The Real Cost of living in Canada: A Detailed Breakdown 🇨🇦💰🏡

[@billjohnson7904]

Last month, transport expenses were $0.00. Live downtown, and use bicycle to get around on the bike lanes. No car, gas, parking, you save a fortune.

[@LivinginCanada]

That's awesome! That's the ideal scenario, good for you! And you get to work out at the same time

[@billjohnson7904]

@@LivinginCanada and freezing in the cold is also free

[@Gloryboyquan]

​@@billjohnson7904bro im moving to canada soon you have to pay for parking ??

[@pkkkpkkk2385]

Slow, hard to cycle upward, sweat, 😕

[@heroharmonyVOD]

Excellent breakdown! I also live in Toronto, these costs sound just about right. I can very much relate.

[@LivinginCanada]

Thank you! Interesting to hear that from someone living here too. It's really hard to dial it down further, but we're constantly trying to find ways.

[@dyingpentas]

I'm spending $5200 on average per month as a single. I'm not a big spender but the mortgage and utility cost are killing me😢

[@edm649]

Wow, that is high. 7000 for 4 here in Alberta

[@selina8865]

7😢mbmññbbmb bmbbmm mm ñmmbñbñbbbmmmbmbbmbbbbbb mm mb mb m mmbmbbbbmbmmbmbmbmbbbbbbmbbmbbbbmmbmbbbbmbbbnmbbbbbbbb mm mbbbbbb mm mmbnmbbñbmbmbmbbmbbbbbmbbbbmbbbmbbbo😊​@@edm649

[@jlscsubs]

One useful advice I got from another financial channel for saving is to always round up your expenses and round down your income. This lets you have a rough estimate and be net positive, without having to painstakingly track down every single cent. E.g. if you earn $6500, round it down to $6000. If you bought something for $160, round it up to $200. But definitely, tracking everything in your spreadsheet gives such a clear picture of your cost breakdown!

[@LivinginCanada]

That's a great tactic to use as well!

[@Northern_Squirrel]

Thank you for making the video. It definitely seems like you are living well within your means. I do have a few things to point out. 1. Cost of living is “expensive” in many urban areas around western world because there are lots of job opportunities to make big bucks if you have the right skills. 2. You have done a great job summarizing your annual expenses but not mentioning your household annual net income. If your combined annual net income is 100K, spending 60K in expenses is not expensive. 3. Spending 50% on housing is misleading since part of your housing “expenses” actually going towards building equity. So it’s actually an investment NOT an expense. Canada is a great country, I am sure you will do just fine.

[@LivinginCanada]

I actually agree. Toronto is super expensive but there are many other metropolitans that are as expensive or even surpass expensive. Certainly high cost of living comes with greater opportunities. However, the income level compared to the US for many similar jobs is lower, thus the purchasing power lower as well. I'll talk about income in another video as that seems interesting to many people! You're right about the housing expenses, for simplicity sake I grouped everything under 'expenses'. A chunk of that (at least the basic amount excluding the interest), is equity.

[@Justdoit-zm8nz]

One person in Vancouver: room 1050 + food 1000 + transportation 125 + insurance 75 + mobile phone 50 = 2300

[@vegito8502]

Why is food 1000 dollars 😭 I live off of 160/month

[@at6446]

What about the wage?

[@ariy7712]

You don't have a house, you dont have a car, you don't pay utilities bills, no house insurance, your costs of living are for a temporary bachelor life.

[@JayB-JayB]

Around this time, every year in Canada (Tax Time), I fall into a despondent SHOCK when I calculate just how much I give away in Federal, Provincial, and Municipal taxes!!!🤯

[@LivinginCanada]

Tell me about it! It hurts.

[@rb239rtr]

Yes, who wants schools, potable water, public transportation, street cleaning and snow removal, police, fire, medical coverage and a public pension plan?

