Convert USD to CAD US dollar ↔ Canadian dollar Free Online Secure
Type an amount in US dollar and read it in Canadian dollar at once. The page uses the European Central Bank's reference rate, and tells you which day that rate is from.
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Common amounts — Convert USD to CAD (US dollar ↔ Canadian dollar)
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The last thirty days
Where these codes and rates come from
The three letters in EUR, USD or JPY are not an abbreviation someone invented for a website: they are ISO 4217, a standard in which the first two letters are the country's own code and the third is usually the initial of the currency. The figures on this page come from the European Central Bank, which publishes one set of reference rates each working day, around 16:00 Central European time, agreed between the central banks of the Eurosystem. They are a daily snapshot meant for statistics and accounting, not a live trading feed — which is exactly why they are the same number for everyone, rather than whatever one bank happened to quote at one moment.
Where you meet an exchange rate
You meet an exchange rate four or five times a year without thinking about it: booking a trip, paying an invoice issued abroad, buying from a foreign shop, reading a salary offer in another currency, or checking what a card charge really cost. In all of these the reference rate is the honest middle, and the price you actually pay sits a little to one side of it. Knowing the middle is what lets you see how wide that margin is.
Questions people ask
Is this the rate my bank will give me?
No, and no page can promise one. This is the European Central Bank's reference rate: the midpoint published once a day for statistics. A bank, a card scheme or an exchange office adds its own margin on top — usually between half a percent and three percent, sometimes more at an airport counter. Use this figure to judge the offer you are given, not to predict it.
How often does the figure change, and what happens at weekends?
The European Central Bank publishes once each working day, in the afternoon, Central European time. There is no publication on Saturdays, Sundays or TARGET holidays, so on those days the page shows the last working day's rate and says which day it belongs to. The chart alongside is one year of the same daily series.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Nine crossings along the longest friendly border
The border between the United States and Canada runs for almost nine thousand kilometres, and the money that crosses it never stops moving. Commuters, truckers, shoppers, retirees heading south for the winter and software teams working across the line all meet the same small question: what is a US dollar worth in Canadian dollars today? This page answers it. It takes the European Central Bank's reference rates for both currencies, combines them into a dollar-to-Canadian-dollar rate, and shows the result with the date it applies to. The text below walks along the border through nine crossings, each with its own reason to Convert USD to CAD. Your amount stays in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
How to use the converter
Type, read, check the date
Whether the sum is ten dollars or ten thousand, the way to Convert USD to CAD is the same: type, read, and check the date.
Enter the amount in US dollars and the page shows the figure in Canadian dollars. A small line beneath the result gives the date of the rate, and at weekends it says plainly that the rate is Friday's. A table of round amounts and a short chart of the last thirty days sit below the box. To go the other way, use Convert CAD to USD.
What the figure is and is not
Any offer to Convert USD to CAD should be held up against this figure, and the gap between the two is what you are paying.
The reference rate is a mid-market rate fixed once a day, around four in the afternoon in Frankfurt. It is not the rate a bank branch, a card network or an airport kiosk will give you. Those add a margin, and the margin is the real price of the service. Use the figure on this page as the yardstick against which every offer is measured.
Crossing one: Peace Arch, between Blaine and Surrey
A white arch and a flowerbed
Locals on both sides can Convert USD to CAD in their heads after years of practice, but a visitor is better off with the page.
On the Pacific coast, the Peace Arch stands on the line itself, with Washington State on one side and British Columbia on the other. Families who were separated by the border meet in the park around it, each side keeping to its own lawn. Vancouver shoppers drive south to Bellingham and Blaine for cheaper petrol, dairy and electronics, and Americans go north for dinner and hockey. Each trip begins with a rough calculation, and a quick way to Convert USD to CAD saves a lot of guessing at the pump or the till.
Petrol, litres and gallons
Canadian petrol is sold by the litre, American by the gallon, and the price board in each country hides the other unit. A US gallon is about 3.79 litres, so a price per litre has to be multiplied before it can be compared. The tool at Convert gal to L does that in a second, and the converter above does the currency, so together they give you a true comparison.
