Work with bacteria, viruses and fungi in a hospital, a brewery, a water plant or a vaccine lab.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $83,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $53,000 at the lower end to about $139,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 6 years after high school, on the usual route.
$28,000 to $40,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$83,000
Lower end
$53,000
Upper end
$139,000
Job Bank's national median is $40 an hour, about $83,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($25.71) and upper end ($66.67) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group. That page groups microbiologists with other life scientists.
$58.34 an hour
The median in the Northwest Territories, about $121,000 a year
Saskatchewan is the top province at $42.85, and Prince Edward Island the lowest at $35.90. First jobs are as a lab analyst or quality control microbiologist with a four-year degree. Food plants, breweries, water utilities and contract testing labs hire many new graduates. The work is routine plating and testing, and it is the normal way in.
Roughly, all in
$28,000 to $40,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Both ends are the four year undergraduate degree, at 7,000 to 10,000 a year. Master's and doctoral study is usually funded through assistantships with a modest stipend, so it adds years rather than tuition. Lab coat, goggles and safety shoes are 150 to 300 and are often supplied once you are working. There is no licensing exam to pay for, so the cost of this career is time rather than fees.
There is no licensing exam to pay for. The cost of this career is time, not fees.
Hospitals and public health labs
Identifying what is making people sick. Shift work, unionized, stable.
Food and beverage companies
Testing for spoilage and contamination, and running fermentations in breweries and dairies.
Drug and vaccine makers
Sterility testing and production.
Water and wastewater utilities
Testing drinking water every day, all year. Very stable municipal work.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A four-year degree opens the lab door. Graduate school decides if you run the lab.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology and chemistry are the must-haves. Add math and physics if you can.
Bachelor of Science in microbiology
4 years
Four years. Many schools start you in general biology and let you specialize in second year. Aim for a co-op or honours thesis stream.
First lab job
1 to 2 years
Quality control, testing or research assistant work. You learn sterile technique properly here, not in class.
Master's or PhD, if you want to lead
2 to 6 years
Needed for research scientist roles and for directing a clinical lab.
Clinical fellowship, if you want a hospital lab
2 years
Two years of supervised hospital training after a PhD, then a certifying exam in medical microbiology.
Biology
Cells, genetics and immunity are the whole job.
Chemistry
Required for admission and used every day.
Math
Dilutions, growth curves and statistics.
Physics
Required by some programs. Check your target school early.
You do not need a licence to work as a microbiologist in Canada. What gates the senior clinical jobs is certification, not a provincial licence: a hospital microbiology lab is directed by someone certified in medical microbiology, usually after a PhD and a hospital fellowship. In British Columbia and Alberta you can also register as a professional chemist or professional biologist, which some employers like but few require.
In Quebec you reach a microbiology degree through 2 years at a CEGEP (public college), and the bachelor's then takes 3 years instead of 4.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary V physics, chemistry and math in the TS (Technical and Scientific) or SN (Science) sequence. These are the entry courses for the CEGEP (public college) science program.
Science DEC (Diploma of College Studies) (200.B1)
2 years
2 years of biology, chemistry, physics and math. Dawson College, in English, has a Health and Life Sciences profile for students heading to biology and biochemistry.
Bachelor's in microbiology
3 years
90 credits, 3 years, in French. Université Laval offers up to three paid internships of 12 to 15 weeks. The Université de Montréal program covers microbiology and immunology.
First lab job
1 to 2 years
Quality control, testing or research assistant work in health, food, environment, biotechnology or pharmaceuticals.
Master's or PhD, if you want to lead
2 to 6 years
Needed for research scientist roles and for directing a clinical lab, as in the rest of Canada.
Not for microbiology. It is not regulated in Quebec, and the Association des microbiologistes du Québec (the Quebec association of microbiologists) is voluntary. Chemistry is regulated, though. The Ordre des chimistes du Québec (the Quebec order of chemists) reviews microbiology degrees case by case for a chemist's permit, and the permit requires French, sometimes shown through the OQLF (Office québécois de la langue française) exam.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Clinical microbiology
Directing a hospital lab. Long training.
Molecular methods
Genetic testing to identify organisms in hours instead of days.
Sterile manufacturing
Vaccine and injectable drug plants. Strict rules.
Fermentation science
Brewing, cheese, yogurt and industrial enzymes. Fun, and there are more jobs than people expect.
Good manufacturing practice training
The rulebook for making drugs and food safely. A short course makes your resume land in the right pile.
Hazard analysis and critical control points training
The food safety system Canadian plants run on.
Shift flexibility
Hospital and plant labs run nights and weekends. Willingness to take them gets you hired first.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
You come in and read yesterday's plates: which grew, which did not, what they look like. Then you set up today's work, streaking samples, loading automated identification machines, running genetic tests. In a hospital lab you phone results that matter, such as a blood culture growing something dangerous, straight to the ward. In a plant you are checking that the line, the water and the product are clean, and you are the person who can shut a batch down.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
In 2026 the Université de Montréal's microbiology and immunology bachelor's had 591 applicants from Quebec colleges for 115 places.
Job Bank counted about 30,900 biologists and related scientists, microbiologists included, in Canada in 2023. Only 23% were 50 or older.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Life and lab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in science and environment.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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