Ottawa, Petawawa, top Ontario income rankings

The Ottawa areahas the highest median household income in the province, closely followed by Petawawa, according to new census data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

Themedian household income for the Ontario portion of the Ottawa-Gatineaucensus metropolitan arearose from $82,800 in 2005, when it was in second place, to $86,451 in 2015.

The income figure is derived not only from households inOttawa, but also from the neighbouring communities of North Grenville, Clarence-Rockland and Russell.

Numbers for the Quebec part of the region were a little less rosy.

The median household income there is nearly $16,000 less, putting it just slightly higher than the figure for the country as a whole.

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Petawawa, Ont.,shot from seventh to second place in Ontario during that same period median household income there is now $86,048, an increase of $9,000 from 2005.

Carleton Place, Ont., is close behind, with a median household income of $83,596 in 2015.

Hawkesbury dead last in the country

No other eastern Ontario communities made the province's top ten, and in fact, four of them made the bottom ten: Brockville, Pembroke, Cornwall and Hawkesbury.

Hawkesbury was not only last in Ontario, it was last in the country, with a median household income of $42,384. It displaced Shawinigan, Que., which was previously in last place.

Cornwall also placed near the bottom nationally. It has the 11th lowest household median income, at $51,712.