Quote:
Originally Posted by manny_santos
I’m late to the thread, but after a number of years in Toronto I think it’s undoubtedly a great place to visit, but not a great place to live if you earn under $80,000/year (and are single).
The cost-benefit ratio for me to live in Toronto is just too poor compared to almost every other city in Canada. Average rent there has skyrocketed in the past year to the point that the city has now surpassed Vancouver for average rent. The rest of the GTA isn’t much better.
I will be leaving Toronto in the new year. It’s not worth it for me at this stage in my life; nightlife and entertainment are not priorities for me and most of what Toronto otherwise offers can be found in most other Canadian cities.
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It's fun to live in a big, expensive city for awhile. Especially during your most creative/exploratory years. There's things that Toronto offers that not many other places offer outside of the largest cities in the world.
There's a point where that wears off though, especially if you're in a field where you can relocate and receive a similar salary. Then the downsides make themselves much more apparent - what you net after living costs is much smaller, getting to work is a hassle, etc.
I've said before if you move to an area that's relatively close (e.g. Kitchener-Waterloo), you get 90% of the benefits of the city without nearly as much of the hassle. Or live in a smaller city (such as Ottawa) that has many of the amenities that larger places have.