Calgary Salary
Feb 5th 2009 | 9:41 pm
#1
Thread Starter
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 54
Calgary Salary
Hi
Can anyone give me an idea of what a reasonable salary for a family of 4 would be in Calgary.
OH had job offer and just wondered if the wage will be enough for us to live on.
Thanks
Denise
Can anyone give me an idea of what a reasonable salary for a family of 4 would be in Calgary.
OH had job offer and just wondered if the wage will be enough for us to live on.
Thanks
Denise
Feb 5th 2009 | 9:50 pm
#2
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From: In a darkened room somewhere.............
Re: Calgary Salary
It might be worth giving people a bit more info if you can i.e. which area you will be living in, how many cars you'd want to run, the kind of house you'd want, etc. As an example, a family of four that never eat out, living in a 2 bed flat in a not very nice area, without a car, would need a very different income from one living in a 5 bed house in a nicer area, who go skiing every weekend, eat out three times a week and have 2 cars and a motorbike!
Also, if you do a search of the forums you might well find info on the cost of living in Calgary as there are various threads about the cost of living in Canada (generally said to be the same as in the UK if that helps give you a vague idea).
Hope that helps.
Feb 5th 2009 | 9:56 pm
#3
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Re: Calgary Salary
Hi Denise.
It might be worth giving people a bit more info if you can i.e. which area you will be living in, how many cars you'd want to run, the kind of house you'd want, etc. As an example, a family of four that never eat out, living in a 2 bed flat in a not very nice area, without a car, would need a very different income from one living in a 5 bed house in a nicer area, who go skiing every weekend, eat out three times a week and have 2 cars and a motorbike!
Hope that helps.
It might be worth giving people a bit more info if you can i.e. which area you will be living in, how many cars you'd want to run, the kind of house you'd want, etc. As an example, a family of four that never eat out, living in a 2 bed flat in a not very nice area, without a car, would need a very different income from one living in a 5 bed house in a nicer area, who go skiing every weekend, eat out three times a week and have 2 cars and a motorbike!
Hope that helps.
Sorry I will elaborate
Would like to live in 3 bedroomed rented house, SW or lake comunity SE.
1 car, hopefully a motorbike in the future.
eat out/take away, once a week
skiing once a month would be nice
Feb 5th 2009 | 11:12 pm
#4
Slightly Canadian
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 10,146
From: St. John's, Newfoundland
Re: Calgary Salary
Is your O/H CEO of a company or the teaboy? Salary expectations will vary accordingly. Some more detail is needed for anyone to give you an estimation of what he should earn. The second question then is his potential earnings enough to live on.
Feb 5th 2009 | 11:42 pm
#5
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Posts: 54
Re: Calgary Salary
Not looking for an estimation of what he should earn. Just wanted to see if the salary my husband has been offered would be enough for us to live on in Calgary.
Don't want to make the jump to move only to get there and be struggling.
I will be looking for part time work as well but not sure how long that will take.
Last edited by dalaney; Feb 6th 2009 at 12:48 am.
Feb 6th 2009 | 12:51 am
#6
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Posts: 2,404
Re: Calgary Salary
Hi
Not looking for an estimation of what he should earn. Just wanted to see if the salary my husband has been offered would be enough for us to live on in Calgary.
Don't want to make the jump to move only to get there and be struggling.
I will be looking for part time work as well but not sure how long that will take.
Not looking for an estimation of what he should earn. Just wanted to see if the salary my husband has been offered would be enough for us to live on in Calgary.
Don't want to make the jump to move only to get there and be struggling.
I will be looking for part time work as well but not sure how long that will take.
(we have one car, rent the house, eat out fairly often etc....)
Feb 6th 2009 | 1:13 am
#7
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,402
From: South of Calgary
Re: Calgary Salary
Hi
Not looking for an estimation of what he should earn. Just wanted to see if the salary my husband has been offered would be enough for us to live on in Calgary.
