Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I haven't seen this comparison done before. People often compare Toronto to Queens, but what about Brooklyn instead? Brooklyn used to be its own city, and even has a downtown core, which Queens does not really have. Try to focus on mainly just Brooklyn and not the rest of NYC. Here are some things to think about:
Urbanity
Transportation
Food
Culture
Nightlife
Events
Things to do
Climate/weather
Location
Parks
Diversity
Cost of living
Quality of life
Economy
Future
Tourism
Reputation
Population
Architecture
Size
Art
Museums
Where would you rather live? (Disregarding anything in your personal life preventing you: current job, family, visa, etc)
Urbanity - Brooklyn
Transportation - Brooklyn
Food - Brooklyn
Culture - Brooklyn
Nightlife - Brooklyn
Events - Brooklyn
Things to do - Brooklyn
Climate/weather - Brooklyn
Location - Brooklyn
Parks - Brooklyn
Diversity - Brooklyn
Cost of living - Toronto
Quality of life - Toronto
Economy - Toronto
Future - ?
Tourism - Brooklyn
Reputation - Brooklyn
Population - Size? Brooklyn
Architecture - Brooklyn
Size - Toronto is physically much larger
Art - Brooklyn
Museums - Tie, maybe
Where would you rather live? (Disregarding anything in your personal life preventing you: current job, family, visa, etc) - Brooklyn
Urbanity - Brooklyn
Transportation - Brooklyn, but Toronto is no slouch
Food - Toronto - I find that there is an amazing amount of international cuisine in Toronto that's better than any place I've found in Brooklyn.
Culture - Toronto - I love that Toronto is so multi-cultural. It feels like a truly world-class city. It doesn't have the contentious feel of the USA IMO.
Nightlife - Don't know
Events - Toronto - Brooklyn has a ton but it's not a full, independent city. Toronto is a fully functioning city.
Things to do - Toronto - Brooklyn has a ton but it's not a full, independent city. Toronto is a fully functioning city.
Climate/weather - Brooklyn
Location - Brooklyn
Parks - Toronto
Diversity - Toronto
Cost of living - Both suck
Quality of life - Toronto
Economy - Don't know
Future - Don't know - both have a bright future
Tourism - This doesn't make sense with tourism for Brooklyn including people who come to see/visit Manhattan.
Reputation - Both have a solid reputation from what I know.
Population - Brooklyn is far more dense
Architecture - Brooklyn's architecture is better IMO
Size - Toronto is larger in area, but Brooklyn feels bigger given its density.
Art - Both have a tremendous amount of art. Maybe Toronto overall?
Museums - Again, Toronto is a fully functioning city.
Where would you rather live? (Disregarding anything in your personal life preventing you: current job, family, visa, etc) - I'd be happy in either, but i would go with Toronto if I really had to choose. I love the vibe and future of Toronto. I also love that it's on Lake Ontario, because I grew up on the other side.
Urbanness: Brooklyn definitely. When I was in Toronto I was surprised at how sprawled a lot of it was. Some parts felt kind of suburban to me.
Transportation: Brooklyn by far. Another thing that surprised me about Toronto is how few subway lines it has. And also Toronto has NO EXPRESS TRAINS. Seemed like a lot of people drive over there.
Food: probably about equal
Culture: I think it comes to personal preference. I prefer Brooklyn, but I can see why other people would prefer Toronto. Something about Brooklyn is just so cool. I love the grittiness of North Brooklyn. I can see why some would rather be in chill, peaceful Canada than crazy America though.
Nightlife: Brooklyn definitely. Last call is 4am vs 2am(? IIRC) from Toronto. Also the craziest nights of my life have been in Brooklyn. There are some really amazing warehouse parties and after hours that go all night if you know people or where to look.
Events: Brooklyn. There's always something going on
Things to do: Brooklyn. More variety, more going on
Climate/Weather: Brooklyn. I hate winter a lot, and it's bad enough in Brooklyn but winters in Canada are even colder and longer. I'm glad I went to Toronto in the Summer
Location: Brooklyn. Milder climate and on the ocean.
