Quote:
Originally Posted by hipster duck
I think the cost of living in a big city is overestimated, and the cost of living in a small city is underestimated.
I think people are using things like home ownership, specifically of a house (i.e. something with a yard) as the default. This is taking a small town view of what is acceptable housing.
In a large city, it's not considered humiliating to be a professional in your thirties, renting, and even having a roommate. These can bring costs down in a place like Toronto to around $1,000 a month. Because other professional people are renters too, the likelihood of having an ex-con or person at the margins of society who might reneg on rent are relatively low, whereas in a small town that kind of person might be your archetypal roommate.
A lot of what people consider to be acceptable is what they see other people in their social class or peer group doing, not something that provides an objectively more comfortable standard of living, like more space, less density, a bigger yard, homeowning vs. renting etc. Of course, those things are valued by big city people, too, but people in big cities pine for those things less than people in small towns, because there isn't as much social pressure to do so.
When you also include things like ~20% higher salaries in bigger cities, and not needing to own a car (~$1,000 a month), and the cost differential between a city like Toronto and even a "cheap" small city in Southern Ontario shrink dramatically.
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This is very true, I live in east Vancouver right beside the Harbour and my rent is only $500 a month because I split the apartment with 2 others, one of the roommates will be moving out leaving just the 2 of us dividing rent in 2 or $800 each.
Utilities are cheap, transit is ample, car sharing is cheaper then driving, overall my living costs are cheap.
Out of a monthly income of only $3200, I pay $500 in rent, $100 in utilities/insurance/Internet split in 3, $120 in cell, $100 for a bus pass, $300 for food, $150 in debt obligations, and honestly thats about it.
So I actually have a lot of excess spending money and live quite comfortably.
Cities including Vancouver aren't really expensive outside of the housing issue, and I prefer to live with a roommate then alone anyway so it's a win win for me.