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.
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