How Does Canada's Cost of Living REALLY Compare to USA?

Canada has become so unaffordable that we've just hit a 10year high in Canadian migration to the United States number one reason cost of living and jobs so it got me curious to see what the real difference in cost of living is in both countries in this video I will rig down the most common expenses in both countries look at median incomes and answer once and for all which country is more affordable to live in and actually an even more important question what type of person is each country best fit for so let's establish one thing

Canada and the US are very different countries demographically environmentally and geographically and it will be very obvious throughout the video second both countries are vast especially the US with income and rent varying by as much as 50% depending on the region so we can't just look at the national averages we need to do better than that so we've come up with comparable City pairs based on the city's size economies and overall culture and Vibe these metrics are very similar to the ones that we use in our city Deep dive series and in this series we've

already covered Winnipeg Ottawa and Montreal so far and have Vancouver and Kitchener coming up very soon so make sure to subscribe not to miss these videos so obviously there are a lot more cities in the US and in Canada so we've chosen four cities in Canada and found comparables in the United States Toronto is spared out with Chicago both are major economic hubs they are similar in terms of climate geography and population I know many like to compare Toronto to New York but personally I really don't think that they're comparable at all then Vancouver is

teamed up with Seattle this one was easiest they're just a couple of hours away from each other they have the same climate the same size of population Calgary and Denver we were tempted to site Calgary with something like Austin or Houston to reflect similarities Alberta has with Texas but climates and City Vibes were too different so Calgary gets Denver both enjoy proximity to the Rockies have a SPL of suburbs Farmland oil rigs and Outdoors Edmonton is spared up with Minneapolis these cities share frigid Winters have large shopping centers that they're really proud of and have

a similar arts and culture scene you might probably say that the cost of living aren't comparable one to one between these two cities and that's okay that's not the point and you'll see later why by by the way only 60,000 Americans moved to Canada in the same period compared to the 200k Canadians main reason for them lifestyle but what does lifestyle really mean generally Americans report a calmer and more relaxed lifestyle and a family-friendly environment in Canada and rightfully so you'll see that show up in numbers too in just a bit so let's begin with

establishing a median income in the pared cities in both countries these are the median household incomes in each of the cities that we have oh and by the the way we're keeping the country's currencies here so us will be in US Dollars and Canada will be in Canadian dollars because well if you live in either country you earn and spend in that country's currency too so we see that the median incomes are closer to each other in Canada than in the US the US has a higher income disparity surprisingly Chicago income is the worst and

Seattle is the best extrapolating these median incomes Nationwide we'll see that the US fluctuates a lot this is median individual income by State you could make a median of 47k in Mississippi and 130,000 in Massachusetts us is the country of extremes indeed what does Canada look like it's pretty tame in comparison it's equally lowish similar to the southern eastern states actually but wait let's not forget about taxes and expenses these are in my opinion the most important numbers to look at you could be making a $100,000 of dollars per year but if you spend it

all on housing and food how's that better than making 50K living in your parents basement let's see how much residents in those cities actually take home taxes differ between states and provinces this is where it's getting a little bit more complicated in Canada see here you don't just get your income tax deducted at source since Canada is a lot more socialistic country we also get mandatory pension plan and employee Insurance deductions and we have no say in whether or not we can opt out of it Pension Plan ensures you have income paid by the government

when you retire and it remains active in perpetuity until you pass away depending on how long you live and your average income throughout the years you may potentially receive more than the deductions collected from your paycheck during your working years employee insurance is a temporary benefit from the government that's pay to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own it's meant to provide rudimentary financial support while you look for another job but that's just the beginning now it's time for even more juicy stuff so that alone automatically reduces your take-home income compared

to the US for this video we're bulking these up under other deductions and just right here the difference in taxation is drastic between the two countries it's pretty much double give or take in some places it's possible that some other states have significantly lower tax rat so do let me know in the comments below which states are best in the US for taxes now taxes considered these are the actual take-home monthly incomes for each City interesting observation is that Canada is more stable all cities give you about the same income plus or minus couple hundred

bucks and the tax between the three provinces covered doesn't fluctuate that much not for the specific income bracket at least so far income wise Canada is more egalitarian I must say you could make 8,000 in Seattle but only 5K in Chicago the income and tax variation is higher here especially when there's no state tax but if we take take the Seattle as an outlier out of here the overall incomes are pretty close between the two countries but that's just the beginning now it's time for juicy stuff housing expense is the biggest expense no matter where

you live we're taking a median rent which corresponds to a basic one-bedroom apartment in most cities and this is where it's getting interesting median rent prices in the US aren't drastically different relative to the median income Vancouver here is definitely completely insane in terms of costs and the more I dove into the numbers the more I'm confused about how people survive in Vancouver they must all be millionaires the absolute winners in terms of rent prices are the two brothers Minneapolis and Edmonton however if we look at the prices relative to the income Seattle is an

absolute winner for the US Vancouver is just outrageous but if you remove Vancouver as an outlier things aren't that bad in Canada compared to the US in general there's just a 2% difference in the percentage of income that you spend on housing here we're not looking at home buying here but maybe we might in future videos so do let me know if you want us to Crunch the numbers on that one what about other expenses this is where I spent countless hours doing the math and getting into somewhat standard and realistic scenario I assumed that

