How Does Canada's Cost of Living REALLY Compare to USA?

We all age, and often experience increased health issues. Living in Canada, I know that I won't go bankrupt if I become sick. Additionally, I am not worried about gun violence in Canada.
I also prefer Canadian values that focus on inclusivity. In Canada, women's bodies are respected. If a young woman is impregnated due to a rape, she has the right, and choice, to terminate that pregnancy.
My values are better aligned with Canadian values, its social systems, structures and laws.
No disrespect to the US or to our Americans friends, just my personal preference.

Excellent detailed analysis, easy to understand - have read many 'academic' articles about this type of stuff but you nailed it in a much more 'down to earth' style..and good on you comparing/pairing those cities. Well Done!!

You cannot fully disregard the 37% exchange rate difference. It shows up when a person buys products priced globally in $US, including all those products from Asia, and almost all commodities. Americans also can shelter more income from tax due to higher limits on retirement plans, and more "loopholes" to reduce taxes. The higher the income, the more likely they are used. I certainly enjoyed a much higher standard of living with much higher take home pay when I worked in the US (Houston) compared to Canada (Calgary).

your not pay for a lot of things in canada! i pay a lot with my incomes taxes and i have literally nothing for what i pay! worst road, worst schools ! 51st state now! its urgent! canada is weak!

This analysis is to basic. In order to get a true understanding of the situation you have to compare bell curves for every metric being considered.

I love your channel!

I live in Vancouver and I drive to Seattle all the time. I honestly prefer Seattle its bigger and just has a better vibe.

Number one reason Canadians are leaving is because of all the Indian and Muslim immigrants

You dont really need to watch this video to know what the conclusion is. Should instead make a video of what you need to fix your country.

Baby bonus, college tuition...

Sweden and Switzerland are better!

Move to uk or franc

Lived in both countries 20 years each. It’s like comparing a playground to an amusement park. One you can get a lot more hurt, but also it’s 20x better overall. Canada is also not growing its economy in any meaningful way and prices are sky rocketing. For any Canadian reading this, I live in Colorado Springs, drive a 70k usd vehicle and pay $136 a month for full insurance coverage. Let that sink in. It’s not even close to a fair fight. Canada is going down, someone yell timber.

While you earn and spend in the currency of that country, that disregards buying power. Unfortunately Canada is getting worse and worse.

"if you're healthy and have a job." And if not? Then what? Also, going back to work in 6 weeks after having a baby is not great for you or the baby. And the cost of universities is outrageous.

My entire family, including a married son & his wife are considering moving to Canada right now from the US. We've applied for Canadian Citizenship by descent. This was very helpful. Thanks.

Two things: First you forgot to include New Hampshire as a low tax state. It's one of the top states for income but doesn't have either a state income tax or a state sales tax. No sales tax (I think it's called GST in Canada) means you can buy a $100,000 Audi and not pay the 5%...or 6%...or 8% (in a few states) tax. Second: although some kinds of care might be "free" in Canada we Americans can see an Oncologist (a cancer specialist) in a matter of days while you Canadians wait 6 months.

Maybe a lot left due to the uncontrolled immigration destroying Canada from the inside.

You’re not comparing apples to apples… We do have a universal pension plan in the US is called Social Security and it taxed at 7 1/2% in our employer put in another 7 1/2%… But it actually works out you are paying the whole 15% because your employer does take that in consideration for your wages. A lot of the big things in the US is the health and insurance… It is astronomically expensive in the United States. And so is healthcare in the United States. I have good health insurance but we pay $700 a month for a family plan. Last year I had a gallbladder removal surgery and for an overnight stay in the hospital with the surgery, it was 65K. In the United States people are going, broke fast because of the astronomically high medical expenses. If you’re healthy, you’re fine you will save money but if you have any little thing you’re going to be in debt to the hospitals, the rest of your life. five years ago, I went down to my clinic because I had a high fever and they swabbed me for the flu., For the visit at the clinic was $400 plus another $350 for a swab flu. So when you all think of how great America is, you might wanna think again.