[@mohammedosman88]

Family of 2 adults and a toddler: living expenses of around 5.5K (including rent+car+daycare) - I thought I am irresponsible :D Honestly I think your dining out budget is too high but that's a personal preference of course. For me the groceries is a bit higher than yours, around 1K (Brampton, ON) We invest around 3K (Stocks, ETFs, self-dev, business). Great choice not having a car for now! Not worth it in downtown! Btw, where is your investments totals?

[@LivinginCanada]

Sounds like you're doing a great job considering the number of people! Yeah, we're really trying to keep the eating out portion lower, and since a few months ago we've been occasionally shifting the budget from 'eating out' to 'groceries', because yes, you get higher quality and quantity when buying more groceries compared to eating out (that tiny piece of salmon?! :) ). Until now I am still unsure whether to disclose our investments and income. At some point I think I'll do it though as naturally people would be interested in that side of the equation as well. For now let's say we are beginner savers and investors :)

[@Geraldowashere]

Good video, I didn't realize that Toronto is so expensive! I noticed that you didn't have some other expenses in your budget: home insurance, property tax, strata fee, and heating cost.

[@edvanard]

1000 (food, groceries) + 1700 (housing shared in central downtown, utility, internet, phone) + 30(no car. ttc only weekend. cycling everywhere even during deep snow) +50 to 200 (shopping, hobby)

[@LivinginCanada]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@mateofernando5066]

The car is a money pit in the GTA but you need to have it because everything is so spread out. Car insurance is like robbery now. If you can live without a car that is the best financial strategy to save money.

[@LivinginCanada]

We are able to do without car because I work from home, while my husband is on hybrid. We also stay around the area most of the time!

[@lininrabbit]

depends on where in the GTA. When I lived in downtown, TTC+occasional taxi is all we need. When I get married and moved to Markham with my husband, we need to have at least 1 car to get around. My husband WFH and only need to drive on Tuesday and Thursdays. My home and work are both close to go train station (and on the same line), so it's still not that hard to commute with transit when I don't have a car. If I live in super suburband area like, Elginmill & warden, and worked at Steeles & macowan, we would probably need 2 cars.

[@gizemlikisi6213]

whats the gta?

[@yousralafdaoui7103]

I just can't get over the fact you look like the softer more delicate version of jun ji-hyun, and that s Korea's beauty! you're really gorgeous. (thank you for giving numbers its really helpful)

[@LivinginCanada]

Happy to hear that! I was hesitant at first to disclose that but thought it might be interesting to others, especially those not in Canada to get an idea of living costs here. And thank you!😊

[@ericchurch7456]

Your info is a big help as a guide. My wife and son are already in GTA our daughter and I still overseas until she finishes her medical internship then off to GTA.

[@LivinginCanada]

Glad to hear that! It can vary a lot depending on lifestyle but I think our expenses are not far from what many spend.

[@ACTUALLYRICH]

I moved back home in 2017 to go back to school. I’m now working in civil engineering making decent money, and I can’t afford rent. I’m also 37 years old. Yes I went back to school late in life. Regardless, the apartment I left went from $1375 all in with parking and cable and internet and year round AC being on, to $2600

[@aselvais]

For your condo, I don't know if you have taken into account the down payment... It should be a big chunck on money and if you split if over 5 years (considering you would sell in 5 years) it ads up to the housing expense. Now, we can consider you would get your down payment back or more if the real estare goes up; or maybe less if it crashes (we still don't know what will happen). Also, comparing this money stuck in bricks vs. in the stock market, it is also hard to know what would be the better option... For example, real estate in Toronto went up 0.2% in the past year; I've made +33% on the market (mainly because tech and Nvidia)... Overall, what I am saying is that you might be paying more than 50% for housing; but only time will tell ;)

[@aselvais]

Oh BTW the +33% a year is exceptional ... I've lost $ just after the pandemic on the market ;) just to reasure people, the market is risky :D

[@LivinginCanada]

It's hard to tell as you said. On one hand, the DP could be equity or even appreciate as you said in one scenario. It can certainly go down as well. My gut feel though is that over the long term (10, 20 years), the property will appreciate enough to make up for all the costs. Now comparing it to opportunity costs is another thing! That's something we contemplated quite long... investing the DP plus the interest and all the closing costs that go along with has a high probability to result in a much higher ROI (but even that is not 100% certain as nothing is. In any case, I believe that buying a property to live in is not a completely financial decision as some might claim, but lifestyle factors (convenience, sense of security, which you can't really put a price on etc.) also plays a role. Yes, time will tell :)

[@LivinginCanada]

Well, no risk no gain!

