Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
May 27th 2018, 12:29 pm
#17
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Joined: Jul 2013
Location: Merida Mexico and Calgary Canada
Posts: 1,050
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
Care to share any examples? You can barely get a 40 year old 3bd townhouse for that money in the NW.
https://alberta.brookfieldresidentia...ntation-centre
Jun 9th 2018, 2:03 pm
#18
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 226
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
What does your husband do that he is going to earn 20-30k a year for 2 days a week? that would be 24 to 36 $ per hour...
Jun 11th 2018, 10:11 pm
#19
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Joined: Jun 2018
Location: Cochrane
Posts: 5
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
Mist ex-pats move to either Cochrane Airdrie or Okotoks where housing is more affordable .... all 3 have great communities within Easy to commute downtown 👍 Id look to consider adapting your skills to the Oil & Gas Industry, where you may find more opportunities and better $$$ Good luck 👍
Jun 11th 2018, 10:22 pm
#20
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Joined: Aug 2005
Location: South of Calgary
Posts: 13,374
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
Mist ex-pats move to either Cochrane Airdrie or Okotoks where housing is more affordable .... all 3 have great communities within Easy to commute downtown 👍 Id look to consider adapting your skills to the Oil & Gas Industry, where you may find more opportunities and better $$$ Good luck 👍
Jun 11th 2018, 10:27 pm
#21
Just Joined
Joined: Jun 2018
Location: Cochrane
Posts: 5
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
I’d disputed your comments, I live in Cochrane and both my wife and I commute Mon thru Fri to SE and NW houses cheaper than Calgary ... I have many friends who also live here Airdrie & Okotoks for same reasons 👍
Jun 12th 2018, 1:27 pm
#22
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2005
Location: South of Calgary
Posts: 13,374
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
I also accept that travel to the NW of Calgary from Cochrane is relatively easy, but that is not what you previously said, and I have no idea how you can suggest that travelling from Cochrane to the SE of Calgary is "easy." I accept that making that trip when others are not is doable on a day to day basis, but it is not a trip that I would ever describe as "easy", even if it could be done via Stoney Trail.
Each to their own though.
Jun 12th 2018, 7:14 pm
#23
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: SW Calgary
Posts: 776
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
You couldn't pay me to do that commute. For a project I was managing, I had to commute to Cochrane from Downtown for a couple of months a while back. Even going the opposite way to traffic, it was a 1 hour drive each way.
We live 8 minutes drive from downtown... no way in hell could I trade that in for a 90 minute drive each way during rush hour.
We live 8 minutes drive from downtown... no way in hell could I trade that in for a 90 minute drive each way during rush hour.
Jun 13th 2018, 1:31 pm
#24
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 38
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
Clearly it's just personal preference. My parents lived in Cochrane and commuted to Calgary for 10 years or more and they loved it. They only moved back to Ontario because of my elderly Grandmother. My aunt and uncle live in Airdrie and commute to Calgary. They've done that for their whole lives and they love it too. It's just down to personal preference whether you prefer to live in a city with no commute or in a village and commute in. If the latter, I agree Cochrane and Airdrie are both lovely places.
Back to the original question though, Samb29, I would think you'd be okay on $70,000 with your husband topping that up with part-time. I don't live in Canada at the moment, but my parents and sister live there and they've been advising me on salary expectations. I make similar to what you said here in the UK and the target they told me to look for there is $70,000-80,000. I would say this: consider that it's your starting wage so would go up. If, once you got settled, you found it wasn't enough compared to what you are used to, you could always push for a raise once they know you better, or look around for something else using the networks that you'll have made. Or if it's an option, your husband could potentially take on more hours when the kids get older maybe? From what I understand, it's a good wage, not super high like some IT jobs, but also not low, ($50,000-$60,000 is a normal wage for many jobs so $70,000 is good - on the upper end of normal, if I understand it correctly), and you would have room to increase it in other ways in the future, so it seems a decent starting point. The reason I'm posting here is because when I saw your post about having a decent offer and not knowing whether to take it, it reminded me of what happened to me recently. I interviewed for a really interesting job that I would have loved, in a really beautiful place that I would have loved, and I turned it down because they wouldn't come up to the amount I wanted. And it was that magic $70,000 that they wouldn't come up to. Ever since then I've been kicking myself because I realise now that I gave up my dream because of a small amount of money per month, that money isn't everything and that if I had the wonderful job that I loved in a place I loved, I could always push for more money later or else move on, or whatever. But instead I am still sitting here wishing I was there. In retrospect, with all things considered, I wish I had taken it and continued to work my way up from that point. But you might not want to move to Canada as much as I do, so it may be that the wage is a more important deciding factor for you - that's something only you can know. For me, I wish I had seen it as part of the whole package, not the deciding factor. Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I hope it is useful for you as you try to decide what's right for you. Very best of luck with the big decision.