The only advantage of being Canadian is that your Islamic terrorist kidnappers will pity and release you.

Fantastic

The big problem with the narrator's analysis is not converting the currency. $100 CAD has different purchasing power than $100 USD.

my girlfriend lives in Pensylvania, I live in Ontario. I make minimum wage of $17.60 currently, her minimum is $7.25. You can compare costs of living all you like but I make over $10 an hour more than her at our minimum amounts, thats universally better for individuals

Canadian healthcare. If dying while waiting for service was listed as a cause of death, it would be at number 3. Accidents (the number 3 reason listed) killed 20,597.

From April 2024 to March 2025, at least 23,746 people died while waiting for health care services or specialists. That 58 per 100,000. In the U.S. estimates are from 35,327 to 44,789 who die while uninsured. That's between 10.5-13.4 per 100,000. Close to 5 times higher in Canada.

As for assisted suicide, it would be the number 4 cause of death in Canada at 16,500.

It also is expensive, not free. It's paid for with taxes. Very high taxes.

I'm a bit tired of the "Canadian health care" trope!

This is a fun video, but it has some flaws. For example, the comparison of median salaries across cities is not the proper way to do it. You need to compare salaries across positions, fields, and job types.

For example, if I'm a software dev in Vancouver with 10 years of experience in middle management, you need to compare that to a software dev in Seattle with 10 years of experience in middle management. Typically if I'm a Canadian looking to move to the US or vice versa, I'm going to make a lateral move, so the median income is a misnomer in this instance because you are comparing software devs in one country to fry cooks in the other, they are all lumped in to one bucket.

And this is going to go for all aspects of your analysis. You just took averages or medians, which is not the best way to do it. You need to compare like for like. For housing, it needs to be the same house, same square footage, # of bedrooms, etc. The cars need to be the exact same cars, exact same down payment. the food needs to be a basket of goods that is equivalent across both countries: eggs, meat, potatoes, vegetables, same foods from the same type of store (no whole foods compared to the cheapest grocery store around type of thing). Insurance, healthcare, all those analyses. They are not compared properly. And maybe you did actually do this, at least in some cases, and we can't see the inputs, just the outputs, which if that is the case, I apologize. The salary thing for sure though, is not properly done.

Otherwise, it was a fun analysis and something to think about, just slightly flawed.

Canada is too cold.

Ok the biggest question is , who would want to live in the US today? With rogue ICE Agents pulling people out of their beds, shooting citizens for just voicing their opinions, taking children from their parents and locking them up...seriously? I don't give a crap about rent, about utilities, because at least we have our freedom. The only threat to our freedom is actually the US! You should be ashamed of yourself for even creating a crap video like this considering what is going on in the world today!

You can't put a stamp on "which country is best for what person"! It's state/city dependent... You will find a place in the US, regardless of your mindset and your skill set. Probably in Canada as well, so this topic is dumb!

Free healthcare isn’t free. Especially when it isn’t accessible.

Our Canadian software engineer clients regularly secure annual salaries of $200k-$300k+ usd. A bump of 50%-100%+ compared to Toronto. I like how you compared certain cities and agree with the Calgary similarity with Denver.

Extended benefits in Canada do has fees. It’s not all 100% covered and there are annual caps! For example only $400 per two years for glasses and you pay a portion. Get the facts straight before please. And not everyone has employer sponsored extended medical.

My wife owns a home in St Catharines Ontario near Lake Ontario. It's a very small house with 1 bedroom on the main floor and a 2nd in the basement (they call that a 1 +1) The lot is TINY - 30 feet wide and 107 feet deep. This house is worth $873,000 CDN or $639,402 USD. We bought a waterfront house on Lake Ontario in Youngstown NY for $553,000 USD which is $755,000 CDN today - the house is Youngstown is twice the size with beach access to the Lake, 2 garages, huge driveway, 4 bedroom and the lot is 113 wide by 321 deep. Your money goes WAY further in the US