USD to CAD purchasing power parity
US-to-Canadian dollar purchasing power parity on OECD data, worked in both directions, with the formula and a market-rate comparison.
The rate, both directions
- 1 USD at purchasing power parity
- $1.20 CAD
- 1 CAD at purchasing power parity
- $0.8333 USD
- $1,000 in the United States buys, in Canada,
- $1,200
- $1,000 in Canada buys, in the United States,
- $833.33
OECD household final consumption expenditure PPPs, 2024.
The two North American dollars are close enough at PPP that the difference between converting at PPP and at the market rate is easy to overlook — and large enough to matter over a full salary.
Because the economies are so integrated, this is one of the pairs where people most often reach for the market rate out of habit. For cross-border salary and cost-of-living comparisons the PPP rate is the more meaningful one.
How the conversion works
amount in B = (amount in A ÷ PPP rate of A) × PPP rate of B
A PPP rate is the units of local currency that buy what one US dollar buys in the United States, so the US rate is 1 by construction and any pair runs through it. Use the full calculator to convert an arbitrary amount across all 43 countries at once.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Canadian dollar worth more or less than a US dollar at PPP? ▾
Less — it takes more than one Canadian dollar to buy in Canada what one US dollar buys in the United States. The exact rate is on this page, computed from OECD household consumption PPPs.
Why does my salary comparison differ from a simple exchange-rate conversion? ▾
Because the market rate and the PPP rate are not the same number. The market rate tells you what the money converts into; the PPP rate tells you what it buys at home. For deciding where you are better off, the second is the relevant one.
Other pairs
- USD to EUR — why there is no single euro PPP rate, and what each euro country's rate is
- USD to JPY — the gap between Japan's PPP rate and the market rate, and what it means
- USD to GBP — dollar and pound compared at purchasing power rather than the market rate
- USD to CHF — why Swiss salaries look larger at the market rate than at PPP
- USD to NOK — Norwegian prices and pay compared at purchasing power parity
- Average Salary Explorer — OECD average wages in nominal, real and PPP-converted terms.