Eight years of school for a private-pay practice you build yourself. Regulated in most provinces, but not covered by medicare.
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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.
The median pay is about $57,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $33,000 at the lower end to about $123,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
7 to 8 years after high school, on the usual route.
$144,000 to $175,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Good 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
$57,000
Lower end
$33,000
Upper end
$123,000
Job Bank's figures for naturopathic doctors come from the 2021 census, as yearly income: a low of $32,867, a median of $56,800 and a high of $123,000. Most NDs (naturopathic doctors) are self-employed, so income depends on how many patients book with you, and many new grads earn little while they build a patient list.
$71,500 a year
The median in British Columbia, from the Census
Alberta is next at $64,000 and Ontario at $62,000. You are paid per visit by patients or their insurance, not by the province. Renting a room in an established clinic is the usual start.
Roughly, all in
$144,000 to $175,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The numbers are dominated by the four year naturopathic medicine program at a private school, roughly 30,000 a year, sitting on top of a three or four year undergraduate degree. The licensing examinations cost about 800 United States dollars for the first part and 1,315 for the second, and provincial registration plus malpractice insurance follow. Total debt of 150,000 or more is normal, and there is no salaried residency afterwards to soften it. Typical income once qualified is lower than that debt suggests, so work out the repayment before you commit.
Total debt of $150,000 or more is common. There is no residency salary to soften it, so plan the first years carefully.
No pension or paid vacation
You are a business owner. Save for your own retirement.
Set your own hours
Evenings and Saturdays are when patients want to come.
Extended health plans often cover you
Many workplace insurance plans pay for a few hundred dollars of naturopathic visits a year, which brings patients in.
Malpractice insurance
Required. Bundled with association membership in most provinces.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A degree, then a 4-year program that runs like a small medical school.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, chemistry and math. You need marks good enough for a science degree.
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
Any major with the prerequisite sciences: biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, psychology. Most students take life sciences.
Accredited naturopathic program
4 years
The CCNM (Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine) has campuses in Toronto and New Westminster, BC (British Columbia). It is the only accredited option in Canada. Basic and clinical sciences, then a year in the teaching clinic seeing real patients.
Board exams
During and after the program
The NPLEX (Naturopathic Physicians Licensing Examinations): Part I on biomedical science after year two, Part II on clinical science at the end. Ontario also runs its own entry-to-practice exams.
Register with your province
A few months
For example the College of Naturopaths of Ontario. Add a jurisprudence exam, a police check and insurance.
Biology
Required for the science degree you need first.
Chemistry
Biochemistry and pharmacology are big parts of the program.
Math
You will read research and run a business.
Business or accounting
You are going to be a small business owner.
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia (under its Regulated Health Professions Act since May 27, 2026) and the Northwest Territories regulate NDs (naturopathic doctors). There you must be registered to use the title, and the College can discipline you. Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI (Prince Edward Island), Newfoundland and Labrador and Yukon are not yet regulated. Prescribing rights vary: Ontario requires a separate prescribing exam. Graduates of online or correspondence programs are not recognized anywhere.
Quebec has no accredited naturopathic school and does not regulate naturopaths, so Quebec students train in Toronto or British Columbia.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary V math (Technical and Scientific, or Science option), chemistry and physics. These are the entry courses for the CEGEP (public college) science program.
DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
2 years
The Science DEC (200.B1) at a CEGEP (public college) gives you the base for the university biology and chemistry you will need.
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
3 or 4 years, any subject, with general biology, general chemistry, human life sciences, psychology and 6 credits of social sciences or humanities. Minimum grade average 2.7 out of 4.
Show your English
When you apply
The CCNM (Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine) teaches in English. If your degree was in French, an English-language high school or CEGEP diploma, or an English test score, proves it.
CCNM, 4 years
4 years
In Toronto or New Westminster, British Columbia, the only accredited campuses in Canada. None are in Quebec.
Licence outside Quebec
After graduating
Quebec's 46 professional orders do not include naturopaths, so there is no Quebec licence. To be licensed you register in a regulated province such as Ontario.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Prescribing authority
A separate exam in Ontario and some other provinces. Lets you prescribe certain drugs and hormones.
IV (intravenous) therapy certification
Vitamin infusions and similar. Extra course plus clinic inspection rules.
Acupuncture
Taught in the program and popular with patients. Some NDs (naturopathic doctors) add a full acupuncture credential.
A niche
Fertility, pediatrics, sports, digestive health. Patients search by problem, and a niche helps them find you.
Work in a clinic first
Reception or assistant work at a naturopathic or chiropractic clinic shows you what the business really looks like.
Comfort with sales and marketing
Nobody sends you patients. You find them.
A clear view of the evidence
Some naturopathic treatments have good evidence, some have none. Know the difference and be honest with patients.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Visits run 30 to 60 minutes, much longer than a family doctor's. A new patient gets a full history: diet, sleep, stress, medications, family. You order or review lab work, then build a plan: diet changes, supplements, herbs, acupuncture, sometimes a prescription. Between patients you write charts and answer emails. Evenings and Saturdays are busy days. Slow days are spent on marketing, bookkeeping and continuing education.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The CCNM (Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine) is the only accredited naturopathic program in Canada, with campuses in Toronto and New Westminster, BC (British Columbia). Everyone else trains in the US.
Job Bank counted about 8,700 people in the occupation group that includes naturopathic doctors in Canada in 2023, and 34% of them 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.
Therapy and rehab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
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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