Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Cost of Living in Canada



Hey guys, I'm back again to write about real cost of living in Canada, and more specifically living expenses in Toronto and Mississauga in Ontario...

I know I talked about that in my previous post: Preparing your Landing IV - Money, however the below table represents a reality check, I'm now sharing with you what's actually
paying every month in my journey in Canada.


FromTo
Monthly Rent
$850

$1100

for a one or two bedroom apartment

Transportation

$90

$180

This amount is for public transportation for the wife or the person who doesn't
drive, and it depends on where you go, one city or GTA.

Gas (Fuel)

$200

$300

Depends on your usage

Home Parking

$40

$50

Outdoor parking is cheaper

Other Parking

$10

$30

You some time need to park in a paid parking inside the city

Car Insurance

$183

$300

Depends on the coverage and the insurance company

Grocery

$350

$500

Depends on the luxury level you want

Household

$20

$50

Barber, Bank Fees …etc

Utilities

$145

$180

This is Two Mobile phones (with couples plan, which means unlimited free calls between
the couples), 1 Mbps Internet, and Home Phone. All from Rogers for $145 monthly.
You can add a cable
TV for like $30 or $40 … for me I just don't have TV lol

Clothing

$50

$70

That's $600 to $840 per year, it's enough for winter and summer clothes (twice a
year), but again it depends on what you want to buy and from where

Entertainment

$100

$200

Restaurants, Picnic, Hanging out …etc. average restaurant cost for a family of three
is $50 to $75 (if it's a fancy restaurant)

Laundry

$40

$50


Total Living Cost

$2088

$3010

Not including the optional expenses below

Pre-School/Day care

$600

$800

If you want to put your kid in a pre-school or a daycare you would be paying this
amount

Electricity & Water

$80

$150

This is most likely to be included with your rent


I hope I covered everything, I will make sure to update that table if anything changed.

Feel free to ask me any question about Cost of Living in Canada.

Update [Jan 2011]: You guys probably heard about the new Daily Group Deals trend, if not then you should cause it's a great way to save money. You can save up to 90% if a number of people buy the deal. There are now plenty of those sites like Groupon, Living Social, WagJag, DealFind, TeamBuy etc... but it would be great to get all daily deals in one place. Hope that helps.

[Update] I also launched a new daily deals blog where I'm posting a lot of useful saving tips and tricks in the daily deals space.

Cheers,
Nabil

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your information is very helpful.
Please give idea about the common survival jobs and their payment available in Canada.

Unknown said...

I don't really know much about Survival jobs ...but from what I hear common survival jobs are Pizza delivery, fast food restaurants, security guards, and clerk in any industry ...etc..

The pay is usually the minimum wages, between $8 and $10 per hour.

However, I don't advice skilled immigrants to get a survival job ... instead focus on the Full time job you have: Job Search ...

Anonymous said...

what is the average cost of living if you are living in toronto. i have a family of three more people including mrs and two girls 7 n 3. i ll be earning after tax around 3300/mth . is that good enough. im planning to rent sth around 1300/mth house.thanks.

Anonymous said...

what is the average cost of living if you are living in toronto. i have a family of three more people including mrs and two girls 7 n 3. i ll be earning after tax around 3300/mth . is that good enough. im planning to rent sth around 1300/mth house.thanks.

Andreas Za said...

This is veryinteresting. Do you have corresponding figure for living in the US, say California and/or East Coast?

Unknown said...

Thanks Andy. unfortunately I don't have any insights about California and/or East Coast.

If you have any real numbers, please feel free to send me and I will post them on the blog.

Cheers,
Nabil

Anonymous said...

hi stumbled up on to you site, can you tell me, we are 4 person family, two kids at age of 6 years old, me and my husband, we are looking into maybe immegrating from europe. what kind of earning are we looking at for a reglular job currently I work as a daycare manager and my husband is is automatic parts sales. we would be looking for jobs in simular work are. what would you estamate cost of living for our family size and what sort of earnings? thanks so much.
andrea

Unknown said...

I would like add up andrea...
How much will a kid get from government? I mean the kids welfare money.

Unknown said...

Hi Nirmal,

Depending on your income, you can take up to around $350 per kid.

Me

Anonymous said...

Hi Nabil,
Your info is really v useful. my hubby is being posted to Mississauga for around 2 mnths. Any idea if we will be able to rent an appt for such a short period of time? Its just the two of us, so we'd be ok with a single bedroom or even a studio appt, as long as we have a kitchen facility. His company will bear the costs of rent.
I've looked at sites like 24/7 apartments and 101 apartments, but not contacted anyone yet...
pls let me know...
thanks
R..

Unknown said...

Hey there "R",

After deep research, the best and cheapest place for short term stay is Studio6 (http://www.staystudio6.com/). It's furnished studio with very good quality, clean, with wireless Internet connection, and cleaning once or twice a week (i don't really remember). It costs around $1500 per month (for a one month stay or longer).

