Vancouver has Microsoft, Amazon and EA as the biggest companies. If you're into film (say visual effects) there are lot's of companies as well. Most of companie

Vancouver has Microsoft, Amazon and EA as the biggest companies. If you're into film (say visual effects) there are lot's of companies as well. Most of companies in Vancouver value work/life balance (we have beautiful mountains) over crazy hours. Lot's of people move from east side (say Toronto) to Vancouver because of that. A senior software engineer would be making anywhere from 100-150k, I don't see that as that bad for having a good quality of life in Vancouver. You can't buy a house in a good place, but even in SF with big salaries you can't as well. And you get to live in Canada :) If you're optimizing for money then yeah, work for an American company from Canada. Exchange rate will make your life even better and you get a better social environment. I wouldn't change my job in Vancouver for a job paying more in SF (or anywhere in the USA). I moved from London to here and the disposable income / quality of life is a lot better in Vancouver IMO.