Back to the original question though, Samb29, I would think you'd be okay on $70,000 with your husband topping that up with part-time. I don't live in Canada at the moment, but my parents and sister live there and they've been advising me on salary expectations. I make similar to what you said here in the UK and the target they told me to look for there is $70,000-80,000. I would say this: consider that it's your starting wage so would go up. If, once you got settled, you found it wasn't enough compared to what you are used to, you could always push for a raise once they know you better, or look around for something else using the networks that you'll have made. Or if it's an option, your husband could potentially take on more hours when the kids get older maybe? From what I understand, it's a good wage, not super high like some IT jobs, but also not low, ($50,000-$60,000 is a normal wage for many jobs so $70,000 is good - on the upper end of normal, if I understand it correctly), and you would have room to increase it in other ways in the future, so it seems a decent starting point. The reason I'm posting here is because when I saw your post about having a decent offer and not knowing whether to take it, it reminded me of what happened to me recently. I interviewed for a really interesting job that I would have loved, in a really beautiful place that I would have loved, and I turned it down because they wouldn't come up to the amount I wanted. And it was that magic $70,000 that they wouldn't come up to. Ever since then I've been kicking myself because I realise now that I gave up my dream because of a small amount of money per month, that money isn't everything and that if I had the wonderful job that I loved in a place I loved, I could always push for more money later or else move on, or whatever. But instead I am still sitting here wishing I was there. In retrospect, with all things considered, I wish I had taken it and continued to work my way up from that point. But you might not want to move to Canada as much as I do, so it may be that the wage is a more important deciding factor for you - that's something only you can know. For me, I wish I had seen it as part of the whole package, not the deciding factor. Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I hope it is useful for you as you try to decide what's right for you. Very best of luck with the big decision.
Last edited by Anya121; Jun 13th 2018 at 1:38 pm.
Jun 15th 2018, 10:41 am
#25
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 221
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
Clearly it's just personal preference. My parents lived in Cochrane and commuted to Calgary for 10 years or more and they loved it. They only moved back to Ontario because of my elderly Grandmother. My aunt and uncle live in Airdrie and commute to Calgary. They've done that for their whole lives and they love it too. It's just down to personal preference whether you prefer to live in a city with no commute or in a village and commute in. If the latter, I agree Cochrane and Airdrie are both lovely places.
Back to the original question though, Samb29, I would think you'd be okay on $70,000 with your husband topping that up with part-time. I don't live in Canada at the moment, but my parents and sister live there and they've been advising me on salary expectations. I make similar to what you said here in the UK and the target they told me to look for there is $70,000-80,000. I would say this: consider that it's your starting wage so would go up. If, once you got settled, you found it wasn't enough compared to what you are used to, you could always push for a raise once they know you better, or look around for something else using the networks that you'll have made. Or if it's an option, your husband could potentially take on more hours when the kids get older maybe? From what I understand, it's a good wage, not super high like some IT jobs, but also not low, ($50,000-$60,000 is a normal wage for many jobs so $70,000 is good - on the upper end of normal, if I understand it correctly), and you would have room to increase it in other ways in the future, so it seems a decent starting point. The reason I'm posting here is because when I saw your post about having a decent offer and not knowing whether to take it, it reminded me of what happened to me recently. I interviewed for a really interesting job that I would have loved, in a really beautiful place that I would have loved, and I turned it down because they wouldn't come up to the amount I wanted. And it was that magic $70,000 that they wouldn't come up to. Ever since then I've been kicking myself because I realise now that I gave up my dream because of a small amount of money per month, that money isn't everything and that if I had the wonderful job that I loved in a place I loved, I could always push for more money later or else move on, or whatever. But instead I am still sitting here wishing I was there. In retrospect, with all things considered, I wish I had taken it and continued to work my way up from that point. But you might not want to move to Canada as much as I do, so it may be that the wage is a more important deciding factor for you - that's something only you can know. For me, I wish I had seen it as part of the whole package, not the deciding factor. Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I hope it is useful for you as you try to decide what's right for you. Very best of luck with the big decision.
