Life in a big city vs small city

Left Canada.
In Europe you get 5 weeks of vacation, minimum.
It’s cheaper to travel to EMEA and Asia than Canada.
Weather isn’t like California but it’s better than Canada, on par with BC.

Even if I was rich in Canada, quality of life is blah. You still have to deal with winter and hurdles to travel regularly.

2009M5 wrote: ↑Left Canada.
In Europe you get 5 weeks of vacation, minimum.
It’s cheaper to travel to EMEA and Asia than Canada.
Weather isn’t like California but it’s better than Canada, on par with BC.

Even if I was rich in Canada, quality of life is blah. You still have to deal with winter and hurdles to travel regularly.

Haha! I get it. But not everyone has the privilege to leave. Some of us have no options. Living country only makes sense when you get a permanent residence or you already have the citizenship.

Streetdancer wrote: ↑ Haha! I get it. But not everyone has the privilege to leave. Some of us have no options. Living country only makes sense when you get a permanent residence or you already have the citizenship.

It’s doable. Not impossible.

2009M5 wrote: ↑ It’s doable. Not impossible.

Can share in brief pls, how you did it and what career path or business helped you achieve it ?

Streetdancer wrote: ↑ Haha! I get it. But not everyone has the privilege to leave. Some of us have no options. Living country only makes sense when you get a permanent residence or you already have the citizenship.

Everyone has he ability to leave. You just have to choose to leave. Read up on the rules to get PR/citizenship and for most countries I don’t see it being difficult

2009M5 wrote: ↑ Left Canada.
In Europe you get 5 weeks of vacation, minimum.
It’s cheaper to travel to EMEA and Asia than Canada.
Weather isn’t like California but it’s better than Canada, on par with BC.

Even if I was rich in Canada, quality of life is blah. You still have to deal with winter and hurdles to travel regularly.

Where did you go?

I was thinking about leaving too, but everywhere I look is more expensive than here. Cheapest place I found was Florida, but I don’t know about living state side.

Streetdancer wrote: ↑ Since 2010 after cheap money entered our financial system, large cities have become unaffordable for most people unless you own real estate. And now inflation has completely upended your budget. Rent is always going up while salary increases are laughable. It id getting harder to have a family in big cities.

If you weren’t born in a large city like Toronto or Vancouver does it even make sense to move there or continue to live there on rent? How do you plan to save for your retirement? While people thought that high cost of living in GTA will push people out to other parts of Canada however nothing material has happened as there are more people coming in every year putting strain on infrastructure and public services because they don’t like to live anywhere else. What is the future of GTA? 3k rent per month? On a 70k salary. For single people that is a death sentence. Not everyone can live with their parents in their 40’s.

You can't expect to own in Vancouver proper if you are from bumfuk nowhere. Vancouver is effectively FULL.

Hate to say it but Toronto isn't for the average person, the only reason you come here is for employment opportunity and if are motivated to build a career.

For an average life, it will be a grind. This is the typical lifecycle of a fast growing city, we are a textbook example of it now. If your line of work doesn't have an aggressive earnings trajectory this place will be an absolute grind, unfortunately it's a net negative, but here we are.

lamin wrote: ↑ I was thinking about leaving too, but everywhere I look is more expensive than here. Cheapest place I found was Florida, but I don’t know about living state side.

Clearly you don’t look far. The world is a huge place

Streetdancer wrote: ↑What is the future of GTA? 3k rent per month? On a 70k salary. For single people that is a death sentence.

Quality of life is going to diminish significantly. Most will have to split rent with roommates in order to get by. New immigrants coming in are already used to that type of living (and worse) from their countries of origin. Even at $70K and lets say a $3K rent split in half with a roommate, they could figure out a way to save up by being thrifty and limiting their leisure.

I'm not an RE bull by any means, but I can see there being strong demand to come here for quite some time to come. Despite the mediocre salaries, it's still way better prospects than what many immigrants have in their home countries.

