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Healthcare · Helping & Teaching

Midwife: what the job actually is

A regulated health professional who cares for women and babies through pregnancy, birth and the weeks afterward, often at home.

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Midwife: quick facts

Midwife salary in Ontario: Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals, not for midwife alone. For that group the median pay is $43.93 an hour (reference period 2024). The group's three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$43.93 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$24.47 to $56.37 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
2,600
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 31303. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Job Bank says midwives offer comprehensive care to women and babies during pregnancy and the postpartum period. In Ontario you are a regulated professional, not a helper to someone else.
  • You follow the same clients from early pregnancy through labour and birth and into the weeks after. The same person, not a different one each visit, is a big part of the point.
  • Job Bank puts midwives in the same group as physician assistants, orthoptists and genetic counsellors, and reports one pay figure and one outlook for the whole group, not for midwives alone.
  • Midwives can attend births in hospital and, where it is appropriate, elsewhere. Because births do not keep office hours, the work is built around being reachable.
  • Registration with the College of Midwives of Ontario is compulsory. Job Bank lists Ontario among the provinces where midwives must register.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:30 — Prenatal visits at a clinic. Each is long, and you listen as much as you examine.
  2. 10:00 — A client with a question about something she read online. You answer from the evidence and from what you know of her.
  3. 11:30 — Phone triage. A client is unsure whether labour has started, and you have to judge from her voice and her words.
  4. 13:00 — Lunch interrupted or lunch at all, depending on the phone.
  5. 14:00 — A postpartum home visit. You weigh the baby, check the parent and help with feeding.
  6. 16:00 — Charting, referrals and a call to the hospital about a client who may need a physician's input.
  7. 18:00 — The call. A client in labour, and the rest of your evening is rearranged.
  8. 21:00 — Hours of watching and waiting, which is most of labour care.
  9. 2:30 — The birth. Everyone in the room is awake and you are, too.
  10. 6:00 — Home to sleep, with a clinic day that has not been cancelled.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You want to know your clients over months, not just see them once.
  • You can stay calm and patient for many hours, and act fast when something changes.
  • You like teaching and supporting rather than taking charge.
  • You are comfortable with an unpredictable schedule and being on call.
  • You can talk plainly about bodies, birth and difficult outcomes.
You may hate this if
  • You want a predictable week. Births come on their own timetable, and you are on call for long stretches.
  • You cannot cope with disturbed sleep. Nights spent at births come on top of clinic days.
  • You want to avoid grief. Most births go well, but you will sometimes be present when they do not.
  • You dislike responsibility for two lives at once. The decisions are real and some are made quickly.
  • You want entry into the programme to be easy. Ontario has two accredited programmes, at McMaster and Toronto Metropolitan, so where you can train is limited.
  • You dislike paperwork. Records for every client and every contact are required.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Plan for an Ontario midwifery degree

    The College of Midwives of Ontario says two universities offer accredited midwifery education programmes in Ontario: McMaster University and Toronto Metropolitan University. We did not read their admission requirements, so check each school's own page for what to take in high school.

  2. Graduate and record your births

    The College says Ontario programme graduates need at least 60 births attended, including 40 attended as a primary midwife and 30 attended as part of the care provided to a client in accordance with the principles of continuity of care. Job Bank describes the route as an undergraduate university degree in midwifery or its equivalent and a period of supervised practical training.

  3. Pass the registration exam and finish the other requirements

    The College requires the Canadian Midwifery Registration Exam, its own jurisprudence course, a vulnerable sector check, professional liability insurance, proof you can work in Canada and language proficiency in English or French. It also requires current CPR, obstetrical emergency skills and neonatal resuscitation training.

  4. Register with the College

    You cannot practise as a midwife in Ontario without registering with the College of Midwives of Ontario. If you were educated elsewhere, the College has an internationally educated midwives route, which we did not read in detail.

Where this comes from: College of Midwives of Ontario — Apply for registration · Job Bank — Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals, requirements in Ontario

The money

Midwife salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$24.47
Low (hourly)
$43.93
Median (hourly)
$56.37
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 31303. Reference period 2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Midwife wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to several new positions.
  • Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

What is changing in this work

  • Increased need for health-related services to support the growing and aging population in Ontario
  • Greater demand on the health care system because of the backlog of medical procedures and patient care needs
  • Major investments in health care facilities
  • Initiatives to improve home and community-based patient care services

Who hires for it

  • The majority are employed in hospitals
  • Nursing and residential care facilities
2,600
people work in this job in Ontario
78%
are women (48% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals job prospects in Ontario (NOC 31303). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take senior biology, English and a social science if your school offers one. Look up the admission pages of McMaster and Toronto Metropolitan for what they ask for.
  • Volunteer where you will meet new parents and babies, such as a community parenting programme or a family resource centre, if your age allows.
  • Take a first-aid and CPR course.
  • Read one midwifery practice's public information page and notice what they say about the first visit.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Read the registration list and picture the phone ringing

About 45 minutes
  1. Open the College of Midwives of Ontario's registration page and write each requirement on a list. Circle the two that surprised you.
  2. Picture your own next two weeks with a phone that could ring at any hour. Write down what you would have to give up, change or ask other people to cover.
  3. Search for a recorded talk or video where an Ontario midwife describes her work, and write the one thing she said that you had not expected.

What it tells you. If the on-call picture felt like a trade you could make, and the list of requirements looked like a plan instead of a wall, look at McMaster's and Toronto Metropolitan's admission pages next. If the unpredictable hours were the deal-breaker, there are other ways into care for families that keep to a schedule, including nursing and early childhood education.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What does a week of on-call actually look like?”
  2. “How do you keep going after a night at a birth?”
  3. “What do people get wrong about midwives?”
  4. “What was the hardest part of the programme?”
  5. “How did you decide between midwifery and nursing or medicine?”
  6. “What would you tell a student about getting into a programme?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Not in the way a dentist can. Job Bank does not give a self-employment figure for this group, so we do not state one. Many Ontario midwives work in practice groups, and how those are funded and run changes, so ask a registered midwife how hers works.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a midwife make in Ontario?

Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of physician assistants, midwives and allied health professionals, not for a midwife alone. For that group the median pay is $43.93 an hour (reference period 2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $24.47 to $56.37 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a midwife in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to several new positions. Not many positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a midwife in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Plan for an Ontario midwifery degree; Graduate and record your births; Pass the registration exam and finish the other requirements.

Where does a midwife work in Ontario?

The majority are employed in hospitals. Nursing and residential care facilities. (Job Bank.)

How many people work as a midwife in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 2,600 people working in this job in Ontario. 78% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Health careers in Ontario: outlook and pay What can you do with your degree?

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.