[@mohammedosman88]

Very interesting point. For me I am investing like 35% of household income and we want to buy a house one day but I think having such a huge down payment and huge mortgage will give me nightmares.

[@aselvais]

@@LivinginCanada Totally agree buying a place to live in, in a city you can see yourself for a long time is the right way to seeing real estate... so you have made the right choice for your situation :) and I wish you the best ;)

[@paulmarshall4794]

I could have given a better answer if I saw this a month ago before I lost my data as I also track my expenses in detail. I'm a single person living in Toronto and own my own house. I decided a couple of years ago to pay off all my debt so I concentrated on paying off the debt. This expense which I classify as housing as it really is my mortgage although not technically a mortgage. This expense was by far my highest expenditure. My second highest expenditure was actually entertainment. I like to golf and if I remember correctly I would spend around $2500 a year on golf. Then I would also include travel in entertainment and since I also like to travel this was fairly high as well. Then I would spend around $6500 a year on food, which included grocery and eating out. My car expenses would also be in around the $6500 range, this included gas, maintenance, and insurance (car is paid off). The last two categories of expenses for me was utilities and personal. Utilities were not really that bad, it included my water, heat, and electricity. Personal would include everything else, such as gifts, clothing, cleaning supplies, etc. If I excluded paying off my debt, I think I was living on about $32000 per year as a single person. This may seem high to some but remember I did say I like to travel. In the past year I have been on 4 trips and I am leaving soon for my 5th.

[@LivinginCanada]

That sounds pretty reasonable to me, $32,000!

[@falcie8505]

I agree about the invesment part. With each passing year, the amount of money you save by abstaining from side hobbies and activities just keeps shrinking due substantial changes within the economy, hence the inflation. Saving money is one thing, but leaving that money in the dust is huge lose imo

[@rezashojaei4287]

Thank you so much for your transparent explanations :) very helpful

[@tilleytristan]

i visit Toronto about 1 weekend every 2 months, and I spend 163$ basically in 2 days easily.

[@tilleytristan]

on transportation only

[@LivinginCanada]

Uber and taxis are definitely expensive!

[@bisdaksacanada]

very informative! :) thank you for this!

[@LivinginCanada]

Welcome!

[@JAMGAR369]

I’m in Toronto no mortgage and car paid off so my necessary expenses for housing,car,food and beer & wine are 1200 a month or 14000 a year I’m GenX but this is only possible with a Costco membership, I save a lot on groceries,gas and they have great prices on many one time purchases like clothing,electronics or housewares If you guys want to check it out you could come as my guest, I don’t know how much delivery is but I’m sure you could save thousands

[@LivinginCanada]

Wow, great job with that! That’s something to aim for, having your house and car paid off makes it easy to manage other expenses. Very interesting! Thanks for the invitation, I will keep that in kind if I ever do interview-like stories

[@jillthompson6110]

@@LivinginCanada The older generation (boomers, X-gen) got lucked out due to the timing of the housing price boom. About twenty to thirty years ago, buying a home in Toronto was totally doable for the middle class. The boomers and X-gen people who bought at that time, saw the greatest wealth transfer in the history of Canada. For the younger generation, they are not as lucky. It's so sad to see this much divide in wealth along the generations.

[@LivinginCanada]

Yes, that's what I learned as well. In some sense it's definitely harder now!

[@katerynatsymbaliuk9066]

Thank you for the great videos-they are very useful! Could you please mention what Toronto district and building complex you live in? I like how your condo looks!

