Cost of Living...Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary

[lewd]

May have an opportunity out west, but was hoping someone here might know what the cost of living is out west.

I'm aware that housing is expensive, but hopefully that has come down lately. Any tips on property taxes, groceries, transit, parking etc...comparatively to Toronto would be helpful.

 

[Plan B]

Rent is Vancouver is expensive, if not more expensive than Toronto, but get this, Car Insurance is cheaper. Saskatchewan and B.C are the only provinces to have province run car insurance so its cheaper in that respect without all the private scumbag insurance companies out of the way. Other things should be roughly the same. The cheapest city I know of is Winnipeg. You can have a great standard of living there if you draw the same salary as in Toronto

 

[tboy]

Rent is Vancouver is expensive, if not more expensive than Toronto, but get this, Car Insurance is cheaper. Saskatchewan and B.C are the only provinces to have province run car insurance so its cheaper in that respect without all the private scumbag insurance companies out of the way. Other things should be roughly the same. The cheapest city I know of is Winnipeg. You can have a great standard of living there if you draw the same salary as in Toronto

LOL yeah, but it's the 'PEG! lol....

I know Calgary used to be a cheap place to live and had comparable salaries to Toronto but last I heard during the boom, rent had increased to more than Toronto rates. I had someone leave a constuction site I was managing go out to Calgary with dreams of $$ in their eyes. They came back after 2 weeks. They found that while they made double the money there, they also paid double the rent....

Best bet is to look at some apartment for rent websites that include the various cities. This is a good indicator as rent is one of your biggest outlays per month.

 

[CUPID]

I moved to Vancouver over the summer and found it to be somewhat more expensive. If you look to places just outside Vancouver like New West, Coquitlam, Ladner you are paying a lot less then you would for downtown for property and it is a lot nicer to not be downtown as the homeless issue is massive as well as the petty crime rate (my car was broken into twice by smash and grabs). I found that groceries are about 30% higher, parking is lower (always park in a secured lot with security), transit varies as to what time of day you are traveling, during peak rush hour it is more expensive and I found that it is nowhere near as easy as the TTC.
Insurance is cheaper as ICBC is a government agent; depending on your driving history you get deep discounts. My auto insurance for my sports car is half what my insurance is for my Toyota is here.
Vancouver is a beautiful place but it comes with hefty price of drugs, crime and rain.
It also has nowhere near the culture that Toronto has; the restaurants are not as diverse and the traffic is insanely worse then Toronto.
I look forward to retiring there one day but for now I much prefer Ontario.

 

[Mr Sinister]

Yes but bc is a beautiful place but it is a port town and the mild weather adds to the crime recipe

 

[lewd]

I moved to Vancouver over the summer and found it to be somewhat more expensive. If you look to places just outside Vancouver like New West, Coquitlam, Ladner you are paying a lot less then you would for downtown for property and it is a lot nicer to not be downtown as the homeless issue is massive as well as the petty crime rate (my car was broken into twice by smash and grabs). I found that groceries are about 30% higher, parking is lower (always park in a secured lot with security), transit varies as to what time of day you are traveling, during peak rush hour it is more expensive and I found that it is nowhere near as easy as the TTC.
Insurance is cheaper as ICBC is a government agent; depending on your driving history you get deep discounts. My auto insurance for my sports car is half what my insurance is for my Toyota is here.
Vancouver is a beautiful place but it comes with hefty price of drugs, crime and rain.
It also has nowhere near the culture that Toronto has; the restaurants are not as diverse and the traffic is insanely worse then Toronto.
I look forward to retiring there one day but for now I much prefer Ontario.

Thanks Cupid!
Good heads up about the culture and traffic. From your account, it doesn't sound as if I'd be getting away from the crime and congestion permeating Toronto.

When I last visited Vancouver in the spring, I noticed a large asian presence primarily in the downtown core. No doubt as a result of it's proximity to the Far East. Outside of that, I didn't see as many different ethnic restaurants as we have here in Toronto.

 

[blackdog]

Vancouver is a nasty little port town. The crime rate is out of control, and the cost of living is inflated. The setting is nice, the mountains are great but, its a third rate shit hole full of junkies. Ive spent a lot of time working there and it gets small very fast. If you have any appreciation of culture, food, etc. its an empty desert. Because of the homeless situation petty crime like purse snatchings and muggings are common. I don't know anyone in Vancouver who hasn't had their car broken into or worse their home. Thats when i appreciate how good we have it here in Toronto. Nice place to visit but...

 

[bob_sapp]

Vancouver is the most overrated city in Canada, if not the world. The cost of living and housing is very overpriced, it is filled with junkies, pot-smoking hippies, and criminal organizations, the weather is shit, and SPs are also very overpriced. 20 years ago it was a great place to live, now it's just shit.

 

[herames]

What about Montreal in respect to the other cities?..SC &SP worth the hop and a skip to there!?!?

 

[Mr Sinister]

I blame the 2010 olympics they really mess things up so far
and the Liberals

 

[tboy]

LOL traffic? Jillian can attest to the fact that if vancouver gets more than 2 snowflakes in an hour they forget how to drive and close early and panic.....

I remember being out there and it snowed (wet snow, no accumulation) for an hour and literally people were in a panic. The office I was working at closed early and people were worried about how to get home. I was there with 3 others from Toronto and we looked at each other like WTF?

We went out to dinner and the restaurant was dead. We were the only 4 in the place. We asked why? The waitress said "because of the storm". We looked outside, what storm? LOL.

 

[FunSeeker27]

I was working out in Calgary for just over a month earlier this year, and I've gotta say that it's pretty damn expensive out there. Food-wise, it's nasty and I'd have to say that things are easily at least 50% more expensive. Not really sure about the other stuff cuz I had the accomodations and truck rental covered but I do remember seeing "Help Wanted, will train, start today" signs EVERYWHERE! It was unbelievable. And yes, I did make a hell of a lot more money out there so there are opportunities to make some coin. Apparantly Tim Hortons is paying $18-22 per hour to START! Not bad to serve coffee 'n donuts huh?