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Cost of living, toronto.

post #1 of 24
8/5/09 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
This is mainly for torontonians, but anyone else with some advice can feel free to chip in

Im moving to Toronto next summer, fresh out of university. I have no job lined up there, so for the first few (jobless) months, Ill be surviving on whatever I have saved. Ive got a house lined up at 600 a months, but other than that, I have no clue of the day to day costs of the city. Im wondering if anyone can give me a general idea of how much money I should have on hand when I move there to live comfortably (shopping cheap, going on once a week, seeing some sights etc).

Any advice would be welcome guys,
Thanks
L.R.
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post #2 of 24
8/5/09 at 4:08pm
600 bucks a month for a house must be a dive
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post #3 of 24
8/5/09 at 4:29pm
Cheaper than London or New York (Obviously!) but maybe marginally more expensive than Chicago. If you have a place for $600 you would have to be sharing and even then, it probably isn’t a great place. Decent and central 1 bedroom apartments are about $1,100 CDN per month and up.

Food wise, due to Toronto’s over-talked about and “famed” multiculturalism, Toronto has a diversity of both quite cheap and very expensive food. That being said, even eating cheaply, it is hard to get a decent plate of food for under $10. However, there are a huge number of cheap food places that are quite good in Kensington market, Chinatown, little India etc…

Drinks tend to be more expensive with $5-8 beers the norm. As a young guy, there are a lot of cheaper bars to find especially around U of T.

Transit is pretty good and in the city is $2.75 flat for any trip. Cheaper tokens, weekly passes and tax deductible monthly passes are available.

Toronto’s not a terribly easy place to live as a pauper, but it is fairly vibrant and much of the fun and idiosyncratic parts of it quite cheap.
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post #4 of 24
8/5/09 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by breakfasteatre View Post
600 bucks a month for a house must be a dive

I'm having 2 housemates. Mind you, I live in off-campus housing at University, and the years I lived in rez I was in the party house...... So basically I'm used to "dive" type housing.

As for beer, I dont drink often anymore for it to add up... and Im more likely to spend my time at a museum than a bar. Thanks for the advice so far guys!
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post #5 of 24
8/5/09 at 10:26pm
Friend was telling me that you are looking at 7-8 a pint plus tip (so ust shy of $10) a pint to go out in a relatively average place.

More expensive to drink than London

K
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post #6 of 24
8/6/09 at 1:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by VKK3450 View Post
Friend was telling me that you are looking at 7-8 a pint plus tip (so ust shy of $10) a pint to go out in a relatively average place. More expensive to drink than London K
It's expensive to drink in Canada. And in Ontario, liquor stores close relatively early, and as I recall, most aren't open on Sunday.
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post #7 of 24
8/6/09 at 12:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by unjung View Post
It's expensive to drink in Canada. And in Ontario, liquor stores close relatively early, and as I recall, most aren't open on Sunday.

I dont have much experience drinking in ontario, but Im pretty sure that has changed. The reason its all so expensive is because of taxes.
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post #8 of 24
8/6/09 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by VKK3450 View Post
Friend was telling me that you are looking at 7-8 a pint plus tip (so ust shy of $10) a pint to go out in a relatively average place.

More expensive to drink than London

K

Remember that the pound and canuck buck are not on the same unit of measure. On the other hand you're still right but there's not much difference.
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post #9 of 24
8/6/09 at 12:40pm
Umm, 10$ for a drink is not an "average place". It's a ripoff. Most places are 5-6 + tip.

If you like going out to popular concerts/events/shows, be prepared to pay. The smaller events are often good value for money tho.

Also, the shopping here is nothing spectacular in terms of price/availability. If you order a lot of stuff online it might be harder to get since shipping from the US to Canada is always a hassle, and Canadian online retailers are weak.

Also, which area of the city are you moving to?
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post #10 of 24
8/6/09 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post
Remember that the pound and canuck buck are not on the same unit of measure. On the other hand you're still right but there's not much difference.

Yea, but even $8 CAN is way over what I pay in the UK. Was ust a bit surprised.

K
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post #11 of 24
8/6/09 at 1:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by VKK3450 View Post
Yea, but even $8 CAN is way over what I pay in the UK. Was ust a bit surprised.

K

Well it depends, in London clubs beers can be expensive but in Pubs and on tap you get great deals for quality stuff.
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post #12 of 24
8/6/09 at 1:28pm
Beer is the only good deal left in London.
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post #13 of 24
8/6/09 at 1:39pm
Funny how a cost of living thread has devolved into a cost of drinking thread.

Toronto's a pretty expensive city. As others have pointed out $600 will get you a rat's nest downtown (which definition includes living in a party house).

$2.75 to ride the metro adds up fast. Three rides means three tokens or about $7.

There's plenty of cheap food around, but cheap food is just that. If you want to eat decent, you've got to be willing to pay at least $8-$10 a ride. Decent restaurant? At least $20 with tip without a drink. Spartan.

Groceries are standard. Your bananas are .89/lb, your ground beef is $3.99/lb, etc. etc.

There's also a fairly vibrant organic/health food development around the city. It's roughly 20%-40% over standard retail, but you get what you pay for, it seems.

Everything else is standard. Think of Toronto as a smaller town itching to become the next New York, only a bit friendlier. We started with egregiously high rent costs and have only recently started to trickle down to the world-level culture (new Art Gallery, new Opera House, new Museum, etc.).
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post #14 of 24
8/6/09 at 1:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by unjung View Post
It's expensive to drink in Canada. And in Ontario, liquor stores close relatively early, and as I recall, most aren't open on Sunday.

I have not been to a bar in ages so I can't really comment on the current drink prices. However the LCBO and Beer Store do stay open fairly late ( at least the ones out where I live ) and they are open on Sundays.

So where are you planning to reside?
What type of jobs are you looking for?
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post #15 of 24
8/6/09 at 2:10pm
If you get a Metropass now, you save up to 20% off of some of the main cultural attractions in the city. Worth it if you use transit a lot. Also you can get a CityPass which gives you access to a bunch of the main cultural attractions and costs something like 45% less than if you bought the tickets separately. You can visit the CN Tower, ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Casa Loma, Science Centre and Zoo for under $60. Also, the ROM is free on Wed from 4:30 to 5:30 and half price on Fridays after 4:30. I'd keep an eye out for similar deals from other places. If you still have a "valid-looking" student card, you can get a lot more deals on culture visits. Also, as far as shopping is concerned, there are some gems but only insofar as the few great independent shops that exist. The only major retailer that has anything "SF approved" is Holt Renfrew, and they're hit or miss. You want to check out Nomad most of all, and also Goodfoot, TNTBlu and Lileo in the Distillery District. Get Outside on Queen is an all right shop for standard footwear fare. Kensington Market is good for thrifting.
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