Middle Class Living in Toronto -GTA, Canada as Compared to Detroit, USA
After a long and endless search for living and expenses comparison based on real life experiences, I decided to write this article based on my own life experiences of living in Michigan and Ontario. Cities where I have lived are in Michigan: Ypsilanti, Canton, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Novi, Farmington Hills, and Ontario:- Toronto, Markham, Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon. There are websites comparing the price of grocery, rental market, but those are taken average numbers and does not explains real life experience of transitioning from Michigan to Ontario. I’ll be focusing on living expenses and lifestyle.
Starting from Michigan, I would say renting or buying a property is way more cheaper than Toronto. People might say Toronto is metro city with lot of to do things, hang out places, its like comparing Apple to Oranges. Yes I agree to them, but if someone is looking to relocate to Toronto from Michigan to Toronto, he or she shall have an approximate idea about living expenses and lifestyle change. Look at a beautiful picture of Detroit below.
Talking about the rent in Michigan average for rental price is 1500$ USD in Ann Arbor, but if you compare similar rent in Toronto, it is almost 3000–4000$(CAD). Even if you look for places to rent in outside Toronto, in GTA, 1 bed room apartment is around 1500 CAD (if you are lucky)-1800 CAD. For an annual salary of 55000 CAD, roughly in hand you get 3400 in hand and imagine paying 1700 in rent, half of your salary is going in rent alone, plus your car expenses of around 1000 CAD, in addition, your groceries and other living expenses. Its like living on month to month paycheck.
Huge gap of rental price exists from Toronto to Michigan price. Which brings me to affordability of renting in Michigan is way more cheaper to rent or even buy a place at the price of just renting in Toronto. I stayed in Ypsilanti in 2011 and paid a rent of 600$ USD per month for 1 bed room apartment, then I moved to Ann arbor for a month, where I paid 400$ for a shared room in two bed apartment. Ann arbor is expensive as compared to Ypsilanti, but then later I moved to Canton, MI and bought a condo in 2013 for 85000$. The size of condo was pretty huge, with two bedrooms, 1.5 bath and basement. Canton is a nice city to live in for families and as I was single and am still, I stayed in the condo alone and enjoyed living by myself. If you are thinking to buy something of similar size in Toronto or GTA region, plan to spend from 700,000–1,000,000 CAD.
People will argue, it depends on demand and supply, and job opportunities, blah.. blah.., but still I can say, its getting out of control of government as well. They are not realizing, its getting harder to buy a place here in GTA. Companies are not going to give big increments of 10000 CAD every year, so that you can afford a place to buy. Whereas in Michigan, with a annual salary of 58000$, I took 7000–8000$ USD from my parents for down payment on the condo, but I was able to buy a new car Prius (0 down) and a condo for 85000$, and good part about USA is mortgage are for 30 years fixed rate and interest I paid on condo was around 3.5% and interest on car was 0%. You cant imagine that in Canada for a fixed mortgage interest for 30 years and 0% on a brand new vehicle. Now in 2019, I am in Canada, staying in a one bedroom not shared basement in Markham, ON, paying 800 CAD, it is cheap and if I move out and come back in the same place, it would be 1200$ easily. So I am not moving out of this place until my salary increases or they kick me out. I am working in Toronto, downtown, with a annual salary of 55000$, paying 800$ in rent plus car installment of 325$ (Honda Civic LX model) with interest of 2.49% with a huge insurance scam price of 280$, whereas insurance in Michigan is way more cheaper and I paid only 150 USD’s for car, home and life insurance.
For a middle class family, who is planning to move to Toronto from Michigan, need to think about this transition and cost of living expenses. Another thing noticed is the Salaries in Toronto are less as compared to Michigan, depending on the profile. I am a software quality analyst and last salary withdrawn in USA was around 70000$, and here in Canada, with the same amount of experience salaries are around 60000 Canadian dollars, which are way lower and obviously makes it harder for an individual to survive with the same lifestyle of living in Michigan.
Cost of groceries, gas are at par in Michigan and Ontario, but on the cheaper side in Michigan. Cost of beer, I find it expensive in Ontario around 15 CAD for 6 bottles, whereas in Michigan it was way more cheap ( I am not writing the price of Michigan, as I dont remember) and less variety in Ontario. Also, in Ontario we have LCBO’s to buy liquor and in Michigan, you could buy it in Walmart itself, and Costco also. I mean there are stores also, but access to liquor is easy in States than in Canada. On one side, its good also that government might be trying to reduce consumption of liquor in Canada, which is bad for your health, but if someone is going to drink it, Michigan seems to score higher in accessibility and availability.
When it comes to lifestyle, including meeting new people, hanging out on weekends and all, I would rate Toronto higher, as there is lot of mix of immigrants you could meet. All the clubs and bars are full on weekends, and you could have a diverse food experience. In Michigan, especially in Ann Arbor city, as its a college town and there are lot of bars, clubs, restaurant which are busy on weekends. Even Detroit, has them and you could have different cuisines, meet new people.
When it comes to drinking water situation in Michigan and Ontario, its pretty bad in Michigan. Not all the places, but when I was there from 2011–2016, there were reports of lead in drinking water in Flint, MI, whereas water is on the cleaner side here in Ontario. As, I stayed in Canton, I used to have tap water itself, which was fine, nothing happened to me so far, and here in Markham as well, I am continuing on tap water.
On safety scale, Toronto is safer than Detroit, especially during night time. Usually people avoid Detroit to hang out during night time, as compared to Toronto, as there are lot of things to do and its much safer here. Staying in Canton, I always felt safe, as I mentioned it was more of a families were living around, we took care of each other.
For middle class family, Michigan would be a place to stay given that you find a decent neighborhood, with good schools and clean water to drink. In case you are earning good and have a business that you could expand and want to enjoy all luxuries of life, Toronto is the place to be in. Middle class can survive in Ontario, but same middle class can have more amenities in Michigan.
