Vancouver Now the Most Expensive City in North America

February 14, 2012

Posted by Vancity Buzz | 7 »

It seems like the price to pay for living in one of the world’s most livable cities just keeps getting steeper. A report on worldwide cost of living released by The Economist reveals that Vancouver is now the most expensive city in North America. Yes, even more expensive than The Big Apple (NYC) and the City of Angels (LA). Vancouver is now the 37th most expensive city in the world, up from 72nd last year. You can lay most of the blame to the city’s high cost of housing and low pay among other things.

It seems as though sooner or later something has to give. If real estate prices remain steady we will continue to see a flow of talent to the ‘burbs and elsewhere. This would stifle the creative community and have ripple effects on the city’s culture.

Zurich and Tokyo came in at number one and two.

See the cost of living index chart below to see where other cities stack up.

Image by Maurice Li

Alex

Don’t like it move to moosejaw
Jas

Shit I may have to move to Surrey
Ryan

Honestly, having lived in Toronto to compare I don’t find Vancouver any more expensive in terms of costs. My rent in Vancouver is about the same as it was in Toronto. My grocery bills are the same as Toronto. My utilities on average are less. Transit is less. I spend less at restaurants.

Where Vancouver’s problem is is the wages. I moved out here for personal reasons and I had no idea how much a pay cut that meant. My wage took a good 25% hit doing the same job here as I did in Toronto.

What I find most frustrating about it though is that the Ad Agency I work for now is much the same as the ones I worked for out east in that they bill out to American clients and charge them about the same amount. So thus one can conclude this cost of living isn’t the result of living in Vancouver but more the result of excessive corporate greed. (Which in itself isn’t a surprise but it seems odd that it is worse here than anywhere else)
guest

I am new to vancity buzz and lately i have been reading your articles about the cost of housing and living in vancouver and enjoy reading them.

One of your previous articles, ”Main Street, The Great Million Dollar Divide”"Naturally, a lot of the single family homes will be passed on to future generations, it’s like winning the lottery. This will be the only way the majority of future generations will be able to live in a detached home in Vancouver. To this day one of the greatest things my parents ever did was not sell their home in Vancouver and flee to Surrey and other suburbs as so many were doing so in the 90′s.” – vancity buzz^I totally agree.I live in a old old house in vancouver, good area, good location.is it worth selling the house while the house isnt worth much and the land is pretty much worth everything? should we just keep the house? move to burnaby and beyond? Just need another voice to help me out on this decision.
cn

I moved here from Toronto as well, but my salary doubled, yet I am in no better financially speaking now then I was back east…

I find it pretty insane out here.
Ryan

Ha, what do you do? I arrived here and discovered because I am in the “High Tech” industry that I am no longer entitled to meal breaks, stat holidays, overtime pay, weekends, or sick leave and at the same time wages vastly decreased.

I have managed to get a slightly better gig, (I am not making the same as I was when I first graduated) but the first gig I had when I moved here was $15,000 per year below that and I was working 40+ hours of overtime per week and still struggling to make rent.
Dave

Welp, might aswell move to Dubai

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