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As someone who just spent 15 years living in or near NYC and just moved (back) to Toronto, I have to say that I do feel a certain sense of ... release I guess you could say, from all the stress and problems plaguing the US right now. The politics for one. Oy. The mass shootings. Am I delusional to feel safer? Probably. Stuff happens everywhere, and we lived in a nice neighborhood in Westchester to be fair. But this city is great. The traffic is HELL (yes that is even compared to NYC and I'm not joking) but it's clean, friendly, green, while still maintaining some city grit. My US spouse has noted that all races and colors of people are more integrated here. The recycling/composting program is hard core (we could only recycle plastics 1 and 2 until a couple of years ago). The transit isn't fabulous but isn't terrible either. We're going to save the astronomical amount we were paying per paycheck for our health care in the US - why don't Americans ever factor that in when they go on about Canadian taxes? Gas costs more, cars cost more, I think our cell plan costs a bit more but I'd need to do an exchange rate comparison. I don't find myself paying more for groceries, in fact I seem to pay the same number but in CAD. Coming from a high COL area you might not be as shell shocked by prices as some others.
The house prices though... Honestly, we are renting right now as we wanted nothing to do with the housing market in the spring. We were right. Now we're just waiting to see what plays out. You won't get much for a million here, or two for that matter. Having said that, there are super nice condo buildings in Yorkville for instance that would be amazingly convenient and walkable that might work for you. We almost went that way, for a more city-living feel. It didn't work out but it was actually our first choice. Memories of living in Manhattan without a car. Not quite the same, but more convenient than where we ended up.
I think the poster recommending that you see what kind of job offers and salary you can get here, and then taking a trip out to visit, was on the right track. You need more than a weekend though. Drive/walk around, take the subway. At rush hour. In bad weather. See how it feels. And go see houses with a realtor to see what you could actually get for your budget.
Thanks for the feedback alex1u and streetsmart. We're taking our time and waiting to see how things play out. I'd like to hold onto our cash and see how the markets play out because I have the feeling they won't be flying high and breaking records forever. In the meantime, we'll definitely continue to take trips to the cities on our list.
Canada is not a utopia, y'know. Less crime, yes. No crime, no. Also, if you're not making enough money to live in a "better" neighborhood, you end up living in one that has more crime. It works the same here in Canada as it does in the States.
Crime in the States is on a different level. I used to live on Bloor/St George in Toronto and would often walk/bike at night and felt very safe (in fact never even thought about crime). I was a bit shocked when I moved to Seattle and a coworker of mine who lived downtown mentioned he'd never leave home for a walk after 10PM. Same thing about downtown San Francisco, Chicago, LA, NYC and other major cities. You have to live in suburbs to escape high crime. Crime happens everywhere but chances of being a victim of the crime in Toronto are negligent compared to the American cities of the same scale.
I would say Toronto offers a really great urban lifestyle in the downtown/midtown area. The price tag is quite steep though if you one wants to own a property. OP, I would try to work remotely for an american company. I might actually do that myself. Toronto is great, but I would not move back unless I make at least 160K CAD, real estate is very expensive as well as other goods and services. On the flip side, public schools are much better, college tuition is 6K, you don't need to pay for health insurance, medical care in my experience is on the same level or superior compared to here in the Bay Area, people are much more relaxed.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Originally Posted by urban_enthusiast
Crime in the States is on a different level. I used to live on Bloor/St George in Toronto and would often walk/bike at night and felt very safe (in fact never even thought about crime). I was a bit shocked when I moved to Seattle and a coworker of mine who lived downtown mentioned he'd never leave home for a walk after 10PM. Same thing about downtown San Francisco, Chicago, LA, NYC and other major cities. You have to live in suburbs to escape high crime. Crime happens everywhere but chances of being a victim of the crime in Toronto are negligent compared to the American cities of the same scale.
I know that. I used to live in the States -- Connecticut (close to Hartford, which is crime-infested) and Massachusetts.
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