Canada's Side Hustle Wave: Nearly Half Are In or Want In

Nearly half of Canada is either running a side hustle or wants to start one. Ownr's 2026 Canadian Side Hustle Report, released October 8, found that 23% of Canadians currently earn income from a side hustle while another 24% want to start one. The findings come from a survey of fifteen hundred one Canadian adults conducted by Ipsos in early September, as reported by MoneySense.

One detail matters about the source. Ownr is an online registration and incorporation platform owned by RBCx, a division of the Royal Bank of Canada, and it sells services to people starting businesses, MoneySense noted. The survey itself was run by Ipsos, an independent research firm, but the company releasing the report has a stake in more people formalizing their gigs.

Money is the main reason people pick up extra work. According to the report, Canadian side hustlers were mostly concerned with topping up their regular income, pointing to the rising cost of living and debt. Gen Z named the cost of living as a motivation too, alongside turning a pastime into income. Millennials were more concerned about paying down debt, while Gen X and boomers mostly wanted to supplement their income.

Gen Z treats the side hustle like a real business

Younger hustlers take it most seriously. About 43% of side hustlers consider their side gig a real business, and that figure climbs to 55% among Gen Z. The attitude matches a Small Business Poll that RBC published in September, which found nearly half of Gen Z business owners are already running a side hustle alongside a full-time job, according to MoneySense.

For many, the end goal is to make the jump. 19% of current side hustlers said they are likely to leave their job and pursue the venture full-time, rising to 29% among Gen Z side hustlers, according to Ownr's news release. And 22% said their side hustle already earns enough that they do not need a regular job. Before going full-time, most said they would need to earn more than their day job or become consistently profitable, with benefits and retirement savings part of the calculation.

The paperwork gap

Ambition is running well ahead of the admin. About 37% of side hustlers do not know when they need to register their business, 38% do not understand the legal requirements that apply to them, and 42% are not sure whether incorporation is right for them, according to the report. Women were less likely than men to say they knew when to register or understood their tax obligations.

The Canada Revenue Agency expects residents to report all self-employment income, including gig and platform work, and MoneySense noted that platform sellers should know the CRA can cross-check what they report. Self-employed workers may also owe Canada Pension Plan contributions on both the employee and employer shares. Since no employer is withholding anything, setting aside part of what you earn for taxes is the safe move. On the sales-tax side, you should generally register for GST/HST once your taxable sales pass thirty thousand dollars over four calendar quarters, though some work, such as commercial ridesharing, has different rules. The upside of going legit is that reasonable business expenses are deductible, as long as you track your receipts, and self-employment income can build RRSP room for later.

Customers and time are the real bottlenecks

Side hustlers spend an average of 13 hours a week on their ventures, and 14% spend nearly twenty. Finding customers is the biggest challenge, followed by finding the time around another job and life. Thirteen hours a week is a part-time job layered on top of a full-time one, which is why time ranks just behind customers on the list of complaints.

None of that has slowed the resale wave. Gen Z turned closet cleanouts into a serious resale side hustle this year, retirees are reshaping gig work from the other end of the age spectrum, and holiday season gigs are heating up as seasonal hiring shifts toward gig work. The Ownr report was covered in detail by MoneySense, and the full release on newswire.ca has the complete numbers.