orly

That's why the smart money goes to Southern Ontario.

In all seriousness I find overall it's a bit of a toss up. It depends a lot on where you choose to live and what your lifestyle is. I don't drink or smoke so I could care less about people crying about an LCBO monopoly.

I've found food a lot more expensive here. Likewise "luxuries" like phone/cable/satellite/internet cost more. Gas/petrol is cheaper but the distances driven here are, generally, larger so it's probably a tie for me in that regard. Hydro/electricity costs a fraction of what the clowns at Northern Ireland Electricity were charging. Overall taxation on income (on my Ontario wages) is roughly the same as the UK.

The winning variable for me is that I've been able to get higher paying work in a skilled role in Canada. Back home in N.Ireland the jobs simply don't exist in the first instance and the menial work on offer paid a pittance. By default Canada is an easy victor.

Climate is better and the people are happier here. And the Maple Leafs might have a half decent team this year too. Miraculous.

JBJ14

You could always come to Perth Australia for a year, get the shock of the cost of living here, then when you move to Canada it will be a pleasant surprise?

The4BellsLondon

Although we pay more for cell phones and interweb here, we do get punctuation and grammar on our phones !

Nikki Ian

First of all, Doing a cost comparison between dollars and pounds does not really give you a good impression, even more so when people from all across Canada give miss leading/confusing info. Not a good way to start if you are still thinking about moving to a new country.

Once you have worked out why you want to move and what you want to achieve, Look at your current lifestyle and be honest with yourself when you do this.

After you have done this, do lots of research into where you want to move to, Canada is a big place and each area,province offers something different that appeals to different people for different reasons.

Once you know where you want to live, and what work you plan to do, if you even need to work. Then compare houses, as a general rule houses here are bigger than the uk. In the uk houses are sold on the number of bedrooms, where over here its on the sq ft of living space, often this excludes the finished/unfinished basement.

Once you have done all that, you have a good idea of how much you will need to earn to put a roof over your head, then you add on the cost of cars, Fuel may be cheaper here, but you get half the gas mileage so not a huge saving really.

Now for arguments sake, double your heating/food/phone bills ect that you currently pay.

Once you have those figures, deduct from your projected income. If you have more money left over than you had in the Uk you will be increasing your standard of living.

Once here you will find that some shops are more expensive than others for the same product, just like the UK, and just like the UK, you will learn how to make the most of your money. But that you can only l;earn once you are here.

From our own experience, We live in an area near Edmonton most people in the area consider expensive. We have a house much larger than our 4 bed country cottage we had in the UK, our oldest car is two years old, My wife works half the hrs for the same money she earned in the uk. I earn twice what i did in the uk for less hrs. We have 3 young kids, eat out at least 3 times a week and do sports.

Are we rich, NO, are we poor,NO better off than some, worse than others, Maybe. Are we happy, more relaxed, less stressed and have more family time, YES. Do we feel our quality of life has improved, YES. What works for us may not work for others.

The good thing with Canada is, if you are happy to work hard, (nobody holds success against you here) not moan and keep comparing Canada to the UK. You will do well for yourself, regardless of how much cheese or beer is.

Hope this helps

Jaynebrads

Thank you nikki Ian yes that helps lots, so much better than all the sarcastic miseries on here!! We are looking at Edmonton and love the looks of it!

Shard

Good post.

How is it that you and your wife have effectively been able to double your salary for the same job? There is not that much of a wage differential.

Do you really find that in modern Britain people hold success against you if you work hard? There's obviously some resentment for say council leaders that are paid £150K+ or BBC execs minting it at £300K+, the bankers are not flavour of the month, but generally I find people accept and pursue hard work for good pay.

Sure people moan about it (having to work hard) but that's just being British (exaggerated by having to deal with difficult commuting situations and, possibly, cramped houses).

Hawk13

There is in Engineering

Shard

Well it's no wonder you're a happy camper then!

christmasoompa

No need to get personal thx.

Good grief! First time I've heard that on the forum.

Bottom line is that there are loads of threads on the cost of living which you can search for, but as a general rule most people say that it's about the same as the UK. Some things cheaper, some more expensive, but it tends to even out for most. You'll always get some that think it's more expensive in Canada, and some that think it's cheaper, but as a very rough guide, figure it'll be roughly the same. There's even a Wiki article - http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Cost_of_Living_in_Canada

Another thing to factor in is how long it'll take you to recoup your moving costs, which can be extortionate.

HTH, good luck.

The4BellsLondon

Also, you won't (hardly ever) walk into the same job/ salary/ vacay time that you have spent years working up to in UK ...often at the Bottom. Plus all the contacts, relatives, friends for free/ cheap child care.... Gone!

Shard

+1
Well, unless you're an engineer then you can double your salary. Let's hope the OP is an engineer as that's whose advice she is listening to.

ExKiwilass

the people are nice in Edmonton. Too bad it's ugly with shitastic winters.

scootb

I better get this job in Edmonton on Monday.

My mate moved to Sask years ago and has never looked back,he got out when the exchange rate was much better though.
He tells me like others do,if you're willing to put in the work,you can do well,but it can be difficult to adjust at the start.
Where I work just now I have been offered overtime TWICE in the past 5 long years,in Edmonton I have the option to do plenty of overtime,and even weekend work which will be handy for building funds.

I hardly have any living relatives,the missus's relatives lost my trust years ago so we never had free daycare,or help with the kids,etc..

cheeky_monkey

Actually Edmonton is shit hot not shitastic...better than dreary wet boring and expensive Vancouver

Shard

...but you have to admit, Edmonton's not a patch on Calgary...