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Standard of living in Vancouver

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Standard of living in Vancouver
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flag NWRide
Posted: Jan 28, 2017 at 19:26 Quote
I have lived in the States my whole life, except the first couple months as I was born in Canada.

B.C. is a favorite of my wife and I for vacations and I consider a move every once in a while. I find the area very nice, the people friendly, the area beautiful, and the government more sane.

Lately I have been considering a move more seriously.

From what I read online, I have citizenship and so does my child. My wife doesn't. We are both high-tech workers which usually makes immigration easy as most countries want these skills.

But I am wondering about the cost of living. I looked at some salary surveys and they say the average for a software engineer is about 60k! Converted in USD, that would not even be close to what a fresh college grad makes in the states.
Then I looked at the average home price in Vancouver and see they are about a couple million! So it looks like our salaries would be cut in half, taxes would be a bit higher, and houses would be impossible to buy.

Are these number close to reality? Or is the picture not this bad? People look like they are doing OK when I visit there, really it feels similar to U.S. cities are far as houses and cars go so maybe I am missing something? Is rent for a condo/townhome in a decent area insanely expensive?

If anyone is in high tech, what would be a reasonable ballpark expectation for us? 1. C++/Java/C# developer with 15 years experience. 2. Technical marketing/big data person in software industry (mba, CS major, lots of software experience, etc)

We have thought about maybe just retiring in Canada instead, and I looked at the prices of Whistler condos. They seemed very reasonable for a resort community, so why is Vancouver so expensive.

Thanks
flag DugS
O+
Posted: Jan 28, 2017 at 20:47 Quote
Housing in Vancouver is very expensive but as you go farther out into the Fraser Valley the prices go down. If you don't mind being about an hour away from the city you can spend about 1/3 the cost and get 3x what you would get in the City.

As for computer technicians and programmers with experience I would expect it to be closer to $100k.

B.C. = Bring Cash
flag dangerousdave
O+
Posted: Jan 30, 2017 at 11:01 Quote
Obviously it depends on your occupation and experience, but I do believe you generally make less and pay more here. I moved from Calgary, AB and ended up taking a pay cut and increasing my living expenses. The flip side is that I have a dozen or more epic riding spots within an hour including the North Shore (three mountains), Squamish and the Fraser Valley. Whistler is about two hours away, Bellingham is close by as well. For now, I'm very happy with this arrangement, but may reconsider when it's time to start a family/buy property.
flag SirChomps-a-Lot
Posted: Jan 30, 2017 at 11:33 Quote
Your numbers are more or less accurate. Home ownership will be out of reach for you in Vancouver unless you commute over an hour each way and even then it will be a stretch.
flag NWRide
Posted: Feb 1, 2017 at 21:00 Quote
OK. Well I looked at houses for rent and they seem similar to Portland OR (2-3.5 k). Where I am from, generally rent would cost about the same as the mortgage to buy the home plus maybe a little extra for the landlord. It seem in Vancouver that renting would be way cheaper. I did brief research but it looked that way to me.

Is there some reason people would pay way more to buy a house then it would rent for?

A small house within 45 minutes of work (during heavy traffic) would be OK. Not sure exactly what that would cost. Would be real nice if I could ride the shore after work in the summer.
flag gbeaks33
Posted: Feb 10, 2017 at 16:02 Quote
NWRide wrote:
OK. Well I looked at houses for rent and they seem similar to Portland OR (2-3.5 k). Where I am from, generally rent would cost about the same as the mortgage to buy the home plus maybe a little extra for the landlord. It seem in Vancouver that renting would be way cheaper. I did brief research but it looked that way to me.

Is there some reason people would pay way more to buy a house then it would rent for?

A small house within 45 minutes of work (during heavy traffic) would be OK. Not sure exactly what that would cost. Would be real nice if I could ride the shore after work in the summer.

Vancouver housing market is one of the craziest in the world. Short side of it is there is a ton of foreign money flowing into the city into real estate as a form of tax havens or sheltering illegal money. So that drives housing prices up. It's a total mess - and only the super elite rich people can afford a house in Van. Riding the shore is sweet but honestly I only do it once a week in the summer after work. Traffic is always shit and it takes forever to get and from North Van if you live downtown, Mt Pleasant, etc. I'd way rather live in Squamish or Whistler.
flag SchnitzelKonig
Posted: Feb 11, 2017 at 7:41 Quote
If the sticker shock of YVR has you shaking your head, take a look at us across the pond here in YYJ. Tech scene is booming, house prices although still high are attainable, quality of life is great, weather is a TON better than Vancouver or Seattle, and the riding on Vancouver Island can easily hold its own. I'm not in the industry myself but a good number of my buds are.

