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by sdflkd 3372 days ago
With respect to income/material wealth? Factoring in cost of living Toronto is still a poor place to live compared to any reasonable location in the United States.

The currency basically negates any cost of living difference. Toronto is expensive as fuck (as most major cities are now).
1 comments
tensor 3372 days ago
Most people here are comparing Toronto to San Fransisco, not any reasonable location.

Let's do some numbers. According to glassdoor an average salary for a software engineer in San Fransisco is 110k USD. A single bedroom apartment in SF goes for 3500/mo on average.

In Toronto, according to payscale the average software developer job is 65k CAD, though let's also consider 80k because it's not hard to get that at a decent place if you have several years of experience. A single bedroom apartment right in downtown can be had for 1,600/mo CAD. Assuming you are living where you work and not doing something like living in Toronto earning a US salary, your buying power with left over money is likely to be similar.

SF, after taxes (21%) gives you 86,900. Taking out rent, you are left with 44,900. Toronto at 65k is taxes about 25%, so you are left with 48,601 and after rent you have 29,401. But, if you get 80k, then you are taxes 26% and after rent get 39,461 left over which starts looking a lot more comparable.

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sdflkd 3370 days ago
Did you forget to convert the currency? 44,900 * 1.3 = 58370. Also, you don't have to live in a single bedroom apartment for $3500/mo. I've had comfortable living conditions at $2000.

You're also forgetting that Toronto does not reward being a good developer. Your salary is capped way too early compared to America where you can easily go above 200k+ total compensation. Not to mention networking, getting technology for cheaper (in general), exclusive events, etc.

It's not even close to comparable despite recent propaganda to show otherwise. Not unless you're a below-average developer, in which case, it is better to be in Toronto.

Source: Born and raised in Toronto. Ran the numbers a bunch of times trying to convince myself to stay. Money won out.

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