a household is a family of two Millennials living a moderate lifestyle and by moderate I mean we drive and therefore own a car we go to a restaurant maybe once a week and participate in various cultural and sports activities every month basically a moderate life means that you're enjoying life modestly without counting every penny so these are all the categories I looked at groceries everyday expenses utilities car ownership costs gas monthly Transit entertainment and health care which is a big one we will specifically zoom into it later jumping ahead of the train if you look

at the total numbers here they are not far apart from each other but there is a catch so for the most part there are no major differences in the cost of public transit and entertainment maybe entertainment is a little cheaper in the US again for some reason entertainment in Vancouver looks really expensive like pretty much everything else if you're from Vancouver and you're watching this how do you survive car ownership and paying for utilities can be more expensive in the US interestingly on the flip side groceries and gas are generally cheaper and this makes sense

because the US is fortunate to have a wide variety of crops allowing them to produce much of their food locally when it comes to gas the larger population more competition and fewer environmental regulations help keep the prices lower compared to Canada where it starts getting more interesting is obviously Health Care your monthly health care costs in the US are at least double if not triple than in Canada in this example we're looking at the employer sponsored Private health insurance costs in both countries the big draw for Canada here is that part of the cost that

Americans incur is already indirectly paid for via the Canadian income tax for instance even if you have a private health insurance in the US you will still always pay for doctor visit or medication because despite the private insurance there's always a co-pay and a deductible attached to it and generally at the first sight the insurance system seemed a little bit more complicated I found in Canada on the other hand most doctor visits and procedures are free AKA covered by the public Healthcare if you visit your general doctor or do blood tests you don't pay anything

you need a surgery you don't pay anything either depending on the surgery and if you do need to see a specialist like optometrist or dentist their services aren't covered in Canada but that's where the private insurance kicks in and covers anywhere between 50 to 100% of that cost in other words most General Medical Services in Canada do not require a fee whereas in the US every medical visit or purchase does so technically speaking if you're unemployed or have pre-existing conditions that require you to regularly visit a doctor you're much better off in Canada but if

you're healthy employed and have a lot of energy I can see how the US is a very appealing option for many so that's all for the expenses and obviously expenses are highly personal and they depend on manufacturers so for this video we took a baseline of of a modern couple who like to enjoy life without counting pennies this is the math that I'd be doing for myself if I were planning to move to the US and who knows maybe one day we will if you don't drive your numbers will look much better across the board

if you live in Vancouver you probably should get a bike because their numbers are ridiculous across the board or maybe you don't like going out or doing sports because you live in the states and you work 24/7 then that's some money saved just kidding anyways so here's what our totals are looking like when looking at the expenses relative to monthly income and we see that again just like with housing the numbers are fairly close there are subtle differences like living in Chicago and Vancouver is pretty damn expensive it's almost like we should have paired Chicago

and Vancouver together Seattle on the other side looks absolutely unreal almost too good to be true I even had to recheck my math to make sure that I didn't mess it up if you live in Seattle do let us know in the comments if the math actually checks out and Calgary in Edmonton close up the top three of the most affordable cities but here's another catch so far we've looked at the expenses a typical couple would have but what if you wanted to start a family that's where things are starting to look very differently so

these are the monthly daycare costs for the cities in question seven out of three provinces and territories in Canada have a version of a $10 a day daycare subsidy other provinces have already reduced daycare fees by nearly 50% over the last few years in Canada and are on track to reach $10 a day by 2026 there are also various child care benefits every parent can get in Canada not to mention the parental leave of 52 weeks all these policies make raising a family in Canada more bearable than in the US looking at the US the

US does not have the paternal leave benefits so parents start inuring preschool expenses like daycare much sooner sooner us does have a tax credit for children but it caps at 600 per child and 1,200 in total annually so having more than two kids in this scenario is no bueno so all in all if we start adding these monthly daycare costs and mind you these are daycare costs only not to mention other child's expenses suddenly all the extra cash of the median income household get wiped out that's something to think about this video is not a

measuring contest this video is meant to bring perspective there's no ideal country for everyone but your lifestyle and family situation does have a great impact on which city let alone country is right for you I've purposefully paired up these specific cities because in most cases if you're moving to another country you'll strive to find a city somewhat similar to the city where you actually come from culture economy and geography have a drastic impact on the vibe and lifestyle you can have have there like the proximity of mountains or Ocean or the climate these qualitative factors

will likely have a much bigger impact on your life satisfaction than the mere numberers attached to the cost of living and salary salaries in the US are higher and tax is undoubtfully lower but the higher cost of living mostly makes up for the difference at daycare and health care costs and it gets pretty expensive on the flip side you get the freedom of deciding where to put that extra cash that you save from deduction as opposed to having the government take it off and distribute it at their will but there's Merit to that too higher

tax and deductions translate into higher Social protections they're not perfect and you may not even get to enjoy these benefits to the fullest but it's nice to know that they're there especially public healthc care which you're guaranteed to use in your lifetime and as you see in this video there are outliers in every country like Seattle with the amazing tax advantages and affordable cost of living or Vancouver with low pay and at trous Cost of Living let us know if you missed something in the meantime we really can't wait to visit Seattle it looks pretty

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