The small print on cross-border fuel
Remember that tax is built into the pump price on both sides, and that the saving shrinks quickly once the price of the drive is counted. For a short trip, the cheaper fuel is a pleasant bonus, not a reason to cross.
Crossing two: the Ambassador Bridge at Detroit and Windsor
Cars, parts and the just-in-time truck
Few places on earth carry as much trade as the bridges and the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor. Car parts go back and forth several times before a vehicle is finished, and every shipment is priced in one currency or the other. A purchasing manager in Windsor who buys steel in US dollars and pays wages in Canadian dollars lives with the exchange rate daily. For such firms the question is less what the rate is than how stable it will be next month.
Hedging in plain words
Even the biggest manufacturers rarely Convert USD to CAD on a whim; they follow a policy that says when, how much and at which rate.
A forward contract locks the rate for a future date, at a cost. A natural hedge matches income and costs in the same currency, so that no conversion is needed at all. Small firms often use the second approach quietly: they open a US-dollar account, receive dollars from customers and pay dollar suppliers from it, converting only the margin.
Crossing three: Niagara Falls
Two cities, one cataract
The falls are shared, and so is the tourist trade. Visitors stay on one side, cross by the Rainbow Bridge for the view, and buy a coffee on each. The prices are quoted in the local currency, and the card terminal often offers to charge you in your home currency instead. Decline the offer. Paying in the local currency lets your own bank do the conversion, which is almost always cheaper than the terminal's rate.
A souvenir budget
To Convert USD to CAD for the whole day in one go is simpler than doing it item by item.
A family of four spends, say, two hundred Canadian dollars on the Canadian side and one hundred and fifty US dollars on the American side. To compare the two, they Convert USD to CAD on the American total, add it to the other and divide by four. Simple, and enough to know whether a day on the far side is worth the queue at the bridge.
Crossing four: the snowbird highway to Florida
Why Canadians go south for winter
Every year, hundreds of thousands of retired Canadians drive to Florida, Arizona and Texas for the cold months. They are called snowbirds, and their income is in Canadian dollars while their rent, groceries and golf are in US dollars. When the Canadian dollar weakens, the winter costs more, and the conversation at the clubhouse turns to exchange rates.
How snowbirds manage the rate
Many of them Convert USD to CAD in reverse each spring, bringing home what is left over from the winter.
Many keep a US-dollar account in Canada, so they can buy dollars when the rate suits them and spend them over the winter. Others use a card with no foreign-exchange fee. A few buy a dollar-denominated property and treat the whole matter as an investment. Whichever way they choose, they begin with a plain figure from a page like this one, so they know what the bank's offer should look like.
Crossing five: the Maine and New Brunswick line
Lobster, lumber and potatoes
In the east, the border follows rivers and woods. Lobster boats, sawmills and potato farms have always worked on both sides, and the fishermen who land their catch in Maine sell to processors in New Brunswick. The price of lobster is quoted in whichever currency the buyer uses, and a fisherman paid in US dollars who owes the bank in Canadian dollars watches the rate with care.
The language of the line
In this region, many people speak French at home, and the signs on the Canadian side are bilingual. Prices in shops are written with a comma for the decimal point in Quebec, and a Canadian dollar amount may read as 12,50 $. Check which currency the sign refers to before you take out your wallet.
Crossing six: Montana and Alberta
Oil, wheat and cattle
The prairies cross the line without noticing it. Wheat, cattle and crude oil move south or north according to price, and Canadian crude is sold in US dollars. For this reason the Canadian dollar is often described as a commodity currency: when oil rises, it tends to rise too, and when oil falls, it tends to follow. The link is loose and changes over the years, but it shapes the way economists read the exchange rate.
The farmer's calendar
A farmer who needs to Convert USD to CAD only twice a year can afford to wait for a good week.
A grain farmer sells in autumn, pays for seed in spring and for equipment whenever it breaks. If the sale is in US dollars and the equipment in Canadian, the farmer keeps a dollar account open and moves money across when the rate is kind. A page that reports the rate with its date helps with this kind of patience.