Don't want to make the jump to move only to get there and be struggling.
I will be looking for part time work as well but not sure how long that will take.
Not looking for an estimation of what he should earn. Just wanted to see if the salary my husband has been offered would be enough for us to live on in Calgary.
Don't want to make the jump to move only to get there and be struggling.
I will be looking for part time work as well but not sure how long that will take.
Feb 6th 2009 | 1:16 am
#8
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,710
Re: Calgary Salary
I would do a budget backwards as that maybe easier to work out what you need to be earning, you can then use a tax calculator.
House - I would say you would need $1500-2000 for the rental per month
car- maybe $400 per month
motorbike- no idea
Skiing- assuming you can ski but need to rent and your kids don't get free passes - this is the biggy here- $300 (say $60 per adult, $40 per child then rentals). Plus of course kit purchase etc, gear (not skis and boots ) for everyone
Sports/activities for kids- these can range from $60 per season to an awful lot more.
Clothes- you need to budget a reasonable amount for kids clothes, I find I spend slightly more on them- all those hats, mittens, ski gear etc.
Eating out- takewaway- we spent around $35 on a curry for two last weekend.
Food
Bills
TV
etcetc
I would say , off the top of my head that $70K is not enough for this kind of eating out skiing thing- but of course others on here will disagree with me. Skiing is a huge budget eater.
Of course Almost Canadains point of whether you will own the cars outright or whether you need to part-fund payment is a very good point.
Gryph
House - I would say you would need $1500-2000 for the rental per month
car- maybe $400 per month
motorbike- no idea
Skiing- assuming you can ski but need to rent and your kids don't get free passes - this is the biggy here- $300 (say $60 per adult, $40 per child then rentals). Plus of course kit purchase etc, gear (not skis and boots ) for everyone
Sports/activities for kids- these can range from $60 per season to an awful lot more.
Clothes- you need to budget a reasonable amount for kids clothes, I find I spend slightly more on them- all those hats, mittens, ski gear etc.
Eating out- takewaway- we spent around $35 on a curry for two last weekend.
Food
Bills
TV
etcetc
I would say , off the top of my head that $70K is not enough for this kind of eating out skiing thing- but of course others on here will disagree with me. Skiing is a huge budget eater.
Of course Almost Canadains point of whether you will own the cars outright or whether you need to part-fund payment is a very good point.
Gryph
Feb 6th 2009 | 2:32 am
#9
Procrastinating
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 475
From: Calgary, Canada
Re: Calgary Salary
I'm on $75k so can back up Gryphea's estimate, my one salary is not quite enough to look after a 3-bed house mortgage in NW Calgary, 1 car, 1 baby & not too extravagent a lifestyle. It can cover monthly expenses but doesn't allow for extra expenses like flights, winter tires and so on which we use my OHs EI from her mat leave right now.
Main problem is that the mortgage is too large a chunk and if that wasn't taking up half of my take-home pay then we'd be in better shape.
Other estimates:
Mortgage - $2000
Car Payments - $400
Groceries - $700
Prop Tax - $160
Gas - $100 (neither or us drive to work)
Cable & Phone - $130
Gas & Elec - $350 (winter numbers so better in summer)
Eating out and stuff - $200
Also started looking into childcare - it's anything from $700 to $1000/mth F/T, or about $50/child/day if that's something you need to think about.
Main problem is that the mortgage is too large a chunk and if that wasn't taking up half of my take-home pay then we'd be in better shape.
Other estimates:
Mortgage - $2000
Car Payments - $400
Groceries - $700
Prop Tax - $160
Gas - $100 (neither or us drive to work)
Cable & Phone - $130
Gas & Elec - $350 (winter numbers so better in summer)
Eating out and stuff - $200
Also started looking into childcare - it's anything from $700 to $1000/mth F/T, or about $50/child/day if that's something you need to think about.
