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> The city of Vancouver is facing a crisis in housing affordability, with one bedroom units averaging about $1,730 per month. I'll take that any day over SF. T
by BadassFractal 8y ago
> The city of Vancouver is facing a crisis in housing affordability, with one bedroom units averaging about $1,730 per month.
I'll take that any day over SF. That's a crisis I can sign up for.
- leesalminen 8y agoThat’s Canadian dollars, too so $1289 USD. My rent was higher in Boulder 5 years ago.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- refurb 8y agoThat only helps if you live in vancouver and get paid in USD.
- clay_the_ripper 8y agoThat’s exactly what I thought. My immediate reaction was, if that’s a crisis, then what is San Francisco?? (Currently paying 3700 for a one bedroom in sf)
- jandrese 8y agoHas San Fransisco not been in a housing crisis for decades now?
- phil248 8y agoNo, it used to just be an expensive city. Over the last decade it has become the most expensive city. Rents have literally doubled.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- kevintb 8y agoTech salaries are not even close to SF levels. The average pay for a software engineer in Vancouver is $70,000. Many new grad jobs average around $35,000/year.
- echlebek 8y agoI've seen people offered that little, but it's hard to believe anyone would take a company up on it. I started at a modest $50k, in 2010, in Vancouver, and was barely getting by at that salary. I can't imagine putting in 40 a week for $35k in 2019, that's highway robbery.
- parthdesai 8y agoYeah, and how much more are you making in SF. Average software dev salary in Vancouver is $65k CAD ($48k USD) vs $113k USD in SF.
- vancouverer 8y agoWhere do people get these numbers? I signed up an account just to comment on this buffoonery. I’m making almost $200K and haven’t been pitched a senior role under $130K in years... How can your data be soooo far off?
- mattnewport 8y agoBoth numbers seem low but the ratio seems plausible. I continue to hear about friends and acquaintances leaving Vancouver for the Bay Area or Seattle because the offers are double what they can get in Vancouver. People being offered $150K CAD base in Vancouver are being offered $250K USD base often with more generous stock based comp. Overall cost of living in Vancouver (including healthcare) is still quite a bit lower than the Bay Area but there's no doubt most engineers with some experience end up significantly better off financially taking offers in the US.
- vancouverer 8y agoI certainly made a lot more in California but it’s not that great a spread with costs considered relative to the dramatic improvement in quality of life living in Vancouver. $200K is a lot of money. I save most of it because I literally have nothing to spend it on. In turn I get access to facilities and lifestyle opportunities that were simply not available in the valley. 100K more still wouldn’t get me that in the valley. Edit: my tax rate is also very comparable. BC income tax at 200K is very similar to California. Also, I eat out a lot and sales tax is only 5% on restaurants. Good restaurants are also cheaper here. Vancouver is really not the engineering wasteland people seem to think it is.
- mattnewport 8y ago
- Mikeb85 8y agoYeah but salaries are far lower than SF.
- lainga 8y agoPrecisely. Many of my peers reacted to the news of Amazon coming to Vancouver with "yeah, but at Vancouver salaries".
- phil248 8y agoWho cares about a bigger salary if most of the difference gets directly deposited in your landlord's bank account?
- Judgmentality 8y ago> most of the difference Well this varies from person to person, but in my experience most senior tech employees in the Bay Area are making much more than they would elsewhere, enough to offset the difference and put a lot more in their bank account each year. I currently make several times what I was making in the last city I worked.
- derefr 8y agoHaving 1/3rd of $100k is more spending money than having 1/3rd of $50k. Prices for things that aren't rent, don't change by market. You can buy more smartphones, donate more money to charity, whatever you want.
- Mikeb85 8y agoBecause after paying local expenses, you're left with more money to buy things that aren't priced according to the local market. Same reason it's worthwhile living in a rich country versus a poor one. I pay far more in rent and for food than someone in, say, Ethiopia, but what remains allows me to purchase more things anyway.
- asteli 8y agoFor whom? The people threatened by a dysfunctional housing market aren't the the people pulling 100k+ wages as information workers. Vancouver's minimum wage is $13.85 CAD, so like 10USD? That's not 3x lower than what a service sector employee is making in SF.
- poutine 8y agoYou'll likely get paid $50-$100k USD per year as a developer in Vancouver.
- mirimir 8y agoSure, but the problem in SF is that the units don't exist, right?
- Tiktaalik 8y agoYeah this one area where SF and Vancouver aren't comparable. Vancouver like any city has its yimby tinges, but it has always built lots of housing. Multi-unit development at the moment is at all time highs.
- starky 8y agoWould you take that at half the salary as SF or even worse? Because salaries in Vancouver are super low compared to the major US tech hubs. Not to mention good luck finding anything decent quality with a 0.6% rental vacancy rate, competition is fierce.
- curiousjorge 8y agoexplains the propensity for crime