Parks: Brooklyn! Brooklyn has my favorite park in all of NYC (which is saying a lot) Brooklyn Bridge Park! Anyone reading this that hasn't been there needs to go before it gets cold out.
Diversity: Brooklyn, but Toronto is very diverse as well
Cost of living: Toronto. Brooklyn rents are becoming like Manhattan
Quality of life: Toronto. Canadian healthcare system is more reliable + you need lots of $$$ to live comfortably in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is becoming more like Manhattan, for better or worse.
Economy: I don't know a lot about economy, but the bulk of NYC's jobs are located in Manhattan. So I would think that Toronto would win but this is coming from someone that doesn't know anything about economics
Future: Both have good futures, I'm sure! It's hard to think about Brooklyn's future without including the rest of NYC though, but Brooklyn is really turning itself around in the past few years (for better or worse). Downtown Brooklyn is experiencing an insane amount of growth and is even getting its first supertall.
Toronto is a fairly new city, and I don't think it still has a lot of growing to do, so I'm gonna call this one a tie/unsure.
Tourism: this is another one that is hard to do with Brooklyn if you're ignoring the rest of NYC, but I'd say Brooklyn wins. It's getting more and more touristy too (again, for better or worse)
Reputation: Brooklyn. Brooklyn has a really cool rep. I think it's the coolest borough in NYC. Toronto is probably too young to compete with Brooklyn on this. Brooklyn's been around a lot longer
Population: Brooklyn: 2,636,737 Toronto: 2,615,060. Very close, but Brooklyn actually has more people than all of Toronto. I'm actually surprised. Brooklyn is much smaller.
And density: Brooklyn: 37,137.1/sq mi Toronto:10,747/sq mi
Brooklyn wins
Urbanity - Brooklyn by far. Brooklyn has 37,137 people per sq.mi. Toronto has 3x less at ~12,000 people per sq.mi.
Transportation - Brooklyn.
Food - Brooklyn, though Queens beats both
Culture - Tie
Nightlife - Brooklyn
Events - Tie, slight lean to Toronto
Things to do - Brooklyn Bridge vs. CN Tower. Take your pick
Climate/weather - Brooklyn
Location - Brooklyn
Parks - Brooklyn
Diversity - Toronto by a hair, though Queens beats both
Cost of living - Both suck
Quality of life - Toronto
Economy - Brooklyn
Future - Brooklyn. Toronto's bubble is near bursting
Tourism - Toronto since Manhattan sucks all the air out of Brooklyn
Reputation - Toronto
Population - Both are similar in size, though Brooklyn is only 71 sqmi vs. 243 sqmi in Toronto
Architecture - Brooklyn's historic districts are nearly unmatched in the entire continent imo.
Size - Toronto is bigger, if that's what this means
Art - Toronto, though Manhattan >>>>>>Toronto, so Brooklyn doesn't need art museums to compete on this front
Museums - See above.
OVERALL: Brooklyn
Toronto should be paired with Queens. Brooklyn vs. Montreal is a better bet.
I don't even like Toronto very much (though I haven't been there in many years), but I don't understand these city vs. Brooklyn comparisons that always come up. Brooklyn is not a complete city. I know it's an international brand for hipness, but I don't care; it's simply not a complete city. Its downtown is a joke compared to any U.S. city even a third its size. It's got a respectable number of cultural institutions, but nowhere near the number or quality that an independent city of 2.6 million would have. Take a look at Wikipedia's list of companies headquartered in Brooklyn:
What's the biggest one? Brooklyn Brewery? Vice? Nathan's? That would be a shameful list if Brooklyn were its own city. Take a look at Toronto's equivalent page:
What about higher education? According to a list I dug up, the best university in Brooklyn is Long Island University, which is ranked No. 32 ... in New York State. I tried to search U.S. News and World Report to see where it ranks nationally, but it's not there.
Brooklyn is not a complete city. I'm sorry, but it's true.
