The Sunshine List and inflation
The $100,000 disclosure threshold was set in 1996 and has never been indexed. In 2025 dollars it would be about $187,755. Most of the list's growth is pay drifting over a fixed line, not a surge in high earners.
Disclosed employees vs an indexed threshold 2010–2025 · salary paid · Ontario CPI
In 2010, the 1996 threshold was worth $132,086 and 27% of the people disclosed (19,400) earned at least that. By 2025 the list had grown 5.6×, while the number over the indexed line grew 1.5×, to 28,169. The threshold is carried forward with Ontario's all-items consumer price index (Statistics Canada table 18-10-0005-01, annual average). The disclosure counts salary paid, so overtime and one-time payments count toward it.
Who would still be disclosed, by sector FY2025 · $100,000 vs $187,755 (indexed)
$100K → indexed
Bars are drawn to one scale, so a sector's bar length is its number of disclosed employees. Share of list is each sector's share of everyone disclosed at $100,000, and of everyone at or over the indexed threshold.
Have the most common jobs kept up? same person, same job, both years · vs Ontario CPI
2015–2025: prices rose 30.0%; 6 of these 12 jobs fell behind. · 2020–2025: prices rose 19.7%; 5 of these 12 jobs fell behind.
| Job | Sector | Disclosed Emp. 2025 | Median 2025 | Pay change 2015–25 | vs inflation (+30.0%) | Pay change 2020–25 | vs inflation (+19.7%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teacher | School Boards | 93,024 | $118,059 | +24.1% | -4.5% | +16.7% | -2.4% |
| Registered Nurse | Hospitals and Boards of Public Health | 30,615 | $118,629 | +26.1% | -3.0% | +15.8% | -3.2% |
| Constable | Municipalities and Services | 12,994 | $137,652 | +34.7% | +3.6% | +23.2% | +3.0% |
| Firefighter | Municipalities and Services | 6,968 | $131,325 | +26.6% | -2.6% | +20.1% | +0.3% |
| Professor | Colleges | 6,360 | $131,853 | +28.8% | -0.9% | +19.4% | -0.2% |
| Professor | Universities | 6,252 | $218,080 | +46.2% | +12.4% | +23.3% | +3.0% |
| Associate Professor | Universities | 5,162 | $176,964 | +49.4% | +14.9% | +25.4% | +4.8% |
| Transit Operator | Municipalities and Services | 5,075 | $109,684 | +22.4% | -5.8% | +18.5% | -1.0% |
| Principal | School Boards | 4,946 | $167,058 | +42.8% | +9.9% | +32.0% | +10.3% |
| Primary Care Paramedic | Municipalities and Services | 3,987 | $114,065 | +24.7% | -4.1% | +9.5% | -8.5% |
| Vice Principal | School Boards | 3,170 | $150,159 | +41.2% | +8.6% | +33.0% | +11.2% |
| Assistant Professor | Universities | 3,061 | $141,107 | +50.2% | +15.6% | +30.9% | +9.4% |
Pay change is the median change in salary paid for disclosed employees in the same job in both years (fewer than 30 in both years isn't shown); "vs inflation" is that change after Ontario CPI over the same years. It follows the same people, so new hires and retirements don't move it. Because they were already over $100,000 in the start year, most were at the top of their pay grid: their change mostly reflects negotiated scale increases, not step increases. University faculty also get annual merit and progress-through-the-ranks increases, which is part of why they lead. Retroactive pay can land in the end year or just before it, and salary paid includes overtime.