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Life in Toronto is great, but what's the best life insurance in Toronto? Here's everything you need to know about Toronto life insurace.
compare quotes todayBuying life insurance in Toronto
Matt Hands, VP, Insurance
As Canada’s largest city, Toronto is Canada’s biggest life insurance market. It’s also home to the head offices of more life insurance companies than any other city! As far as choices for life insurance coverage goes, you can’t beat The Six. That said, the city you live in only has a small effect on your life insurance premiums. Your age, health, and overall lifestyle will make a much bigger impact on which policies you have access to, and how much they’ll cost.
The main factor you will want to consider if you are a resident of Toronto and plan to be in the future is the cost of living. It is more expensive to live in Toronto than most other cities in Canada. If you are looking to purchase a life insurance policy you likely need more coverage than the average Canadian. The death benefit you leave behind to your loved ones needs to ensure they can continue to live comfortable long after you're gone.
To get a sense of what it would cost to insure you and your families future in Toronto, get a life insurance quote through Ratehub today.
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Toronto life insurance facts
As the financial capital of Canada, Toronto is home to the head offices of more life insurance companies than any other city, including some of the largest bank-owned insurers (most notably RBC and TD Bank life insurance). That said, only one of Canada’s ‘big three’ life insurance companies is headquartered in Toronto, being Manulife, whose office is found on Bloor Street.
Sun Life’s head office is in nearby Waterloo, while Canada Life (formerly Great West Life) is run from Winnipeg.
There are 88 companies actively providing health and life insurance in Ontario (including non-profit health benefit providers and fraternal benefit societies), so Torontonians have access to more choices than any other city in Canada.
Despite having so many more people, Torontonians don’t take out much more life insurance coverage than average. Ontario’s average life insurance coverage per person is $234,000, only slightly higher than the national average of $222,000.
Life insurance coverage in Toronto
How much life insurance you need can change from city to city, as it is largely based on how much debt you want your life insurance to be able to pay for. Other factors, like how much you’ll need to support your dependants, aren’t as variable by city. Learn more about those in our article ‘How much life insurance do I need?’.
Here are some facts about the median assets and debts of Torontonians, based on 2019 data from Statistics Canada:
- Total Assets: $731,500. This is higher than the national median of $477,000, which could mean a higher tax bill after death, requiring greater coverage.
- Mortgage: $342,000. Compared to the national median of $190,000, Toronto home owners are in far more debt! That will generally mean additional life insurance coverage is required to cover the mortgage.
- Student Loans: $12,500. The median student loan debt in Canada is $12,000.
- Total net worth: $467,900. The national median net worth is 329,900.
These numbers can’t tell the whole story, of course. Debt is just one part of figuring out how much life insurance someone needs, and different debt structures may require different coverage. However, larger assets and debt in Toronto go some way toward understanding the higher levels of life insurance coverage in Ontario.
Toronto life insurance premium tax
The premiums for life insurance in Toronto are taxed by the Province of Ontario at 2%. This is very low compared to other provinces - life insurance in BC and Manitoba also charge 2%, while Alberta taxes premiums at 3%, and Quebec changes 3.48%. While you don’t see this on your premium statement, it does make a difference to the cost of your premiums. Group life insurance policies in Toronto are also subject to Ontario’s 8% retail tax. This doesn’t affect individual policies.