NOC 2021 · 31120 · TEER 1
Pharmacists
Unit group 31120 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
What this group covers
Community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists compound and dispense prescribed pharmaceuticals and provide consultative services to both clients and health care providers. They are employed in retail pharmacies and health center pharmacies, or they may be self-employed. Industrial pharmacists participate in the research, development, promotion and manufacture of pharmaceutical products. They are employed in pharmaceutical companies and government departments and agencies.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- clinical pharmacist
- community pharmacist
- dispensary department supervisor - hospital
- drug information pharmacist
- druggist
- health care institution pharmacist
- hospital druggist
- hospital pharmacist
- industrial pharmacist
- intern pharmacist
- pharmacist
- pharmacist consultant
- pharmacy officer - Canadian Armed Forces
- registered pharmacist
- retail pharmacist
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$55.49 an hour
Low $40.00, high $67.00
Where it pays most
- Northeast · Ontario$65.00
- Montérégie · Quebec$64.50
- Laval · Quebec$64.00
- Bas-Saint-Laurent · Quebec$63.16
- Outaouais · Quebec$63.00
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $51.00 | $33.00 – $59.00 | Good |
| Prince Edward Island | $55.50 | $46.88 – $62.50 | Good |
| Nova Scotia | $51.00 | $41.25 – $58.97 | Good |
| New Brunswick | $52.00 | $46.15 – $65.00 | Good |
| Quebec | $63.00 | $41.03 – $75.00 | Moderate |
| Ontario | $53.85 | $37.00 – $65.00 | Good |
| Manitoba | $56.00 | $50.00 – $69.23 | Moderate |
| Saskatchewan | $55.33 | $35.18 – $62.00 | Moderate |
| Alberta | $55.00 | $41.24 – $62.00 | Good |
| British Columbia | $52.00 | $40.87 – $64.00 | Good |
| Yukon Territory | $64.71 | $43.61 – $82.88 | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 69 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $50.48 | $33.00 – $60.00 | Good |
| South Coast--Burin Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $51.36 | $40.57 – $64.21 | Good |
| West Coast--Northern Peninsula--Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador | $50.92 | $38.90 – $62.52 | Good |
| Notre Dame--Central Bonavista Bay | Newfoundland and Labrador | $51.00 | $33.00 – $59.00 | Good |
| Cape Breton | Nova Scotia | $48.16 | $35.44 – $56.83 | Good |
| North Shore | Nova Scotia | $52.98 | $46.50 – $60.00 | Good |
| Annapolis Valley | Nova Scotia | $48.72 | $33.91 – $56.54 | Good |
| Southern | Nova Scotia | $50.12 | $35.91 – $58.07 | Good |
| Halifax | Nova Scotia | $50.00 | $41.25 – $54.00 | Good |
| Campbellton--Miramichi | New Brunswick | $52.59 | $39.55 – $63.69 | Moderate |
| Moncton--Richibucto | New Brunswick | $51.77 | $40.86 – $63.53 | Good |
| Saint John--St. Stephen | New Brunswick | $51.33 | $38.42 – $62.35 | Good |
| Fredericton--Oromocto | New Brunswick | $51.61 | $39.68 – $62.18 | Good |
| Edmundston--Woodstock | New Brunswick | $54.17 | $41.09 – $65.72 | Moderate |
| Gaspésie--Îles-de-la-Madeleine | Quebec | $62.26 | $41.87 – $80.08 | Good |
| Bas-Saint-Laurent | Quebec | $63.16 | $42.88 – $79.21 | Moderate |
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | $58.00 | $52.20 – $67.00 | Good |
| Chaudière-Appalaches | Quebec | $56.00 | $52.00 – $65.00 | Moderate |
| Estrie | Quebec | $61.25 | $43.52 – $76.97 | Moderate |
| Centre-du-Québec | Quebec | $60.15 | $42.93 – $72.22 | Moderate |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $64.50 | $30.00 – $66.00 | Moderate |