It's located at: 60 Britannia Road East
Mississauga, ON L4Z 2T2
(905)502-8897

Check this post for more info: http://www.immigrationexpertise.com/2008/07/housing-i-finding-place-to-live.html

Good luck
Nabil

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

Hi Nabil:

My wife is running a home nursery for children here in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. Will she be able to run a similar class there without licencing etc. Are you aware of such facilities there. I am not referring to babysitting.

Thanks for your help.

Regards
Sav

Anonymous said...

The amount of post landing documents to be managed on first entry when immigrants just come for few days like 7-10 days. Most importantly how do we expedite obtaining PR and SIN cards as the mailing address required within Canada. Is there any authorised agencies who can represent the newcomers and later send these cards on the overseas address as required for re-entering Canada. Please advice. Also in current economical crisis what is the job oppurtunities for skilled workers when we read in newspapaer the lay offs happening in major IT companies. Your views please.

Anonymous said...

Hi, this is such a great site, i've just cross with it while googling some info. Anyhow, I will be given a temporary work permit to work as a resident engineer in Southwestern Ontario. Two, maybe three years.
It's really handy all the information that you are giving because I had no idea about some things, I've been here three times just in visits, and there are some thing that aren't obvious, like those tips.
I'll be around.

Thank you.

Mohamad said...

What about the cost of furniture for an apartment. let me say (a bedroom, guest room, a kitchen, tv set...etc) how much this could cost ?

thanks very much for your hard work in this blog.

peace

Mohamad said...

Dear Nabil,

what about the cost of furnishing your apartment , let us say you , your wife and a little babay daughter for a bedromm and a den , how much the cost approximately would be for furnishing the apartment ? i.e. fridge, washing machine, TV set chairs , tables ....etc?

thanks for all the efforts you are exerting in such useful blog.

have a good day.

peace.

Unknown said...

Hi Mohamad,

First, you need to know that every apartment rent in Canada comes with two appliances: Fridge, Stove, and you can use the coin laundry in the basement (shared washers and dryers) also closets are wall closets, so you don't need to by them.

If you are renting a Condo then it comes with 5 alliances: Fridge, Stove, Washer, Dryer, and Microwave. But that would be around $500 more expensive than the normal apartment.

Now, depending on where to buy your furniture, let's say from IKEA, which I found it the most convenient value for price option, it would cost you anywhere between $5000 to $7000.

Hope that helps.

Good luck
Nabil

Mohamad said...

Nabil,

That really helps. thank you very much indeed.
I have received the medical request and I'm working and preparing myself for that journey to canada.

Thanks again. Have a good day.


bye.

Anonymous said...

Dear Nabil I have been trying to find a cost of living calculator similar to bestplaces.net. You can list the amount you currently make in a US city and compare it to the amount you should make in a city you are interested in moving to. I would like to do the same with cities in Canada, as my husband and I are thinking of possible immigration. Any help would be apprieciated. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

hi Nabil,
Me n my family are going for immigration to canada, I am an Engineer and would look for jobs in general insurance sector as i am having exp of 11 re plus in same feild
Do u have any clue abt the time period required to get a full time jod as skilled worker in the said area and wages associated.

Anonymous said...

hi Nabil,
Me n my family are going for immigration to canada, I am an Engineer and would look for jobs in general insurance sector as i am having exp of 11 re plus in same feild
Do u have any clue abt the time period required to get a full time jod as skilled worker in the said area and wages associated.

Anonymous said...

what about foreign student who studying there? i mean who studying in college and doing a part time job,who their cost of living & their expenses?

Marwa said...

Hi Nabil,

this post is really VERY helpful. thank you very much for sharing your experience, jazaka allaho khairan :)

we did our landing in June 2010, and we came back to UAE to finish our work contract and we are planning to come back to mississauga in 1-2 years time... your post will help us determine what amount we need to be saving given that we do not find any job during our 3-4 years stay in canada... my husband is a senior architect and we actually doubt he will be able to find a job in his field when we move!

looking forward to more posts :)
and we are still waiting for the Do's and Don'ts...

Best...

Anonymous said...

I would like to say to Nirmal that it is very irritating that he or she is already asking about child benefits offered by the government when he or she has not yet paid anything in taxes and is already expecting the governement to and money for free. That is what is wrong with our immigration system. Canada is a country made of immigratans (I myself am one) but everyone should come to work, not to try to get the "free" money!

Anonymous said...

Dear Nabil,
I am working in sanofi aventis pharmaceutical company in sales dept for the last 4 years, and my total pharmaceutical sales experience is around 7 years. One of my Cousin lives in Victoria for around 15 years.
what is the best available advice for my case to come to Canada.

Anticipating your earliest response.

Thanks.

Nadim said...

Hi Nabil,
I have been posted by Kijiji for long time but never got any reasonable 2 bed room flat in Mississagua for less than 1500Cad. my budget is 1100Cad and do not know how to survive..

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