Six-figure pay after six years. Retail, hospital or industry, and no residency required.
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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 $115,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $83,000 at the lower end to about $139,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
6 to 7 years after high school, on the usual route.
$77,000 to $124,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
Yes. It is a regulated job, so you need a licence or registration before you can work.
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
$115,000
Lower end
$83,000
Upper end
$139,000
Job Bank (the Government of Canada job site) puts the national median at $55.49 an hour, about $115,000 a year at 40 hours a week, from its 2023 to 2024 figures. The range is narrow: $40 to $67 an hour. Pharmacy owners are paid from the store's profit instead of a wage.
$64.71 an hour
The Job Bank median in Yukon, the highest in Canada
Quebec is the highest province at $63. Ontario's median is $53.85, and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are lowest at $51. Big chains hire most new grads, and hospital jobs are harder to get.
Roughly, all in
$77,000 to $124,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is two years of pre pharmacy university at a cheaper school, then the four year PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) at the bottom of the tuition range, plus the PEBC (Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada) exams and the first year of provincial registration. The high end is the same path at the most expensive faculties. Pharmacy is one of the costlier professional degrees in Canada, with tuition alone usually landing between 74,000 and 120,000 dollars. Provincial registration then repeats every year for as long as you practise.
Total tuition typically $74,000 to $120,000. Pharmacy is one of the more expensive degrees.
Health and dental
Standard at chains and hospitals.
Pension
Hospitals offer defined-benefit plans, which pay a set amount every month for life. Chains often match RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) savings.
Stable, predictable hours compared with other health jobs
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Two years of prerequisites, then a four-year professional doctorate.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, chemistry, math and English with high marks.
Pre-pharmacy university courses
2 to 4 years
Two years of science: chemistry, biology, biochemistry, physics, statistics. Some students finish a full degree first.
Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)
4 years
Four years at one of 10 Canadian pharmacy schools. Includes hundreds of hours of placements. Admission is competitive.
PEBC (Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada) exams
After graduation
The national qualifying exam has a written part and a practical (OSCE, a hands-on skills test) part.
Provincial licence
A few months
Register with your provincial college, complete a jurisprudence exam and a structured practical training period.
Chemistry
The core of the science.
Biology
Calculus and functions
English
Counselling patients is most of the job.
Only registered pharmacists can dispense prescription drugs and use the title. Each province has its own college. Pharmacists in most provinces can now prescribe for minor ailments, renew prescriptions and give vaccines, which has expanded the job since 2020.
In Quebec you go to pharmacy school straight from CEGEP (public college), and both programs are taught in French.
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.
Science DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
2 years
A 2 year CEGEP (public college) program (200.B1), offered in English at Dawson and the other English colleges. Pharmacy schools ask for its biology and chemistry courses.
Doctor of Pharmacy, straight from CEGEP
4 years
A 4 year doctorate at Université de Montréal or Université Laval, both in French. You need a very high R-score (the CEGEP ranking score). Montréal adds the Casper test.
Register as a student with the order
First term
Sign up with the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec (the Quebec order of pharmacists) in your first term. $352.44, taxes included, once for the whole program. It covers your pharmacy placements.
Get your permit
After graduating
Once the faculty confirms you graduated, the order issues your permit, in about 7 days if your file is complete. Four years of study in French meet the French rule.
Montréal had 1,512 applications for 108 places in 2026, and the lowest R-score (the CEGEP ranking score) admitted was about 35.1. Montréal only admits Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Hospital pharmacy residency
One year, paid. Required for most hospital clinical roles.
Board certification (BCPS, BCOP and similar specialty credentials)
Specialty credentials in oncology, critical care and others.
Injection and prescribing certification
Required in most provinces to give vaccines and prescribe for minor conditions.
Ownership
Buying or opening a pharmacy means you are paid from its profit.
Work as a pharmacy assistant
Shows you know the environment and helps admissions.
Volunteer in health care
Customer service experience
Retail pharmacy is retail.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In a community pharmacy: checking prescriptions for errors and interactions, counselling patients, giving flu shots, calling doctors about problems, and managing technicians. Hundreds of prescriptions a day at a busy store. In a hospital: rounding with medical teams, adjusting doses, and preparing IV medications.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Since July 1, 2026, Ontario pharmacists can assess and prescribe for 28 minor ailments, such as pink eye, urinary tract infections and tick bites. The program started with 13 in January 2023.
Toronto, Waterloo, UBC (University of British Columbia), Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Dalhousie, Memorial, Montreal and Laval. That is the whole list.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Pharmacy 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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