their clients, as 49% of Canadians agree their primary Financial Institution plays a key role in building their financial resilience. While this data highlights the need for policies, programs and support prioritizing the financial stability and financial resilience, especially of people facing barriers, it also highlights the need for household financial resilience to be tracked as an important indicator, complementing other traditional indicators to guide and measure the impact of such interventions.
For the first time, Financial Resilience Institute has also released data around the financial literacy and financial resilience gap for youth in Canada. An overwhelming 92% of Canadians agree that financial literacy is lacking in high schools, and 95% believe young Canadians need more support to build financial resilience. For many reasons, it is critical that Financial Institutions, policymakers and others recognize this gap and work together to support young Canadians and future generations. The release of this data highlights the Institute’s renewed commitment to progress research, innovation and impact work in this area in collaboration with partners to catalyze positive change.
Based on the recent findings included in the report, the Institute’s CEO and Founder, Eloise Duncan, stated, “Canadians, especially those who are most vulnerable, are experiencing increased barriers to becoming financially resilient. The impact of US tariffs and other macro-economic challenges impacting our economy makes the concept of financial resilience even more relevant. Our Index highlights a strong commitment to building financial resilience, and this is critical to support the overall resilience of Canada’s economy and the health and well-being of our communities. There is a growing need for Financial Institutions, policy makers, employers and others to be key players in increasing the financial resilience of Canadians, with targeted support and interventions where possible. To truly support all Canadians, we need long, medium and shorter-term policies and supports that prioritize the financial resilience of working Canadians, renters, small businesses, young people and more vulnerable populations, while measuring interventions and outcomes. Financial institutions, employers, non-profits and others all have a role to play, with evidence-based decision-making and cross-sector collaboration important to target impact. Our Index data also shines a light on the need for increased commitment to help improve the financial literacy and financial resilience of youth as well, to ensure our future generations receive the education, coaching and support they need given the changing nature of work and other challenges impacting them and our economy.”
The full report can be accessed here: June 2025 Topline Index Report
About Financial Resilience Institute
Extensive deep-dive data and analytics are available through the Institute’s Subscriber Report and customized analytics for Policymakers, Financial Institutions and purpose-driven organizations. Proceeds are re-invested back into the impact work of the Financial Resilience Institute, enabling important independent Index analytics and reporting the non-profit’s work to help improve financial resilience, health and well-being for all.
Financial Resilience Institute has also released its free Financial Resilience Score Tool and bank of resources, which is the Index at the individual level, enabling people to get their financial resilience scores and understand their results to their peers of a similar age and household income, with comparison benchmark data updated every four months. Through completion, users also gain access to our resource hub containing free articles, tools and other resources to aid in improving their financial resilience. The Financial Resilience Score Tool can be accessed here: https://www.finresilienceinstitute.org/financial-resilience-score-tool-solution/
The Institute has also recently released a free, publicly-available Financial Well-Being Index Model and Toolkit, linked to an Overall Well-Being score for use in Canada and other markets, available here: https://www.finresilienceinstitute.org/financial-well-being-index-model-and-toolkit/
For further information or to request an interview regarding the Financial Resilience Institute’s latest findings, please contact:
Eloise Duncan, CEO and Founder: eloise@finresilienceinstitute.org or
Katie Sutter: katie@finresilienceinstitute.org
[1] Financial resilience: is defined and measured as ‘a household’s ability to get through financial hardship, stressors and shocks as a result of unplanned life events.’ The Index measures and tracks household financial resilience across nine behavioural, sentiment and resilience indicators at the national, provincial and individual household levels, and is complemented with data from the Financial Well-Being Studies instrument and the Financial Well-Being Index Model instrument.
[2] Households are scored through the Financial Resilience Index Model three times a year, based on a robust sample size of the population from a representative sample of the population by household income, age, province and gender. MOE of +/- 1.25% and 95% confidence interval across all provinces.
[3] ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ households have a financial resilience score of 0 to 30; ‘Financially Vulnerable’ a score of 30.01 to 50; ‘Approaching Resilience’ a score of 50.01 to 70, and ‘Financially Resilient’ a score of 70.01 to 100.
Source: Financial Resilience Institute, June 2025 and June 2024 Financial Resilience Index Model and Financial Well-Being Studies.
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