RichmondCA wrote: ↑ Hate to say it but Toronto isn't for the average person, the only reason you come here is for employment opportunity and if are motivated to build a career.

For an average life, it will be a grind. This is the typical lifecycle of a fast growing city, we are a textbook example of it now. If your line of work doesn't have an aggressive earnings trajectory this place will be an absolute grind, unfortunately it's a net negative, but here we are.

Exactly. Toronto is the financial capital of Canada, and soon to be a major tech hub. It's on the path to becoming a global city. Not everyone can live and own in a global city sorry to say.

Doesn't mean it doesn't make sense to live here. Depends on your lifestyle, interests, career goals etc.

This is the talk of the town, amongst many people, and to be honest I understand it is very frustrating, but at the same time, getting very tiring. People will keep complaining but they will not take any action.

And keep in mind, its not only the GTA, its happening everywhere now. Ontario in all directions up to Windsor and Barrie. Cornwall. Alberta is getting pricier. NS, NB and east all have shortages which is causing prices to go up. When you compare it to NYC, you won't be priced out even within one of the 5 boroughs, an hour drive away. In Toronto, you are priced out no matter which direction you go.

It's gonna get worse. The government in charge has let this happen ever since it got elected, and will be letting it happen until 2025. While bringing in millions of people every year that will also need housing. My dad will continue to get rich.

For retirement and savings - its best if you leave the country. Don't know which country, but you will have to start researching. When most of your cheque is gone towards housing and taxes, there isn't much else to do. Trudeau is sanctioning the country's most valuable resources going forward anyway, so not much to invest in except real estate, which is already deeply invested in.

GTA is still affordable if u dont mind living in not so hip places . many of these neighborhoods seen significant gain in last 6 years , but still they are affordable for families with HHI of 100k ,lets says families with limited income. for single ppl Toronto is very affordable if you are ok to live in shared accommodation or basements ... ur rent would top 1k , 70k salary brings $4000 a month so u would have plenty to save and enjoy ur life in Toronto. i know many of them and they are very happy where they are for now. Families are having harder time specially the ones with kids , but condo Prices are still affordable for newcomers....u can still rent 3 bedroom apartment for 2k in GTA and buy one for 500k ...Average HHI in GTA is between 130k to 180k ,so there are many units between 600k to 900k in GTA on sale now ... yeah u wont be living comfortably but u will be fine if u watch ur financials .

I have lived in several countries in the last decade, including cities that make Toronto look like a village. Now I live in a small town and wouldn't go back to a big city. I guess it depends on age, kids/no kids, possibility to WFH or hybrid. But there are more options that just Toronto.

2009M5 wrote: ↑ Left Canada.
In Europe you get 5 weeks of vacation, minimum.
It’s cheaper to travel to EMEA and Asia than Canada.
Weather isn’t like California but it’s better than Canada, on par with BC.

Even if I was rich in Canada, quality of life is blah. You still have to deal with winter and hurdles to travel regularly.

Being a European, I'm glad we exchanged our spots!

2009M5 wrote: ↑ Left Canada.
In Europe you get 5 weeks of vacation, minimum.
It’s cheaper to travel to EMEA and Asia than Canada.
Weather isn’t like California but it’s better than Canada, on par with BC.

Even if I was rich in Canada, quality of life is blah. You still have to deal with winter and hurdles to travel regularly.

Vancouver is pretty nice in Winter still.

Angel Girl wrote: ↑ Don’t move to Vancouver. You will fall in love with it and never want to leave. I’ve seen young people move here for school and end up staying. They live paycheck to paycheck and struggle financially while they watch their same-age city-born colleagues buy properties that they will never be able to afford. There are a few exceptions, but most of them eventually give up and end up moving home disappointed.

It's easy to leave Vancouver.

There's beauty everywhere IMO.


You just have to research and decide. Very simple. Most people are afraid of change.