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How does NE Wisconsin compare to these areas on Ontario?
Cost of living? Availability of home rentals? Public education? Job market?
I've done some looking but cost of living calculators don't work due to the differences in taxes etcetera.
To make for a better comparison, here's a little info. To live comfortably and pay all our medical bills and other debts we need around $70k/yr in US dollars in our area. That is also a reasonable expectation in the US for my husbands education and field of work. I currently stay at home but could work in my profession if I found something worthwhile and/or it was financially necessary.
I have found jobs advertised in Ontario for his field ranging from 40 to 80k in Canadian dollars. We currently rent our home and we need 4 bedrooms with a yard.
We have three kids with various medical conditions that cost us a lot of money in prescription copays and doctor visits. So I'm guessing that the higher tax rate would at least break even for us with what we currently pay for health care.
We are frustrated with the current job market and are looking at what other places to live might have to offer. My husband does have "Canadian Experience" as he worked for a company that required him to travel to their Winnipeg office quite often.
If you have any experience in living in each of these areas, I would appreciate hearing your comparisons. OR If you know of some websites where I can get more of the specific information I need, please let me know.
uhh toronto is probably way more than sudbury
sudbury is kinda ghetto
dont move there
im assuming toronto is more like chicago in price(which is a decent comparison since you live fairly close)
if you want a climate similar to northeastern wisconsin with reasonable houseprices head to ottawa. parry sound is aight too
Toronto is comperable in cost of living to chicago if that helps. Remember that the money you save on health care will in turn be eaten by taxes. Having said that I think most people would rather have health care like in Ontario with higher taxes than the unfortunate u.s. system which is really designed to protect the American insurance system. It seems in the States you have the worst of both worlds. It's not a real private health care environment where costs could be negotiated between doctor and patient and the market would ensure affordability otherwise there would be some unemployed doctors rethinking their career choice. It isn't public either, I feal bad for anyone without insurance or a job. Michael moore's sicko makes a few valid point. If you have a chance to transfer to the winnipeg office it would be different there than ontario, for the most part health care remains a provincial concern but just an universal in form. The law does state in any part of canada that you have to be a canadian citizen in order to use the health system but having a career and job up here would probably clear you of that hurdle. Sudbury is definitely more like a wisconson small town. In fact you would find geologically very similar in both weather and environment. However Sudbury has a much more defined resource based economy, whereas Toronto has more diversified fields like chicago. You didn't mention what field you're husband was in? Post a reply and I could tell you if Toronto is a good choice
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I would recomend taking a look at some of the other areas of southwestern Ontario such as Mississauga, Burlington, Hamilton, Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo and Guelph. As one would expect, the housing prices tend to be more reasonable the further away from Toronto you go and you will be able to make your $70K go a lot further. While I would avoid some areas of Hamilton all together, there are also some very nice areas to live such as on the mountain or Aberdeen among others. Mississauga is a large city right next to Toronto and has a lot to offer. I currently live in Kitchener which has about 200,000 people and the housing cost here is about 2/3 that of Toronto. Not to mention that I have the cities of Guelph, Cambridge and Waterloo surrounding me and I'm only an hour from Toronto. The region has 3 major universities, U fo Guelph, U of Waterloo and Laurier U. There are also a lot of tech and research companies located in this region, most notably Research in Motion. While my living situation is much different than your (I'm single, no kids ... I hope) I have many married friends who make $70 - 80k and they all own thier own house and live a decent lifestyle. I have family that live in Sudbury so I've been there many many times. All I'll say is that I personally would not want to live there. I grew up in Etobicoke which is in Toronto's west end. Toronto is a great city and I would love to move back but I have the nice problem of a higher paying job in a cheaper city and I'm able to lead a far better lifestyle than I did in Toronto. Just something to think about.
Last edited by drnick77; 11-15-2008 at 07:59 PM..
Reason: added info
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