2 ms·

> CoL in Canada is easily 2-3x that of the US I'd love to see the data on that

alephnerd 3y ago
My experience growing up in BC, and something most other BCians can back me up. I think the CoL aside from housing is much more manageable outside of BC. I remember as a kid it was very common for families on VI and the Lower Mainland to pool money for one family to cross the border and do all their Costco and Safeway shopping in Bellingham and then drive back. A good example is milk - it costs around US$4 including tax in the US, but around US$5 in Canada. Same for bread (though I was in Canada during the 2000s when there was a massive price fixing scheme by bread makers in the country) let alone restaurants and eating out (your average South Asian restaurant in Abbotsford or Surrey would sell a meal like Chole Bhature for around US$20 when the exact same restaurants and ownership in Fremont and Fresno would make the same meal and fixing for around US$10-22) All this doesn't sound too bad on a SV salary, but non-tech salaries in BC are around CAD$40-70k so your household income after tax is best case CAD$60-90k [0] There's a reason my family left Canada for the US. [0] - https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/hmip-pimh/en/TableMapChart/TableMatchingCriteria?GeographyType=Province&GeographyId=59&CategoryLevel1=Population%2C%20Households%20and%20Housing%20Stock&CategoryLevel2=Household%20Income&ColumnField=HouseholdIncomeRange&RowField=MetropolitanMajorArea&SearchTags%5B0%5D.Key=Households&SearchTags%5B0%5D.Value=Number&SearchTags%5B1%5D.Key=Statistics&SearchTags%5B1%5D.Value=AverageAndMedian#next-year https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/hmip-pimh/en/TableMapChart/Tab...
- willsmith72 3y ago
  that lines up with my experience too, i.e. potentially ~20% higher CoL. Nothing like 200-300%.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    Those small differences do add up, when factoring salaries as well, making everything significantly more expensive. Also prices are significantly higher once you leave the Lower Mainland due to how uneven population is spread. That said, Canada is a very federal country (much more than the US) so the BC experience is obviously very different from that in other provinces

My experience growing up in BC, and something most other BCians can back me up. I think the CoL aside from housing is much more manageable outside of BC. I remember as a kid it was very common for families on VI and the Lower Mainland to pool money for one family to cross the border and do all their Costco and Safeway shopping in Bellingham and then drive back. A good example is milk - it costs around US$4 including tax in the US, but around US$5 in Canada. Same for bread (though I was in Canada during the 2000s when there was a massive price fixing scheme by bread makers in the country) let alone restaurants and eating out (your average South Asian restaurant in Abbotsford or Surrey would sell a meal like Chole Bhature for around US$20 when the exact same restaurants and ownership in Fremont and Fresno would make the same meal and fixing for around US$10-22) All this doesn't sound too bad on a SV salary, but non-tech salaries in BC are around CAD$40-70k so your household income after tax is best case CAD$60-90k [0] There's a reason my family left Canada for the US. [0] - https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/hmip-pimh/en/TableMapChart/TableMatchingCriteria?GeographyType=Province&GeographyId=59&CategoryLevel1=Population%2C%20Households%20and%20Housing%20Stock&CategoryLevel2=Household%20Income&ColumnField=HouseholdIncomeRange&RowField=MetropolitanMajorArea&SearchTags%5B0%5D.Key=Households&SearchTags%5B0%5D.Value=Number&SearchTags%5B1%5D.Key=Statistics&SearchTags%5B1%5D.Value=AverageAndMedian#next-year https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/hmip-pimh/en/TableMapChart/Tab...

willsmith72 3y ago
that lines up with my experience too, i.e. potentially ~20% higher CoL. Nothing like 200-300%.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  Those small differences do add up, when factoring salaries as well, making everything significantly more expensive. Also prices are significantly higher once you leave the Lower Mainland due to how uneven population is spread. That said, Canada is a very federal country (much more than the US) so the BC experience is obviously very different from that in other provinces