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Salaries are much higher in LA and San Fran than Vancouver?!? Maybe I misread? Esp for more white collar and professional jobs. Minimum wage is higher in Canada but if you're working a min wage job any of these places we've suggested will be difficult.
California definitely offers more for the money than Vancouver.
Vancouver salaries are even lower than Toronto salaries generally....
Toronto has the highest salaries in Canada. Remember that it is Canada's financial hub and also a major head office city. You can not even mention Vancouver in the same breath as Toronto. The only other city that gives Toronto a good run for her money when it comes to salaries and jobs would be Calgary.
Housing price in Californian cities is high in American standards, but not really in Vancouver standard. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego are not more expensive than Vancouver. For example, a two bedroom condo in west LA (a prime location, comparable to Yaletown in Van) starts in the lower 400K.
However you get paid way more than Vancouver, maybe 50% more. Not to mention weather is miles better. By the way, all these cities are close to oceans and mountains and all the outdoorsy stuff as well, if not better.
Yeah you just really need to be picky about where you go I guess. It's hit or miss with housing down there. We've been looking for about 14 months at different properties on realtor.com, and there is such a wide range of housing stock down there.
Have to agree with the wages, lower end jobs are paid better in Canada but everything else is paid more in the usa.
Toronto has the highest salaries in Canada. Remember that it is Canada's financial hub and also a major head office city. You can not even mention Vancouver in the same breath as Toronto. The only other city that gives Toronto a good run for her money when it comes to salaries and jobs would be Calgary.
That's not really fair. Average salaries in Toronto is inflated for average people because it has a lot of head offices. If you have senior executives and CEOs working there then it'll have a higher average salary. However, what's the probability of you becoming a CEO? Most of the high paying jobs that inflate the average salary are not available for most people.
Comparing average salaries is not very useful because you might not find the jobs in the high paying sectors. People say that Calgary pays better. That's true if you work in the oil industry, but that's meaningless if you work as in the restaurant industry.
That's not really fair. Average salaries in Toronto is inflated for average people because it has a lot of head offices. If you have senior executives and CEOs working there then it'll have a higher average salary. However, what's the probability of you becoming a CEO? Most of the high paying jobs that inflate the average salary are not available for most people.
Comparing average salaries is not very useful because you might not find the jobs in the high paying sectors. People say that Calgary pays better. That's true if you work in the oil industry, but that's meaningless if you work as in the restaurant industry.
Salary surveys are generally broken down by sector, profession, level, education e.t.c. An average salary for the whole of Toronto is statistically meaningless. These average salaries are usually presented for example as "starting salaries for CGAs in the GTA". I do not see how the CEOs salary could influence a survey on entry level CGA salaries. Besides executive positions, head offices also present a wider spectrum of well paying jobs. A lot of young university graduate interns are hired at head offices. Toronto also happens to be the manufacturing capital of Canada and factory jobs pay way more than the service jobs in Vancouver.
When you have a lot of well paying jobs you will usually find that such jobs also push up the salaries of other jobs. This is especially true in Alberta. The oil industry there pays mad money, even for unskilled labour. Why then would any sane person want to work an $8/hr Tim Hortons job when they can be general labourer in the oil sector and earn at least double that amount? You will find that Tim Hortons in the oil region will have to pay in the teens in order to attract workers.
I personally witnessed this in the BC interior. I used to spend a lot of my summers in Kelowna. On one of my visits I went to a Subway outlet and found a sign on the door saying "help wanted" and the pay way $14/hr. Luckily the franchisee was in and I had a bit of a chat with him. I learned that Sprint had just set up a mega call centre in Kelowna and they were employing hundreds of people. Who would wanna work at Walmart or Subway when you could go to the call centre. As a result everybody had to jack up their wages.
Even from an anecdotal standpoint when you scan through postings on workopolis and Monster, you will see that for every 10 good jobs in the GTA, there will only be one or two in the greater Vancouver area. For instance, I was looking at entry level jobs in logistics/operations management/supply chain. You would be amazed at how many such positions they had in Brampton and Mississauga. The size of the warehouses and complexity of warehouses in those two cities will blow you away. Walmart Canada has a massive distribution centre in Mississauga. Canadian Tire have their biggest distribution centre in Brampton. Same as companies like Fedex, UPS. Any fortune 500 company with Canadian operations will probably have their flagship distribution centre in Mississauga or Brampton. As a result they have a very high demand for logistics/operations/supply chain employees. These are not executive positions but decent jobs paying starting salaries of around $45K. This is not bad when you factor that you can buy a fully detached house in Brampton for $250k.
Take any Toronto position off a job site and compare it to a similar one in Vancouver. You will find that the Vancouver one offers a lower salary. I am talking positions requiring the same experience and education. Visit sites belonging to professional associations and they usually have salary surveys for their profession. They will show you what starting salaries are like in different cities.
So, yes, average salaries do trickle down to other workers. The relationship might not be a linear one but there is definitely an undeniable correlation.
If you like mild weather you don't have too many options in Canada, especially if money/cost of housing is an issue. Mild weather in Canada isn't common and it's sought after.. making it expensive to live in these areas. Vancouver Island has mild weather, but it's also expensive (not as bad as Vancouver, but it has far less jobs. Far less). The Maritimes have *somewhat* comparable weather.. job market isn't great either though.
Me and my husband recently faced the same issue.. we wanted to buy a home, but its too expensive in BC. He wouldn't move anywhere else in Canada, because the weather is too cold. We're relocating to Texas.
Is the USA an option for you? You'll find the cost of living is MUCH CHEAPER. Washington and Oregon are quite comparable to BC both for their weather and culture (I spend quite a bit of time in Washington/Oregon, and I'm Vancouver Island born/raised) it's also a heck of a lot cheaper than Canada.. shockingly, really. And don't rule out the south! Just brace for hot weather (seriously). Its worth looking into! As mentioned before too, Austin, Texas is comparable (culturally) to BC.
We left vancouver 22 yrs ago, having spent 20 yrs there .We live in KC,in a very reasonable priced suburb one one income.We both worked our butts off in Van, finally we quit and moved south.Write down your 5 most important priorities for relocation.There are much more living options at afforadable prices only in certain cities.Choose carefully and wisely by doing all your homework up front.Healthcare is provided by an employer, and IMHO the high tech, and personnel are light years ahead of van.Good luck
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