gaz555

Hi folks,

I'm currently sending out applications this week to a number of companies in Vancouver and Victoria with a view to getting my TWP.

I work in a niche industry and price ranges for the positions I'm looking at have very wide pay scales dependant on experience/negotiation.

In advance of my follow-up calls to these companies I'd like to establish what salary I will accept.

I'm currently on £30k, I have no dependants or debts and no finance agreements other than mobile phone payments, car insurance and gym membership. I rent a very small apartment, albeit in a nice building in a nice area of Manchester.

Looking for a gut-feel from those people who have made similar moves recently (rather than a calculation based on exchange rates) as to how much I would need to be paid in the Vancouver area in order to enjoy a similar lifestyle.

I'm told that the cost of living in Vancouver is broadly similar to the UK albeit housing, maybe slightly cheaper but that housing is more expensive depending on area. Assuming that these factors balance each other out I'm guessing that about CAD$45-50k would be the right sort of money to aim for. This is in line with the salary range advertised for the positions in question.

Am I about right?

snowshoveller

They reckon Vancouver id one of the most expensive cities in the world to live

I have never lived there myself (vancouver, that is!), but would figure on about $60kCAD to give an equitable life in most of Canada, compared to your UK salary

Boy d

I am originally from Manchester and go back often. Been in Vancouver for 20 years. Housing is certainly not broadly similar and is more like the south east of the UK. Vancouver itself is silly prices (to own) away from the city,prices drop dramatically.

The cost of living itself is really not much difference to elsewhere in Canada. When everyone bangs on about the cost of living being higher, its generally house prices that are being referrenced. rent is somewhat reasonable and when you factor in no council tax and utilities it's probably not too much more than the city centre of manchester. Other things are more difficult to compare...groceries are more, eating out is cheaper, beer is like London prices, new cars are cheaper, big ticket items are generally cheaper, gas is cheaper, insurance is more, tranisit is cheaper.......and on it goes, of course life style will impact costs in general. Vancouver is certainly not cheap.

An average wage here is about 25 dollars an hour. I'd say that you need to add roughly 20 percent to you uk wage...i'd say shooting for 60 k (which is a pretty average wage here) would be realistic as noted in the previous post and make the move worth while.

Some rough daily costs in dollars:

rent for one bed in the west end: 1100 (as noted no tax and most bills in)
beer: 6-7 dollars....(varies quite a bit though)
movie: 10 - 12 dollars
cable, internet and phone: 150 ish
taxi across town: 10 dollars
groceries: difficult to estimate but id say for a single guy around 100 -120 bucks a week ?????

Hell of a lot nicer place to live than Manchester, although we are having very manchester like weather at the moment

feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions

Boy d

Its only housing. Everything else is swings and roundabouts really. For a renter, its not much worse than elsewhere and Toronto is acutally supposed to be more expensive, other than housing costs:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...173337541.html