Cost of living statistics, Canada vs. US (sale, for rent)

[geos]

There are several websites with all kinds of statistics on US housing & living costs but I can't find any for Canada. I'm interested in things like property taxes, income tax, house prices, etc. Anything like City-Data for Canada?

[ProLogic]

Well for starters CAD is .98 out of the dollar.

[Cornerguy1]

Well for starters CAD is .98 out of the dollar.

Perhaps you meant that the closing exchange rate for Friday, November 16, 2007 had US $1.00 worth $.98 CAD?


For the OP, try searching the phrase Consumer Price Index.

Might try this Ontario specific site as well: Price Levels of Major Cities - Cost of Living Index in Major Cities

[glxyman21]

Originally Posted by ProLogic

Well for starters CAD is .98 out of the dollar.

Exchange rates cannot factor cost of living and are not reflective of living costs as money is bought on the exchange based on desireability. An oil change costing $40 CAD a few years ago at the exchange rate of .65 still costs $40 CAD while instead of costing $27 US at the old exchange rate now costs $40 at the US current exchange rate.

[RxMarcus]

Originally Posted by Cornerguy1

Perhaps you meant that the closing exchange rate for Friday, November 16, 2007 had US $1.00 worth $.98 CAD?


For the OP, try searching the phrase Consumer Price Index.

Might try this Ontario specific site as well: Price Levels of Major Cities - Cost of Living Index in Major Cities

Do you know if the link takes taxes into account? I can't find it on the site.

Edit: More to the point: Do you know if Mercer's Cost of Living Index takes taxes into account when determining cost-of-living?

[mib]

Inflation comparison Canada vs US- Our inflation rate is probably very close to US.

But what you are really asking "s how much will I have left in my pocket in Canada to what I would have left in my pocket in US at the end of the day"? Correct!

House prices are generally highest in biggest cities Vancouver, Toronto,Montreal.
Propery taxes will be high in those big cities and less so in smaller cities.
Each city sets its own standards for property taxes based on what level of service vs dollars available in their budget they have.
If they need more money to provide said service,then property taxes would go up(pretty basic stuff).

In Canada we pay two taxes thru income tax, Federal tax and Provincial Tax.
The Federal tax part is the same for everyone.
The Provincial Tax is different, each provincial goverment decides what they want.
I don't know the numbers, but I would guess the provinces like B.C.,Ontario and Quebec
would gouge you more than Prairie provinces and East coast Provinces.

We pay more for our cars here than people in the states do.
Gas prices I think are generally higher too.To check this out you have to convert our $/litre standard compare to your $/gallon and see the difference.

One final thought Canadian freedom day is something like the 170th day in a year, while the tax freedom day in US is something like day 120 (2007 stats),enough said!

[aftrmath313maximus]

personally i think it balances itself out rent may be higher say in NYC than toronto BUT in NYC the cost of living is cheaper, clothes, food ect have less tax, way less than ontario where the tax is 15%

and in allot of big cities i am seeing a general trend in price for rent most are the same as T.O (toronto) im looking to relocate out this cold weather and in miami the prices are kind of similar to that of toronto or MTL (montreal)

same as for smaller cities in greater areas the rent goes down a bit

now as for houses it all depends, but still kind of the same, im into condos so generally dont look at prices for homes but i imagine its all the same, just as you will find 20 million $ mansions in the US you will find em here too

toronto you can buy a **** hole home for 6 or 7 hundered grand, in the GTA mega city u can get a palace for the same price....

same as in michigan, i lived there for years and its the same thing. pay hood prices live in hood areas, pay rich prices live in rich areas

both countries/areas of countries have thier hits and misses in terms of what you may pay more for in one place vs another country but in the end i think its all close to the same.

[sdmlions]

I'm not really sure if this is what you're looking for but Sperlings 'Cities Ranked & Rated' has comparable Cost of Living statistics between Canada and the US. In fact they compare Candian cities as a whole to their US counterparts, which is pretty interesting. Moderator cut: Do not post links to competing sites They only compare Major Metro areas from both countries which is annoying to me because I prefer to know about smaller towns and rural areas as well, but it should help you find what you are looking for. Let me know if need to know anything else.
Have a good day!

[NYSinger]

Originally Posted by aftrmath313maximus

personally i think it balances itself out rent may be higher say in NYC than toronto BUT in NYC the cost of living is cheaper, clothes, food ect have less tax, way less than ontario where the tax is 15% and in allot of big cities i am seeing a general trend in price for rent most are the same as T.O (toronto)

Say what?? NYC is the most expensive city of North America! Less sale taxes doesn't mean that much when you look at the overall cost of living.

[michelle38]

Petrol: 4 liters to the gallon. Canadian petrol costs around $1.40/liter, this is $5.60/gallon. Fuel is definitely more expensive in Canada. Which is ironic, as Canada is the #1 exporter of petrol to the US.