| Montréal | Quebec | $61.00 | $19.00 – $70.00 | Moderate |
| Laval | Quebec | $64.00 | $32.89 – $71.00 | Moderate |
| Lanaudière | Quebec | $59.80 | $40.60 – $73.18 | Moderate |
| Laurentides | Quebec | $60.45 | $41.98 – $75.20 | Moderate |
| Outaouais | Quebec | $63.00 | $41.03 – $75.00 | Moderate |
| Abitibi-Témiscamingue | Quebec | $60.03 | $41.02 – $71.96 | Moderate |
| Mauricie | Quebec | $60.62 | $42.89 – $74.52 | Moderate |
| Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean | Quebec | $63.00 | $41.03 – $75.00 | Good |
| Côte-Nord | Quebec | $62.85 | $43.64 – $80.04 | Moderate |
| Nord-du-Québec | Quebec | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Ottawa | Ontario | $55.00 | $41.92 – $70.00 | Good |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | $55.00 | $50.00 – $62.00 | Good |
| Muskoka--Kawarthas | Ontario | $53.42 | $36.86 – $67.83 | Good |
| Toronto | Ontario | $52.54 | $27.50 – $64.10 | Good |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $55.00 | $32.00 – $64.00 | Good |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | $50.48 | $40.00 – $60.10 | Very good |
| London | Ontario | $57.69 | $50.00 – $79.00 | Very good |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | $57.00 | $38.46 – $65.00 | Good |
| Stratford--Bruce Peninsula | Ontario | $54.58 | $39.55 – $70.66 | Good |
| Northeast | Ontario | $65.00 | $58.00 – $68.35 | Good |
| Northwest | Ontario | $59.85 | $56.00 – $68.33 | Moderate |
| Southeast | Manitoba | $54.18 | $37.09 – $66.80 | Undetermined |
| South Central | Manitoba | $52.87 | $39.20 – $65.71 | Moderate |
| Southwest | Manitoba | $55.41 | $38.52 – $68.19 | Moderate |
| North Central | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $56.00 | $47.20 – $74.36 | Moderate |
| Interlake | Manitoba | $54.81 | $39.79 – $66.82 | Very good |
| Regina--Moose Mountain | Saskatchewan | $57.69 | $53.00 – $72.12 | Good |
| Swift Current--Moose Jaw | Saskatchewan | $53.00 | $50.50 – $59.64 | Moderate |
| Saskatoon--Biggar | Saskatchewan | $52.82 | $35.18 – $62.00 | Moderate |
| Yorkton--Melville | Saskatchewan | $50.30 | $35.69 – $62.84 | Moderate |
| Prince Albert | Saskatchewan | $55.33 | $35.18 – $62.00 | Good |
| Northern | Saskatchewan | $59.00 | $50.50 – $61.00 | Good |
| Lethbridge--Medicine Hat | Alberta | $53.01 | $35.28 – $65.24 | Very good |
| Camrose--Drumheller | Alberta | $54.29 | $36.22 – $65.25 | Good |
| Calgary | Alberta | $52.55 | $34.99 – $63.58 | Good |
| Banff--Jasper--Rocky Mountain House | Alberta | $54.59 | $36.40 – $66.61 | Very good |
| Red Deer | Alberta | $53.06 | $34.19 – $65.03 | Very good |
| Edmonton | Alberta | $53.50 | $25.00 – $60.00 | Good |
| Athabasca--Grande Prairie--Peace River | Alberta | $55.00 | $41.24 – $62.00 | Very good |
| Wood Buffalo--Cold Lake | Alberta | $54.29 | $32.63 – $66.56 | Very good |
| Vancouver Island and Coast | British Columbia | $54.49 | $39.73 – $67.16 | Good |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $50.00 | $40.00 – $64.00 | Good |
| Thompson--Okanagan | British Columbia | $54.37 | $37.60 – $67.00 | Good |
| Kootenay | British Columbia | $54.25 | $39.54 – $67.58 | Good |
| Cariboo | British Columbia | $54.94 | $37.94 – $69.73 | Good |
| North Coast | British Columbia | $55.29 | $42.37 – $72.34 | Undetermined |
| Northeast | British Columbia | $52.81 | $38.88 – $67.35 | Undetermined |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from Labour Force Survey (2023-2024) · Small Area Estimation (2024) · Employment Insurance Survey Data (2023-2024).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.