Listen, I've been to Brooklyn a million times. I was there twice last weekend. My parents are from there. My grandmother lived there until she died. I used to go around every other week when I was growing up. I lived there as a small child. I've got loads of connections to Brooklyn. It's got some great residential neighborhoods, and I'm sure it beats Toronto in a few of the listed categories (though I don't know Toronto well enough to judge), but it's not a city. And that's not Brooklyn's fault, but it's true nonetheless.
Yeah it's hard to compare Brooklyn to other cities without considering the rest of NYC. I know that it used to be its own city, but that was over 100 years ago. Being part of NYC is a big part of Brooklyn.
I think everyone agrees that Brooklyn beats Toronto in most of these categories, but Brooklyn didn't get to be this way on its own. It's so successful because it is part of NYC.
I will say though that it is impressive that Brookyn has more people than Toronto but is less than 1/3 the size
I don't even like Toronto very much (though I haven't been there in many years), but I don't understand these city vs. Brooklyn comparisons that always come up. Brooklyn is not a complete city. I know it's an international brand for hipness, but I don't care; it's simply not a complete city. Its downtown is a joke compared to any U.S. city even a third its size. It's got a respectable number of cultural institutions, but nowhere near the number or quality that an independent city of 2.6 million would have. Take a look at Wikipedia's list of companies headquartered in Brooklyn:
What's the biggest one? Brooklyn Brewery? Vice? Nathan's? That would be a shameful list if Brooklyn were its own city. Take a look at Toronto's equivalent page:
What about higher education? According to a list I dug up, the best university in Brooklyn is Long Island University, which is ranked No. 32 ... in New York State. I tried to search U.S. News and World Report to see where it ranks nationally, but it's not there.
Brooklyn is not a complete city. I'm sorry, but it's true.
Listen, I've been to Brooklyn a million times. I was there twice last weekend. My parents are from there. My grandmother lived there until she died. I used to go around every other week when I was growing up. I lived there as a small child. I've got loads of connections to Brooklyn. It's got some great residential neighborhoods, and I'm sure it beats Toronto in a few of the listed categories (though I don't know Toronto well enough to judge), but it's not a city. And that's not Brooklyn's fault, but it's true nonetheless.
OP asked for the comparison. It makes sense in some ways since throwing in all of NYC pretty much steamrolls most conversations. And Brooklyn does have a respectable cultural institutions for a major urban city of its size--the issue is more that these get eclipsed by the many more in Manhattan. It compares decently well with Toronto (this partially because Toronto wasn't very large when it was much cheaper to build up massive collections of art and historical artifacts and large performing arts venues and companies were founded and planted their reputations whereas Brooklyn was quite large and important at the time).
Yea, Brooklyn doesn't have that many major companies headquartered there though that list is missing some of the larger ones (not necessarily largest but are a lot more consumer facing so better known--there are several as large or larger companies whose names aren't generally recognizable) like Kickstarter, Livestream, and Etsy. However, you should also realize that the Toronto list is replete with companies that are pretty small--a lot of listings like those that are based in Brooklyn are included within the companies based in NYC though Toronto is certainly going to eclipse Brooklyn on this end even with a fuller listing for Brooklyn.
Yea, higher education in Brooklyn isn't exactly the best. Standouts for Brooklyn would be the honors program and some grad departments at Brooklyn College and Pratt for art. NYU's also partly in Brooklyn. Aside from those, not too many leading lights in Brooklyn.
So yea, those are two categories where Brooklyn obviously does really poorly in comparison to Toronto and also arguably cost of living and quality of life. As for the other categories, Brooklyn either does "better" or is pretty close.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 09-17-2016 at 07:37 PM..
Urbanness: Brooklyn definitely. When I was in Toronto I was surprised at how sprawled a lot of it was. Some parts felt kind of suburban to me.
Toronto is urban and very compact, Brooklyn is just more intense when it comes to it. Toronto has a good mix of Urban/Suburban, you'll see a good amount of strip malls and commercial streets. If LA and Chicago was one city, it'll be Toronto...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
