[notastartup]

Okay but the rents must be cheaper than Vancouver, BC right? Taxation must be lower too?

I signed up and planning to move there IF this is not one of those 'too good to be true' deal that ends up in snow flakes.

The tax rates in BC is insane both as an employee and employer. The cost of hiring an employee because of taxation and other social welfare benefits in an attempt to become more 'Netherlandly' forces down salary for software engineers and designers. What makes it worse the scarcity of such jobs forces engineers to compete with each other on the non-paid overtime one can work to become 'invaluable'. Plenty of software sweatshops here in BC, where a nurse or a manager at mcdonalds find more stability and higher pay (when you count the unpaid overtime).

Not to mention that up to 40% of any money you make goes to federal government and the BC government still trying to pay off the loans from holding the winter olympics.

Not to mention the special taxes on rent, food, bars, everything.

If the door opens, I'm going to be the first in line to get to NY if the tax thing turns out to be true. I hear New Yorkers are mean and cold, that's totally fine with me, I'd rather have someone admit they are an asshole and not hide behind it, rather than try to deny it to keep some false image as the 'warmest part of Canada and the whole world' thing. I've been part of this hypocrisy too long.

[thekevan]

New York is not synonymous with New York City.

There's a whole other state outside of NYC. In fact, many of us don't even like the city.

[notastartup]

Mind blown. I'm one of those ignorant Canadians that they constantly try to keep in the woods and deny the existence.

[thekevan]

I live in Rochester, NY. When I moved to Washington DC, two friends who grew up just outside of DC always said I was a "New Yawker" in a NY City accent. With DC being 4 hours from NYC, I said then they must be as well because since I grew up 7 hours drive from the city and they grew up only 4 hours drive from the city.

Western NY, where I am from, is in the Finger Lakes region. It is full of rolling hills and long lakes. There are several cities here but many, many more pastoral small towns, much like New England. The "tall" part of NYS is home to Adirondacks region which is full of east coast sized mountains and small rustic towns, plus lots of wilderness areas. Adirondack park could actually fit Glacier, Yosemite, the Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon Nationals parks all inside its borders. (Although that is a bit of a misnomer--there are towns, roads, businesses and homes technically inside the park's boundaries. Some of those parks listed have nothing but parkland inside of them.)

I should say that between Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester, I snobbishly say that I always refer to Rochester as nowhere near as boring as Syracuse or as depressing as Buffalo.

I never even went to NYC until I was 26 and by then I had been to England several times, 8 or 9 US states and 6 or 7 other major US cities.

Editorials time: I don't like NYC. Many of the people are extremely egotistical about their city, it's loud but not in a good way, crowded, dirty as hell and there are lots of shady areas. Granted it has a lot to offer but I feel the good/bad ratio is much worse than other cities. Washington DC for example is damn near as powerful and culturally rich yet isn't anywhere as bad to look at or dangerous.

Also, don't worry, plenty of people here in Rochester think Canada is pretty much Toronto and tundra, with some weird area near New England that wants to be France again. They technically know Canada goes all the way to the west coast, but but they don't really think about it.

[ericd]

DC? Not nearly as dangerous? As NY?

[thekevan]

I see what you mean. DC had more dangerous areas, but you knew that and stayed away. NYC seems to have a thinner layer of danger spread around much more of the city.