Cost of living in Canada: expenses and income of an average family

Cost of living in Canada: expenses and income of an average family

Main categories of an average Canadian family’s expenses, total amounts and whether Canadian salaries are enough to live comfortably.

Place of living has a big impact on the cost of living. I live in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Real estate is quite expensive here, it's one of the main expenses. But if you take the larger cities where most immigrants tend to move to, like Toronto and Vancouver, they are even more expensive. I will name specific numbers of expenses.

Housing

If you plan to rent housing for some time after moving to Canada, the average rental price of all property types across Canada in September 2021 was $1,763 CAD. All amounts will be in Canadian dollars.

The cheapest housing to rent is studios for $1,285 per month, one-bedroom apartments are $1,574 per month, and two-bedroom apartments are $1,857 per month. Let's keep counting this number. In Canada, most people live in detached houses, and the average rental price in August was $2,743. In Ottawa, it's even higher, $2,845.

If you like big cities, you can pay on average $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto and $2,630 for a two-bedroom apartment. Ottawa is a smaller city, and rent costs less, $1,600 and $2,000 respectively. Winnipeg is quite remote so renting is cheaper: a two-bedroom apartment costs $1,460.

Also, you usually have to pay for water, electricity and gas when you rent housing. Add another $100-200 per month if you live in an apartment, $150 on average. Sometimes everything is included in the rental price, so read the ads carefully. There is some Canadian terminology, and it takes time to understand it, so it is better to get a good grasp of things before you move in.

Groceries

It’s very difficult to identify average expenses in this category because you can live alone, or you can live with five people, like in our family. We also have a dog, which is a big expense item. You can save money and eat pasta and rice, or you can eat without restricting yourself. Quite a lot of people eat in cafes and order takeaway food. On one website, I found that it will cost about $44 per day per person. If you cook yourself, it is much cheaper.

I found a report that cited an expense of $13,907 a year for a family of four. That comes out to $1,159 per month, and I agree with that number, our expenses for five are probably close. We usually go to the Costco wholesale store once a week and buy groceries there.

If that amount shocks you, you should know that almost all new immigrants for the first few months, or even the first year, can get free food in help centers or food banks.

Transport

If you live in a major city center, you can only make do with public transport. That said, you will spend a lot of time traveling, and it's a little scary to be on a bus or a subway with other people during the pandemic. I think you need a car in Canada, or perfectly two if you have children.

You can buy a car for cash, on credit or take it on lease. This year I leased a car and I really liked the procedure. Unlike a loan, the payment per month for leasing is twice less. But after the lease ends, you have to return the car. On average, Canadians pay $500 per month for a leased car.

Of course, your car must be insured. The average price across Canada is $110 per month. It is believed that the most expensive insurance is in British Columbia, followed by Ontario, Alberta, etc. The cheapest one is in Quebec.

This is comprehensive insurance. A huge number of factors influence the price: your age, car, driving record, and the province you live in. Often even the area is taken into account. We live in a quiet area with not many accidents. If you live somewhere in the center, it is more expensive.

An average Canadian spends $145 a month to fill up their car. I think in reality the amount is higher. Parking costs an average of $50 a month. You have to be careful with that because you can pay half of that amount just for a day in Montreal downtown.

And the last sub-category is maintenance. On average, it's $100 a month. In Ontario, you have to put stickers on your license plate, so add $10 a month.

Mobile and internet connection

Be prepared for the fact that the internet is very expensive in Canada. Since my wife and I work from home and the kids have been homeschooled for almost a year, I didn't skimp on the internet. We have fiber optics and pay $110 a month for the gigabit unlimited channel. A slower channel would be about $50 a month.

Apart from the internet, the mobile connection is expensive in Canada. I pay for 4 numbers, from 3 to 10 GB of internet. It costs a total of $195 per month. Let's assume that on average a family has $100 to spend on communications.

I don't name computers, printers, scanners, cameras, lighting and other things, I buy electronics for business and write off the taxes for it. By the way, that's also how I partially write off utilities and even my mortgage. Still, something is bought into the house all the time and just for fun, let's put $100 a month on it.

Entertainment

I don't even know what to say, it is one of the minimum expenses for our family. In Canada, as compared to Ukraine, the format of entertainment is different. We usually go to a national park or festival. It’s cheap. Before we used to go to the cinema, but now we watch movies at home. So we have to pay for Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Video. If we don't count travel, we spend $300 a month on entertainment and birthday parties.

Going to a restaurant can be considered entertainment. I'm sure you can leave more money at a fancy place at once. So it is up to you to decide how much to save for entertainment.

Other expenses

Speaking of saving, I think it's very important to invest money, especially for immigrants who won't be able to get a full pension in the future. The more you invest at a young age, the more comfortable you will be in retirement. And don't forget that in said calculations, you're renting, and you need to save for a down payment. Start saving at least $500 a month. It's a lot, I understand, but it's necessary.

If you have a family, I strongly advise that you insure your life. Imagine if you are the breadwinner in your family and something happens to you, how hard it will be not only morally, but also financially for your family. So set aside the cost of insurance from $100.

Childcare costs are high, but I won't count them, they should be covered by child benefits. When we moved to Canada, we didn't know about it, and at first, it was really nice to just get $1,500 a month. As your income increases, the benefit decreases.

You can find cheap clothes in Canada. I don't even know how much to count per month. T-shirts are sold for $10, winter jackets for $100, shoes are more expensive. Let's count $100 a month. Although, if the family is large, you need more.

Total expenses

It's time to add up the expenses. It comes to as much as $5,361 a month. That's $64,332 a year. That's about $87,000 before taxes. If two people work in your family, that's $43,500 for each.

Is it a lot or is it OK? Let's turn to official statistics and see what Canadians' income was in 2019. If there were no pensioners in the family, after taxes, the median income was $93,800.

That's almost $50,000 more than I calculated. That's not a bad amount, how do you think? Even if I missed expenses in some category, which I definitely did, that still should be enough to live comfortably.

Pets

I forgot about expenses for pets. Veterinarians are very expensive in Canada. When we visit them, I prepare to part with at least $300. If you have, let’s say, an older dog, the surgery could cost dozens of thousands of dollars. If you're just getting on your feet in Canada, consider keeping your pets in your home country with relatives for a while.

Alex Pavlenko, founder of Immigrant.Today

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