Canada's 3 cheapest provinces

In which provinces in Canada do you not have to leave long cheques and always have your wallet full? Let's find out.

For comparison, I suggest first reading my article in which I talked about the three most expensive provinces in Canada.

Like last time, I will be comparing prices based on several criteria:

• on housing costs;
• on grocery spending;
• on transportation costs;
• on the total expenses per family for one month.

Let's take a family of three as an example: two adults between the ages of approximately 25 and 35 and one child.

P.S. All prices will be quoted in Canadian dollars.

3rd place: Nova Scotia

So in third place is Nova Scotia. This province lives off a variety of small industries, including fishing, mining, tourism, and the film industry.

Now let's break down the spending in this picturesque place:

• On average, you will need $1580 per month for rent or mortgage along with utility costs;
• for $340,000, you can buy yourself a house;
• an average of $930 will be spent on shipping costs;
• $640 will be spent on food, which compared to other provinces, is quite small.

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Total: Total expenses per month per family are approximately $4890.

I should point out that in Nova Scotia the minimum hourly rate is $12.55. So, if you work for that kind of money, you'll make less than $1800 on a full-time schedule including taxes. The average wage here is less than $3050 after taxes.

Now let's count: if the family is working both spouses, then in total they will have about $ 6100 per month. Then subtract the costs, they are left with just under $ 1200 per month (or about 70 thousand rubles at the time of writing).

2nd place: Quebec

In second place is Quebec. Quebec is located in eastern Canada. A characteristic feature of this province is that approximately 80% of the population speaks French. Quebec has a developed economy and is rich in natural resources. Even so, prices of goods and services are still lower compared to many other regions.

So what kind of rates can we expect from the French-speaking province?

• On average you will spend $1570 per month on rent or mortgage along with utilities;
• it's about $418,000 to buy a house. But here I want to draw your attention to the fact that this is the average cost for the entire province. If you take Montreal, where I have lived for almost four years, of course, it is more expensive there;
• Province residents spend $855 a month on transportation, the lowest cost in Canada;
• an average of $650 is spent on food.

Total: The total cost per family per month here is $4860.

It is true that, compared to other provinces, earnings in Quebec are not very high either, and the province also has high taxes.

The minimum hourly wage in Quebec is $13.50, which means that a month working 40 hours a week would yield $2160 after tax. As you can see, this is hardly enough to provide for a family, even if both spouses were working.

However, do not despair, the average income per month will be quite enough, so it will be about $3160.

Based on this, the family income where both spouses work will be about $6320, respectively, will remain $1460 per month. And in rubles about 85 thousand. Pretty good, don't you think?

1st place: New Brunswick

The cheapest province to live in Canada is New Brunswick, which borders Nova Scotia. New Brunswick is located in southeastern Canada on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The region lives off services, construction, and manufacturing.

Now let's understand the prices in this province:

• an average of $1,520 a month will be spent on housing;
• you can buy a house here for an average of only $225,000;
• the average transportation cost is $1010;
• it's gonna be $640 a month for food;

Total: total expenses per month per family are just over $4850 — that's almost half as much as the most expensive region Nunavut.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to these prices. In the past, New Brunswick has been recognized as Canada's poorest region. In recent years, the province has been improving thanks to federal rural support programs. Right now, New Brunswick's minimum wage is still one of the lowest in Canada at just $11.75 an hour. Let's do the math: if you work for minimum wage, after taxes the province has a little over $1700 left. By Canadian standards, this is not much at all. It should be noted that the average after-tax salary in New Brunswick is not that bad at $3145 per month after taxes.

Thus, the family income where both spouses work will be about $6300. So, after expenses remain $1450, which in rubles would be about 84 thousand.

To summarize: in Nova Scotia, after all the spending in the hands remains 70 thousand a month, in Quebec 85 thousand and in New Brunswick 84 thousand.

Comparison with Russia

And now for the most interesting part, let's compare average prices with Russia!

As an example, let's take the same family, two adults 25-35 years old and 1 child.

• On average, families spend 30 thousand roubles to rent an apartment or pay a mortgage together with utilities;
• a home can be bought for about $4 million;
• the food costs will be 19,000;
• about 9,000 a month families will spend on transportation;
• Total: total costs are approximately 65400 rubles per month.

And now let's look at wages. In Russia, the minimum wage would be around 12800 roubles a month, if we take two people, it would be 25600. I think you and I have the same question: how can we live on that amount?

The average salary is about 49300 rubles per person, which means that a family where both spouses work receives about 98600 rubles per month. After all expenses, families have more than 33 thousand rubles left.

Alex Pavlenko, Founder of Immigrant.Today