Crossing seven: the Great Lakes and the hockey arena
Salaries in one currency, revenue in another
Canadian hockey teams in the NHL earn most of their revenue in Canadian dollars from tickets, television and sponsors, but they pay players in US dollars. When the Canadian dollar falls, their payroll costs more in local terms. The league's salary cap is set in US dollars, and Canadian fans keep a keen eye on how this affects their teams.
Tickets and the cross-border fan
At the arena, as everywhere, a fan who can Convert USD to CAD at a glance is hard to surprise.
An American fan who crosses to see a game in Toronto or Montreal pays in Canadian dollars. At the box office, a quick way to Convert USD to CAD helps to decide whether the seats on offer are a bargain or not. Merchandise is usually taxed on top of the price shown.
Crossing eight: the freelancer's laptop
Invoices that never touch a bridge
Each time the freelancer has to Convert USD to CAD, the choice of day affects the margin.
Many borders are crossed by email. A designer in Toronto invoices a client in Chicago in US dollars; a developer in Austin pays a Canadian agency in Canadian dollars. Neither moves physically, but both must choose a currency and live with the result. Freelancers often invoice in the client's currency to avoid friction, then convert when they need to pay local expenses.
Taxes at home
In both countries, income earned in a foreign currency must be reported in the local one, using a rate the tax authority accepts. Keep a record of the rate and the date for every invoice. The records you make when you convert are useful at tax time, and the date printed on this page is a ready source for the note.
Crossing nine: the Arctic and the Alaska Highway
Long distances, short budgets
The Alaska Highway runs from Dawson Creek in British Columbia to Delta Junction in Alaska, crossing the Yukon on the way. Drivers pass the border twice, and the cost of fuel, food and lodging changes with each. Distances are in kilometres on the Canadian side and miles on the American. For the conversion, Convert km to mi is the quickest. Temperatures follow the same split, and Convert °C to °F turns the forecast into something Americans can read.
Cash is still useful here
In remote places, card readers fail when the signal does. Carry a modest amount of local cash, in the currency of the country you are in. Canada has abolished the penny, so cash totals are rounded to the nearest five cents.
Three budgets that start with the same calculation
The exchange student in Montreal
Each month the student repeats the step to Convert USD to CAD to check the plan.
An American student spends a semester at a Montreal university. Tuition is handled by the home college, but rent, transit and groceries are paid in Canadian dollars. A room in a shared flat might run between nine hundred and fourteen hundred Canadian dollars a month, a transit pass a few dozen, and a week of groceries a little over a hundred. The student makes one calculation at the start, Convert USD to CAD for the whole semester's budget, and another at the end of each month to see whether the plan holds. Because the rate drifts, the student keeps a ten per cent cushion, and leaves it in a US account until it is needed.
A cushion that earns its keep
If the cushion is not used, it comes home as dollars and nothing is lost. If it is used, it covers an unplanned flight or a winter coat. A cushion costs nothing when the rate stays put, and it saves a lot when it does not.
The online shopper buying from a Canadian shop
Canadian makers sell maple products, outdoor clothing, wool blankets and craft beer supplies online, often in Canadian dollars. A buyer in Ohio sees the price in CAD, uses the page to Convert USD to CAD, and checks what the card will actually charge. Shipping across the border may add duties and brokerage fees, so ask the seller whether the price includes them. A shop that ships duties-paid makes the final figure clearer than one that leaves the bill for the courier.
The small business with clients on both sides
Having a fixed day to Convert USD to CAD keeps the monthly routine free of second-guessing.
A bookkeeping firm in Calgary has half its clients in Texas. It invoices them in US dollars and keeps a US account, paying American software subscriptions from it. The monthly surplus is converted into Canadian dollars to cover salaries and rent. The owner picks the same day every month and looks at the rate on this page, then decides whether to convert all, half or none. The method is boring, and that is precisely its charm: a fixed day removes the temptation to guess.
