In 2022, we spent over 100,000 Canadian dollars (or more than 80,000 USD) in Toronto. Further, all the amounts in the article are indicated in Canadian dollars (CAD), in order to convert them into US dollars, simply multiply the number by 0.8. The exchange rate of these two currencies is quite stable and has changed insignificantly in one direction or another over the years.
In recent years, regardless of the country of residence, I have been keeping a fairly detailed record of income and expenses. This article is not about what advantages it gives, enough has already been written about this.
Initially, my goal is to show how much it costs to live in Canada in general and in Toronto in particular, to highlight the financial side of life in this country. I hope that this will be useful for someone when making a decision to move, and for someone it will simply be interesting to compare with the current country of residence and draw certain conclusions.
About Me
My wife and I moved to Canada in September 2021, before that we lived in Minsk for three years, where we moved from Russia in 2018. All the main expenses associated with the move fell on this year.
The expenses were quite high, since we took only two suitcases, two bags and a tourist backpack, which contained only the most necessary things. Two bicycles, a computer and two beloved dogs that were once found in the Russian expanses at different times.
A small digression. We have a family joke about how we found our second dog. In May 2018, we went on a four-day bike trip around the Kaliningrad region and on the second day in one of the villages we met a one-year-old cheerful dog. We fed her, said goodbye and drove on. But parting with us was not part of her plans, and in the next three days she ran 200 kilometers with us in the heat.
For the first time I saw that a dog can completely wear down the pads on its paws until it bleeds. After that, we could no longer leave her on the platform. I so wanted to escape from the village in Toronto that I had to do such a feat. This is, of course, a joke. The truth is that Romy just found in us excellent, cheerful and hospitable friends, with whom she could not part. Therefore, even involuntarily, I had to leave for the stinking Canadian metropolis from the adored flowering meadows and free life.
In 2022, we already lived a normal life and the costs associated with moving were insignificant in the general background, which allows us to estimate the cost of everyday life in Toronto for a family of two.
Separately, I would like to note the fact that Toronto is the most expensive city in the country and is in the top 100 most expensive cities in the world. This should be taken into account at least because in other cities the cost of renting housing will be less. Sometimes even much less.
Real estate prices in Toronto are exorbitant to say the least. For example, to rent a 2-bedroom apartment (three-room apartment), you will have to pay monthly rent of about $ 3,000 per month. But more on this a little further.
Income in Canada
Before moving on to expenses, it is interesting to understand what is the general income level of Canadians. A resource where you can find absolutely any information that interests you. Whether it’s the amount of milk children drink in Saskatchewan or the sexual orientation of St.
John’s residents. The data is more than reliable, transparent and as detailed as possible. Unfortunately, the most recent income data is only available for 2020 (no one is in a hurry here), but not much has changed in this area in two years, so you can safely focus on them.
In the statistics I have selected, the emphasis is on the median and other percentiles. So beloved by many, especially government agencies, “average” is very deceptive in nature and does not reflect the real state of affairs. After all, if Peaty chewed cabbage, and Vasa enjoyed two juicy cutlets.
this does not mean at all that on average they ate cabbage rolls. Further in the article, all income is after taxes. That is, income “on hand”. Taxes are a separate sore subject and we will not touch on it.
The median household income in Ontario is $79,500.
Summing up the intermediate result, we fix the following important numbers in our heads:
The median income per year for a family in Toronto is $85,000
Median annual income per person in Toronto is $45,000
How is it that a family of two spends much more? Are we fans of the latest iPhones, jewels and luxury cars? Let’s look at spending in detail.
Expenses
In fact, my wife and I lead a rather unpretentious lifestyle. We are not interested in such things as marbled beef, gold chains, branded clothes, and even the latest iPhones are completely indifferent to us. At the same time, it doesn’t bother me at all to buy three T-shirts at Walmart for $12 or a couple of paintings at the thrift store (thrift store). So where did the 100,000 come from?
The total annual expenses were $106,021. For myself, I have long broken spending into categories and subcategories, which I slightly adjust from year to year. This allows you to very accurately assess a particular area of life and, if possible, change something.
Mandatory Payments – $35,430
This category includes all monthly expenses that must be paid one way or another – these are mainly bills for services. The main property of this category is that its expenses are practically constant throughout the year and are subject only to inflation:
Apartment for rent – 27 608
Electricity – 720
Apartment insurance – 334
Internet – 1 428
Mobile communication – 1 168
Subscriptions (Amazon Prime, JetBrains, etc.) – 313
Banking services – 17
Consumption* – 4 137
* subcategory, which I will not detail due to its personal nature