Back to the original question though, Samb29, I would think you'd be okay on $70,000 with your husband topping that up with part-time. I don't live in Canada at the moment, but my parents and sister live there and they've been advising me on salary expectations. I make similar to what you said here in the UK and the target they told me to look for there is $70,000-80,000. I would say this: consider that it's your starting wage so would go up. If, once you got settled, you found it wasn't enough compared to what you are used to, you could always push for a raise once they know you better, or look around for something else using the networks that you'll have made. Or if it's an option, your husband could potentially take on more hours when the kids get older maybe? From what I understand, it's a good wage, not super high like some IT jobs, but also not low, ($50,000-$60,000 is a normal wage for many jobs so $70,000 is good - on the upper end of normal, if I understand it correctly), and you would have room to increase it in other ways in the future, so it seems a decent starting point. The reason I'm posting here is because when I saw your post about having a decent offer and not knowing whether to take it, it reminded me of what happened to me recently. I interviewed for a really interesting job that I would have loved, in a really beautiful place that I would have loved, and I turned it down because they wouldn't come up to the amount I wanted. And it was that magic $70,000 that they wouldn't come up to. Ever since then I've been kicking myself because I realise now that I gave up my dream because of a small amount of money per month, that money isn't everything and that if I had the wonderful job that I loved in a place I loved, I could always push for more money later or else move on, or whatever. But instead I am still sitting here wishing I was there. In retrospect, with all things considered, I wish I had taken it and continued to work my way up from that point. But you might not want to move to Canada as much as I do, so it may be that the wage is a more important deciding factor for you - that's something only you can know. For me, I wish I had seen it as part of the whole package, not the deciding factor. Anyway, I've learned my lesson and I hope it is useful for you as you try to decide what's right for you. Very best of luck with the big decision.
I have a job offer on the target salary of $70k, 3 weeks leave plus hols, annual allowance $1k for medical, problem is this week my husband has also been offer 2 new jobs in the UK that will benefit his experience more.
Alot of thinking this weekend for us.
I know the offer is great and all that I could have hoped for but its still going to require my husband to top the income up buy $20-30K a year part time.
The other reservations I have about Calgary is the 8 months of winter and the isolation of Calgary.
Jun 15th 2018, 11:05 am
#26
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 38
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
That sounds like a great job offer. As you say, it's just deciding where you'd rather be really, if your husband has 2 good offers in the UK and you have a good offer there. Best of luck with the decision making.
Jun 15th 2018, 9:46 pm
#27
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Joined: Feb 2013
Location: BC, Canada
Posts: 3,874
Re: Comparable UK salary vs Calgary
Thanks for your post some good advice in there.
I have a job offer on the target salary of $70k, 3 weeks leave plus hols, annual allowance $1k for medical, problem is this week my husband has also been offer 2 new jobs in the UK that will benefit his experience more.
Alot of thinking this weekend for us.
I know the offer is great and all that I could have hoped for but its still going to require my husband to top the income up buy $20-30K a year part time.
The other reservations I have about Calgary is the 8 months of winter and the isolation of Calgary.
I have a job offer on the target salary of $70k, 3 weeks leave plus hols, annual allowance $1k for medical, problem is this week my husband has also been offer 2 new jobs in the UK that will benefit his experience more.
Alot of thinking this weekend for us.
I know the offer is great and all that I could have hoped for but its still going to require my husband to top the income up buy $20-30K a year part time.
The other reservations I have about Calgary is the 8 months of winter and the isolation of Calgary.
Are you really going to be happy with 7-8 months winter?
Are the positives about Calgary (eg winter sports, easy access to the Rockies) enough to outweigh the isolation for you and/or family members.
Lots of people live there happily. Are you going to be one of them?
I couldn't take those long winters and the bone freezing cold of some days, nor could I take being so far from the ocean!