[@LivinginCanada]

For privacy reasons I cannot disclose it, but I’m on the west side of Toronto to narrow it down a bit! And there are condos that look similar to mine all over the city. Thank you!

[@stevey7059]

If we don't get taxed that high, life would be so much easy, hardworking people paying high tax to feed the dole bludgers.

[@LivinginCanada]

Taxes are definitely too high.

[@EmilyHamsterLover]

Everyone is forgetting to list necessary expenses of a six pack of beer a day keeps the doctor away. $600 / month for beer. = No hospital fees

[@LivinginCanada]

Haha, well that would theoretically go under LCBO, or whatever similar category. We used to spend much more on that, but way less now.

[@robocop581]

I used to live in Vancouver but currently based in HK. Family of 4 with car and mortgage plus tuition and boarding for our daughter in Toronto. Our Discretionary income is 64%. Once our daughter graduates after this summer our Discretionary income will go up to 75%.

[@ottermatt6883]

If she doesn't hit the ground stumbling and need you to pick her up a handful of times. 🤑 I'm speaking on behalf of the stumbler, greatful to not be homeless. 😅

[@robocop581]

@@ottermatt6883 My kids are set up. We set aside a budget when they were born for a downpayment on a starter residence after they graduate from college. Our first child has already bought a property, rented it out for three years then sold it at a hefty profit and used that to buy a bigger property and is now leasing that out. She's already on the 5th step in the property ladder while most of her friends are still renting. My kids should have, based on conservative estimate, three fully paid rental properties by the time I reach 80.

[@erickosinuhaji]

I come to this video eagerly want to know cost of living in Canada just to realize my fellow Indonesian also got it covered there 😂 Good content 🎉

[@TheMichaelkim3]

I hope she can make videos in Vancouver Canada and explain the west coast of the country.

[@LivinginCanada]

Perhaps a bit later in the future, thanks for the video idea!

[@mikekovacs8981]

I think you missed TAXES TAXES TAXES! Tax freedom day is June 19, 2024, conceptionally, that's the day the first dollar of the year that you earn is actually free of taxes.

[@XMG3]

I saw people in toronto complaining about gas being 179.9, meanwhile in vancouver BC, our gas was 230.9 at the time lol, absolute insanity

[@DudisOnTour]

We are newcomers to Canada and live Downtown in a furnished apartment (not many choices coming from abroad) and we pay a horrible sum for living :(

[@LivinginCanada]

I can imagine. There may be some cheaper places a bit further away from the core, but the difference is perhaps note more than a couple hundred dollars.

[@TheDidrixon]

And how much you pay for 1 months for rent? Where you found apartments for newcomers, on which website? Thank you.

[@Canadian-Boi-]

Its not your fault but i hate seeing people breaking down the cost of living in canada while they are living in the most expensive city(TO/VAN) in the country. There are many many affordable places to live in canada. Im in the prairies and although we make ~20% less in salary compared to TO we have 50% less expenses

[@AL.BUNDY.]

Haha. "Snacking" was represented by a picture of a bubble tea drink

[@zhengwang9894]

wow. no cars, no kids, and already own a condo. still spend 5k+ per month... That is very expensive!

[@LivinginCanada]

It is expensive!

[@mbahgugel271]

Cooking vs take outs, should be considered as groceries are increased twofolds after Covid19.

[@crystalidx]

I live on less than $1800 per month, but I am not poor.

[@rb239rtr]

Income and payroll taxes should have been included in the pie chart.

[@LivinginCanada]

You could do it that way but I chose not to because I compare my expenses against my net income.

[@7Denial7]

I pay 2$ Monthly for my mobile services including limitless internet

[@smannd]

the first step for financial freedom is knowing where your money goes ?

[@muhan8276]

Can you make a video about eq bank we’ve been seeing it everywhere in advertisements? 😊 Thank you😊

[@LivinginCanada]

I haven’t used it myself, but that’s an interesting topic and I’ll see what I can do, thank you!