Tech Job Board - http://www.viatec.ca/jobs?current_page=1&sort_type=featured_recent&filter=%7B%7D&display_type=default

http://betakit.com/celebrating-victorias-transformation-to-tectoria/
flag gramboh
O+ FL
Posted: Feb 14, 2017 at 17:27 Quote
With your/wife experience you would be making at least 80-100k I would think, big data can be more depending on the role.

Don't bother thinking about owning a house here, the market is in correction mode so you are seeing prices at their peak. Renting makes much more sense.

Generally yes, salaries are low and costs are high. It only makes sense to live here if you truly take advantage of the lifestyle AND have a job that requires you to be in a big city. If you can work remotely then I would live up the Fraser valley, Sunshine Coast, Pemberton etc.
flag chrisrobin
O+
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 23:29 Quote
To be honest, I think Vancouver as a city is overrate. Yes I live here (have for the last decade or so) and I own a condo. People are house broke here. I'm not sure how people can afford high end bikes...I'm not sure how I afford mine. Oh wait, I'm in debt. That's how.

As for politics, the mayor of Van is a moron and the premier of BC is pretty corrupt. We have issues here and we're taxed like nobody's business.

If you were to move up here, consider North Van or Squamish area. Traffic is so bad here that getting anywhere between 2pm and 7pm is a gong show.

What I found is people can afford the high rent (or just barely afford it), but can't put a down payment together because they're all going paycheque to paycheque.
flag canadiannate
Posted: Mar 25, 2017 at 18:16 Quote
I used to live just outside the GVRD in Abbotsford. I knew a few people that bought houses there and then communted, but you are looking at an hour drive. As for why it is so expensive, I believe as stated above there are many taxes. Another reason I believe is the market has many international buyers who have a lot of money, creating a lot of competition (I watched on the local news about a year ago).
flag L8N8
Posted: May 14, 2024 at 10:47 Quote
Uh oh. An albertan chiming in that should probably stay quiet.

Sorry in advance. Van is the biggest letdown in Canada imo. It should be amazing but as mentioned corruption, foreign influence, weak politics, allowed homelessness and drug use has really let it decline into something mostly unpleasant. The last couple years had me bouncing there a few times and honestly I was quite disgusted.

We Stayed up at Whistler and loved it there and I definitely want to explore the biking further on the coast but you couldn’t pay me enough to live in Van.

The reality is I am also thinking of location changes which is what caught my attention.
I’m wintered out.
I love Calgary for what it has to offer. I have a great house here on a wicked street with some of the best biking around 5 min from me but my wife and I are ready to shake things up.
I am ready to abandon my 20+ yr career and find something new as well.
Riding has become a huge part of our life and winter really puts a damper on it. We are looking to BC and with that the upper Okanagan or Kamloops has our interest. Affordability is comparable to here(even with the tax increase), biking is epic and the climate is quite lovely.

And worst case it’s a 3.5-4 hr drive to Van or 6 to Calgary. It’s a pretty sweet compromise.

For your industry perhaps Kelowna would even be suitable as well?

Good luck with the transition however it works for you. The only reason I chimed in is due to relevancy of topic in our current situation here.
flag GingerYehti
Posted: 22 hours ago Quote
I'd recommend looking into in the Tri-Cities area (Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam) if you're thinking of moving. Your dollar goes farther and there are commuting options outside of driving, West Coast Express, Skytrain.

The benefit of this area is that you're going against traffic so ripping out to the Shore for a lap after work isn't that bad, and you have two decent zones in your back yard, Eagle, Burke, and SFU. Not to mention a mellow XC zone, Bert Flynn. There's even a decent skills park that is rarely busy.

With your level of experience you'll be definitely looking at making over 6 figs. Another option to consider is working remote for an American company. While they get a discount on labor they usually pay pretty well (above market).
flag Mr-Monterey
Posted: 21 hours ago Quote
If you work in technology, you do not want to work in Canada. For some opaque reason, tech salaries in Canada (and most white-collar professions outside of finance) are dismally low, as you have noted. People who have moved from the Silicon Valley to Vancouver office at tech companies have taken 50% pay cuts. Similar to you, him and his friends investigated working in Vancouver but abandoned the idea due to finding abysmally low wages. I have heard rumors of decently high wages from working in quant finance in Vancouver (think $150-200k)--but even that won't make you wealthy in Vancouver. However, quant roles at high paying firms (think Citadel, Two Sigma, Jane Street etc) are extremely competitive and require a skillset beyond what many basic SWEs possess. I don't mean to kill your enthusiasm and it is possible I am wrong. Best of luck to you. Thats my 2c. Unrelated, I would recommend taking a closer look at Canadian politics--BC especially--before calling them "sane".
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