Canada Child Benefit 2026-27: How Much You'll Get by Income

The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is worth up to $679.75 a month for each child under 6 and $573.58 for each child aged 6 to 17, from July 2026 to June 2027. Families with a net income under $38,237 get the full amount. Above that, the payment gets smaller a little at a time as income rises. About 3.6 million families (opens in a new tab), caring for 6 million children, receive it.

How much Canada Child Benefit will you get?

It depends on your family net income for 2025 and on how many children you have. The table shows the monthly payment from July 2026 to June 2027 for children aged 6 to 17. For each child under 6, add $106 a month, because the under-6 rate is $1,274 a year higher.

The amounts are per month, rounded to the dollar, and worked out from the CRA’s published rates and formula for 2026-27 (opens in a new tab).

Family net income here means what the CRA calls adjusted family net income: line 23600 of your tax return plus line 23600 of your spouse’s or common-law partner’s. That’s income after deductions, so it’s usually a bit lower than your combined pay.

With one child aged 6 to 17, the payment runs out at about $200,000 of family net income. With two children, some payment continues until about $219,000, and with three until about $235,000. Each of those is higher when a child is under 6. If your amount comes to less than $20 a month, you won’t get twelve small deposits. The CRA pays the whole year in one payment in July instead.

For your exact figure, the CRA’s child and family benefits calculator (opens in a new tab) includes the provincial programs, and your CRA account shows what you’re actually being paid.

How does the CRA work out your amount?

It starts from the maximum for each child, then takes off a percentage of your family net income above $38,237. The percentage depends on how many children you have, and it drops once income passes $82,847. For a family with two children, each extra $1,000 of income costs $135 a year up to $82,847, and $57 a year after that.

Each extra $1,000 of family net income takes this much off the yearly payment:

Take the CRA’s own example: one child under 6 and a family net income of $45,000. That income is $6,763 above $38,237, and 7% of $6,763 is $473.41. Subtract that from the $8,157 maximum and the family gets $7,683.59 for the year, or about $640 a month.

Families of a child with a disability get more. The Child Disability Benefit adds up to $3,480 a year ($290 a month) for each child who qualifies for the disability tax credit, and it only starts to shrink once family net income passes $82,847.

Why did your CCB change?

Usually because it’s a new benefit year. The CRA recalculates every family’s CCB each July from the tax return filed that spring, so the payments from July 2026 to June 2027 are based on your 2025 income. A raise in 2025 lowered them. A drop in income during 2026 won’t raise them until July 2027.

Other things change the amount too:

• The yearly increase. The maximums and the income thresholds rise with inflation every July. This year that meant $160 more a year for each child under 6 and $135 more for each child aged 6 to 17.
• A child turned 6. The under-6 rate is paid through the month of the birthday. From the next month, the payment for that child is about $106 lower.
• A child turned 18. Payments for that child stop.
• A missing tax return. You and your spouse or partner each have to file every year (opens in a new tab), even with no income. If either return is missing, the payments can stop until it’s filed.
• A new partner or a separation. The CRA adjusts the payment starting the month after your marital status changes. Tell the CRA by the end of the following month, but for a separation, wait until you’ve lived apart for more than 90 days.

Can an RRSP or FHSA contribution raise your CCB?

Yes. The CCB is based on your net income, after deductions, so anything that lowers your line 23600 increases the benefit, at the same rates that extra income reduces it. RRSP contributions are the deduction most families can choose to make. FHSA contributions work the same way for first-time buyers, and so do the child care expenses you claim.

Take a couple with two kids and $75,000 of family net income. If one of them puts $5,000 into an RRSP, their net income falls to $70,000 and their CCB goes up by $675 a year, which is 13.5% of $5,000. That comes on top of the tax refund the contribution brings. Above $82,847, each $1,000 deducted is worth $57 a year to a two-child family instead.

A 2026 contribution raises the payments from July 2027

The payments from July 2027 to June 2028 will be based on your 2026 return. RRSP contributions made up to March 1, 2027 can be deducted on that return, so they still count. The FHSA has no grace period like that, and a contribution has to be in by December 31, 2026 to count for 2026.

It works in reverse, too. An RRSP withdrawal counts as income for the year you take it out, so it lowers the CCB that’s based on that year. Whether an RRSP, an FHSA or a TFSA suits your savings is a bigger question than the benefit alone, and our comparison of the three accounts works through it.

Where should the part you don’t spend go?

The CCB is meant for the cost of raising kids, and spending all of it on them is perfectly fine. If some of it can go to savings, an RESP usually comes first, because the government adds 20% of what you put in, up to $500 a year per child. For money you’ll need in the next couple of years, a high-interest savings account at your own bank is the better place for it.

An RESP, for the grant

The Canada Education Savings Grant matches 20% of the first $2,500 you contribute each year, up to $7,200 per child over their lifetime. Lower-income families can also get the Canada Learning Bond, worth up to $2,000, without contributing anything. Our guide to saving for your child’s education covers the income thresholds and the extra grants some provinces pay.

An account in your child’s name

Usually, when you put money in your child’s name, you still report the interest it earns. CCB payments are the exception. Put them in an account in your child’s name and the interest they earn (opens in a new tab) counts as your child’s income instead of yours, and most children don’t earn enough to owe any tax.

What it adds up to

At this year’s full rates, the CCB for one child adds up to about $131,500 from birth to their 18th birthday. That’s at the maximum rate, which only families under $38,237 receive. Even so, setting aside $50 of each monthly payment comes to $10,800 by 18, before any interest or grants.

A weekly draw for the part you save

The CCB arrives around the same date every month, which makes it easier to save from than money that comes in unevenly. Moving a set amount into savings the day it lands, before the rest gets spent, is one of the simpler saving habits to keep.

Lodavo gives you a reason to keep that money in savings. The free Canadian app connects to the account where you keep it, and every $25 of your balance earns a ticket in that week’s cash draw. Someone wins at least $100 every week, and the jackpot is $10,000. Nothing moves out of your account, so your money keeps earning whatever it already earns. You can check whether your bank connects, then get Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or the Google Play Store (opens in a new tab).

This article is general information, not tax advice. Your amount depends on both spouses’ returns and on your custody arrangement, so your CRA account is the place to confirm your own figure.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.