[@andyatmosphere]

Visiting Toronto for work. It’s expensive AF here.

[@madinahakimova9513]

I am planning to move there with my children . What do you think is it extremely difficult? My is 10 and my daughter is 7

[@SalehAbdulla-ly1wt]

The tax killed everything 😭

[@theperegrinator8007]

C$700 per month for groceries is really expensive! I spend less than HK$1,000 per month! Perhaps you can grow your vegetables in your yard !

[@LivinginCanada]

A bit less than $200, nice. But what about housing in HK? Yes, that crossed my mind and probably I'll do that some day, grow organic veggies and have chicken.

[@theperegrinator8007]

@@LivinginCanadaA 2 bedroom 300 square feet apartment in a good environment costs HK$13,000 per month. It is not difficult to find a HK$30,000 to 40,000 job and you have to pay very low taxes on that.

[@theperegrinator8007]

@@LivinginCanadaA university graduate can save up to HK$20,000,000 upon retirement, with very little government retirement benefits because taxes are so low. Google says an average Canadian saves C$272,000 upon retirement, with lots of government benefits. Which would you prefer?

[@LivinginCanada]

If that's around C$2,200, then it's about on par with Toronto. But how do 2 bed-room fit into 300sqft? Here, 300sqft would be smaller than a studio.

[@theperegrinator8007]

@@LivinginCanada Little space left after you put in a bed in a room. So you need to have a 2-storey bed, usually the lower floor is the desk and the upper floor is the bed. There is no bathtub, usually a 2x2 shower. The kitchen is very small. Usually people have hanging cabinets from the ceiling or they raise the floor by 1 feet and store their stuff under! In many cases there is no space left for a washing machine so you go to the laundry. In case you have one, you do not need curtains for your windows, you just hang your clothes there!

[@bmacavanza193]

Nice, however. pie charts are good for 4 categories. recommended by experts.

[@sadhvikaagrawal]

My annual travel budget is way higher... oh dear! 😭

[@apscoradiales]

"...save and invest...", HAHA, sure! How 'bout living cheque to cheque?

[@dabbiana1999]

Dies vancouver also have mtr?

[@ginigeen]

Is CAD80K (pa) a good income for Toronto?

[@Fyodor_simp_666]

Is this in Canadian dollars or usd?

[@lakdev6297]

You don't pay property taxes and maintenance?

[@jillthompson6110]

Which is strange because those two items are extremely expensive in Toronto, and they are basic expenses that every Condo owner needs to pay. I've seen maintenance fees as high as $900 a month in some condos.

[@lakdev6297]

@@jillthompson6110 I think she just forget to include those 2 expenses.

[@LivinginCanada]

@jillthompson6110 @lakdev6297 Maintenance ($300-ish) + property taxes are embedded in the 'mortgage' amount. In a different video I've broken down housing expenses in more detail, here I just lumped them together in one amount. Thanks for pointing that out though! So all expenses are included, they're just grouped under the bigger categories. Cheers!

[@HK-uq9by]

It does not worth it for immigrants any more. Canadians themselves have to make it because they belong there and at least it is their culture and society, even though the immigration had stressed it out.

[@LivinginCanada]

You’re right that it used to make more sense, relatively speaking.

[@HK-uq9by]

@@LivinginCanadaI do not think, you can imagine what I went through with a Muslim name! not even Tim Horton's would hire me, leave alone using my technical skills!

[@MidWestTrae4]

All I heard was dnt move to Canada 🇨🇦 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@CataclysmDM]

Ahhhh, I see the problem. You're living in Toronto.

[@mikebaichoo576]

Wow you're pretty😛

[@alien_from_somewhere]

Well, it's time to move back to the Peoples Republic of China (Corona Creators) and enjoy a cheap life ❤

[@LivinginCanada]

Not sure who you're talking about

[@AL.BUNDY.]

"We spend $780 (for cosmetics)" Did she notice her husband's ear perk up when she said "We" spend.