Reading the rate over time
Why the thirty-day line is a guide, not a forecast
The chart on this page shows the last thirty days. It tells you whether the rate has been calm or restless, but it does not tell you what comes next. Central banks, oil prices and interest-rate decisions in both countries all push the pair, and none of them reports to you. Treat the chart as a sense of scale. If the line has moved by one per cent in a month, a transfer at any point in the month would have given you roughly the same result, and effort spent timing it would be wasted.
Interest rates and the pair
When the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve move their policy rates differently, money tends to flow towards the higher one, and the exchange rate shifts. This is one of several forces. It is enough to know that the pair responds to the gap between the two central banks, and that news on decision days can move it within minutes.
Seasonal habits
Summer brings American tourists to Canada, and winter sends Canadians south, which shapes the demand for each currency at the margin. These flows are small compared with trade and investment, but they explain why exchange counters in border towns are busy at certain times of year.
Practical rules for crossing the line with money
Cards first, cash second
Before you tap, Convert USD to CAD on the page so you know what the receipt should read.
A card without a foreign-transaction fee is the cheapest way to spend in the other country. Carry a second card on a different network, because a blocked card at a border town is a nuisance. Keep a small amount of cash for tolls, parking meters and rural stalls.
Declare what the law asks
Both countries require travellers to declare large sums of cash, usually ten thousand in the local currency or its equivalent. The rule is not a trap, but ignoring it is a serious matter. If you carry a large amount, ask the border officer or check the official website before you travel.
Keep receipts for the big items
Purchases above the personal exemption may be subject to duty. A receipt with the price in the original currency and a note of the rate from this page makes the conversation at the booth shorter.
The loonie, the toonie and the coins in your pocket
Why the dollar is called a loonie
Whether you hold a loonie or a toonie, the question to Convert USD to CAD is about the dollar of the day, not the coin in your hand.
The Canadian one-dollar coin, introduced in 1987, carries a loon on the reverse, and the public named it the loonie. The two-dollar coin followed in 1996 and became the toonie. Banknotes are made of polymer, with clear windows and raised print, which makes them hard to counterfeit and easy to recognise in the pocket.
Rounding and change
Since the penny was retired in 2013, cash amounts are rounded to the nearest five cents, while card payments stay exact. It is a small matter, but it explains why a cash price and a card price may differ by a few cents.
Prices, taxes and tips
Sales tax is added at the till
It is wise to Convert USD to CAD for the price before tax and then add the tax rate of the province you are in.
Prices in Canada are usually shown before tax. The federal tax is five per cent, and most provinces add their own, with rates that differ from place to place. The result is that the sum at the register is higher than the sticker. When you Convert USD to CAD for a purchase, allow for the tax as well.
Tipping
Restaurants expect a tip of fifteen to twenty per cent, similar to the United States. Taxis, hairdressers and hotel staff are tipped as well. The tip is calculated on the pre-tax amount in many places, though the custom varies.
Related conversions you may need
Other pairs around the dollar
Starting from one pair, it is easy to Convert USD to CAD, then USD to EUR, and compare how the dollar fares against each.
If your journey continues past North America, Convert USD to EUR and Convert USD to GBP cover the two other big destinations. For Australia, a country with a similar commodity profile, there is Convert USD to AUD. And for comparing the Canadian dollar with Europe, Convert EUR to CAD completes the triangle.
Time zones across the border
Canada spans six time zones, and the two countries do not always change their clocks on the same day. For a call between Vancouver and New York, check the offset with Convert EST to PST.
Mistakes to avoid
Mixing up the dollars
Always confirm the code before you Convert USD to CAD: USD, CAD, AUD and NZD look alike on a sign.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand all have dollars, as do a dozen other countries. Prices marked with a dollar sign can mean any of them. Look for CAD or US before you calculate.
Using an old rate
A rate from last month can be wrong by several per cent. The date beside the result is there to protect you from that.
Paying in the wrong currency at the terminal
When the card machine asks whether to charge in US dollars or Canadian dollars, pick the local currency. The terminal's conversion is rarely competitive.
Closing thoughts
The only thing this page downloads is the table of daily rates. The amount you type never leaves your browser, and no account is needed. With the date and the figure in front of you, Convert USD to CAD whenever a price crosses the border, compare any quote against it, and keep the note for your records.