I am being offered a 35% reduction in my current salary for the privelage of moving to Ontario, based on the current exchange rate (UK £ to CAN $). How much of a pay reduction has everyone else taken?

Secondly has anyone done a standard of living comparison for the UK to Canada. i.e. if you earn say £30/40/50k in the South East, how much you would need for Ontario to maintain the same standard of living? But the standard of living is supposed to be better isn't it? Thats the whole point surely?

we are lucky hubby's wage will be the same

I wouldn't move for less than even money.

likewise , he is doing the exact same job , so we asked for the exact same money , no problems , they wanted his experience.

Thats interesting. Canadian firms do try and talk prices down, like petrol being half the price that it is in the UK. But its only half the price if you get your same wage in the UK. I don't think the cost of living in Canada is as cheap as they make it out to be. I would be quite happy to save less money each month and enjoy a better lifestyle but I can't see the point of living in poverty in order to be in Canada.

When I moved, in 2000, I went from £42k to zero and stayed that way for two years. We were able to live in Oakville on my partner's salary of about C$63k but we certainly weren't well-off.

My current salary is £37,500 (roughly C$80k). My partner makes about C$65k, which covers our mortgage (C$150k) and most of the bills.

That didn't sound like much fun. I'm being offered around C$56k, which just seems woefully low. I'm supposed to be telling my wife and two kids that we will better our standard of living!

It need not necessarily be negative.
I went from (a measly) £15.5k to $50k.

I guess it can go the other way as well. I understand overall that Canada is not as expensive as the UK and therefore I would only accept around a 10% reduction. It's when you're setting up that you need the money the most. It's bad enough settling into a new culture without having to worry about the finances.

In Oakville? I doubt it. I believe the average income there to be about C$80k, which is one of the highest in Canada.

No, Petrol is really half the price. But you will have to drive twice as far to get anywhere, and with the average vehicle being about a 3.0l, you dont get UK economy anyway.


True, the cost of living is not what it once was here. Heating costs for one have increased enormously in recent years, and property costs in many places are rising fast. Insurance costs are not cheap either. Some things are cheaper, some are not. Unless you are coming with a lump sum to eliminate the mortgage costs, I dont think $56k will give you fantastic amounts of disposable income anywhere in canada anymore, and just making ends meet for a family might be about all you do. People get by on less, but Im sure they would prefer not to have to!

I get more than that (mid 60s), have a lowish mortgage and property taxes (~$800/month), but my house is not new, and my energy bills are not low, with two small kids we dont have much to spare..and thats with no car payments etc to worry about at the moment either.

I pay about $56k gross in alimony to someone who lives in a house a suburb of the GTA. She has one child at home (well for legal purposes, the child is actually with us but the mother nominally has custody) and no mortgage/rent to pay. She has some income from other sources, no more than $20k or so. We are currently before the courts in a tussle over whether or not I should pay for all her car related costs; her argument being that one must have a car to live there and one cannot afford to run a car on that income.

Obviously the claims made in family court are exaggerated but this one hasn't been laughed out. A judge is considering the idea that $56k+a house is poverty for two people. $56k and no free housing for four people would be very rough indeed.

$56K in alimony ??? Crikes !!! :scared:

You're not in the GTA, that's why it's viable. The property taxes on my house are $463/month. On the one the "ex" lives in they're $800+.

As with everything about Canada, generalisation can make comparisons meaningless. Earning $56k in one place can put you in a different comfort zone from $56k in another.

Comparing UK salary to Canadian salary is a bit meaningless IMHO. There are so many variables - for example I moved when the exchange rate was $2.35, so if I earned GBP 40k for argument sake I would be looking for $94k here. If the exchange rate is 2.1 or $2 as it was not so long ago I've 'lost' $10k so to speak!

The real questions are 'what is a fair salary for my job in the location I want/am prepare to live?' and 'Does that salary give me and mine the quality of life that I am looking for?' Location plays a tremendous part in this. F'r example a Materials Manager might make $80k in the GTA but I can tell you that in Newfoundland (outside the oil biz) the pay is considerably less. As a Materials Manager in St. John's I've accepted I am going to earn less than one living in the GTA. I am reasonably happy that my pay and benefits compare favourably with the market in my area though and since this is where I want to live it's something I have to put up with.*

I could spend my time fretting about the differences in pay between my last Uk job and now but it is a waste of time. Yes my first position in NL (more senior and better paid) was around 30% less than my UK salary (at that exchange rate, it would be 10% at todays exchange rate). Comparison of current position would be much worse. But again meaningless if you get my point.

* I moved to Newfoundland because of my wife. This makes my comparisons/goals/drivers different to someone moving to Canada as Skilled Worker/PNP etc. If I were a SW I would certainly be looking for 'better' lifestyle than UK, (so would to an extent agree with dbd33) otherwise why bother?!

So as ever the answer is research, research, research. And then make your own judgement as to what you and yours will be happy with.