Feb 6th 2009 | 9:41 am
#10
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Posts: 2,710
Re: Calgary Salary
Ps
I do think it makes a differenece whether you are over on PR or TWP. PRs with kids are eligible for a tax break that TWPs aren't until 18 months in.
Gryph
I do think it makes a differenece whether you are over on PR or TWP. PRs with kids are eligible for a tax break that TWPs aren't until 18 months in.
Gryph
Feb 6th 2009 | 10:05 am
#11
Banned
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 15
From: Lethbridge
Re: Calgary Salary
We moved with $50k ayr and two kids, that was back in 2007
If you look at $60k plus then anything above that would give you a good income as long as you don't want the rich lifestyle.
Will also depend if you are able to work, it makes a difference even if you can get a little job somewhere.
Good luck with your move
Jen
If you look at $60k plus then anything above that would give you a good income as long as you don't want the rich lifestyle.
Will also depend if you are able to work, it makes a difference even if you can get a little job somewhere.
Good luck with your move
Jen
Feb 6th 2009 | 11:26 am
#12
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Posts: 2,092
From: Calgary
Re: Calgary Salary
Stats Can:
I work with a lot of families' finances and dead average would be husband 50,000/yr and wife 30,000/yr.
Families in Alberta and Saskatchewan experienced the largest increases in median total income between 1990 and 2000 after adjusting for inflation, according to the census.
The largest gain among the provinces occurred in Alberta where median family income surpassed the $60,000-mark. Alberta joined Ontario, the Yukon and Northwest Territories as the only provinces or territories with before-tax median family incomes higher than $60,000.
In addition, Ontario and Alberta were the only provinces in which family incomes were above the national median of $55,016.
In Alberta, the median increased 7.1%, from $56,140 to $60,142, which was the biggest gain in the nation. That is, half of families had incomes higher, and half lower. In Saskatchewan, it rose 5.0% to $49,264.
Median family income was highest in the Northwest Territories, at $69,046, a decrease of 1.2%. The Yukon followed with a median of $63,490, and Ontario was in third place at $60,142.
The largest gain among the provinces occurred in Alberta where median family income surpassed the $60,000-mark. Alberta joined Ontario, the Yukon and Northwest Territories as the only provinces or territories with before-tax median family incomes higher than $60,000.
In addition, Ontario and Alberta were the only provinces in which family incomes were above the national median of $55,016.
In Alberta, the median increased 7.1%, from $56,140 to $60,142, which was the biggest gain in the nation. That is, half of families had incomes higher, and half lower. In Saskatchewan, it rose 5.0% to $49,264.
Median family income was highest in the Northwest Territories, at $69,046, a decrease of 1.2%. The Yukon followed with a median of $63,490, and Ontario was in third place at $60,142.
In 2000, one-half of families in Calgary had income above $65,488 and one-half below, which was up from a median of $61,408 a decade earlier. This was substantially higher than the provincial median for Alberta of $60,142 and the national median of $55,016.
To provide an overview of how incomes varied between the top and the bottom of the income distribution, families in Calgary were categorized into 10 groups based on their incomes. Those in the lowest 10% had an average income of $13,000, while those in the highest 10% had an average of $248,600.
To provide an overview of how incomes varied between the top and the bottom of the income distribution, families in Calgary were categorized into 10 groups based on their incomes. Those in the lowest 10% had an average income of $13,000, while those in the highest 10% had an average of $248,600.
Feb 6th 2009 | 1:13 pm
#14
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 667
From: Cochrane near Calgary, Alberta
Re: Calgary Salary
There are an awful lot way above this amount which means there must be loads below.
I certainly agree with the above posts, $70,000 covers the basics nicely. If you want to ski, go on holidays abroad and go out for the odd nice meal then you need more than $70,000.
Feb 6th 2009 | 1:59 pm
#15
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Posts: 1,023
From: Kamloops BC
Re: Calgary Salary
I'd say $80K for a family of 4 with 2 cars to live a comfortable lifestyle in a nice area.
