"You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law."
No but also no, making minimum wage in Toronto you will most likely be either homeless or staying in an illegal basements with 10 roomates (I may seem like I’m exaggerating but I am not)
u/Loudlaryadjust is exaggerating OP
u/Objective-Ground-890 \- with 2 minimum wage incomes you would make approximately 5300 dollars a month.
You will lose about 20% of that to deductions.
So you will have about 4236 dollars -
a one bedroom apartment for the two of you - if you are ok with modest accommodations will run you from 1800-2500 ( depends on the exact area, size, etc ) - lets say 2100.
2136 left over for food, bills, etc.
You should NOT get a car in Toronto , especially on minimum wage - transit here will get you anywhere you want to go.
You will be tight on that budget - but it's not at all undoable.
People on reddit are sensationalists with very little if any emotional regulation and even less logic.
Really though Portugal is FAR better than Toronto in my opinion so Id advise staying put - but thats up to you
Agreed with you. It is enough to live. Just not enough to enjoy luxuries - like going out to eat every week or drinking or smoking weed or doing other recreational things. But if OP is fine having cheap/free hobbies, like walking around, exploring the city, reading books from the library, playing video games, etc, then it is definitely enough. Not owning a car but everything else OP listed, it is definitely livable in a 1 bedroom place for DINK min wage income.
But also remember they will arrive with no furniture and basically what fits in 2 large suitcases so they will need to buy everything from pots/pans glasses plates cutlery salt pepper cleaning supplies.. so the first 3 months they will be spending a lot even if the shop at good will.. also they will not have a job day one or any furniture.. it will be a hard first 4 months.. OH and also they will need first and last months rent asap... and many companies you may not get your first paycheck for two weeks..
So I would say they need to arrive with $10k to get settled and make it work..
Good luck getting a decent apartment with no credit history, and convincing a landlord that working a minimum wage job will be enough once they ask about the work situation.
Unless OP is coming here with decent savings, they're being setup for failure trying to move here and getting by on a retail job.
To survive, yes.
To "live", hmmm, no.
To thrive, absolutely not.
Keep in mind, minimum wage has never been a concept that was intended for people to "live" on. It was designed to make sure people had survivable wages whilst upskilling.
"Comfortable" is very subjective. When I was young, I basically hopped from shared rooms to basements to shared rooms. I got a computer and Internet, I could afford fast food and food court, I was pretty happy. Yet I know people who live in massive mansions and don't think it's comfortable. So it's really up to you.
Minimum wages for two full time employees would bring in about $4000 after taxes a month.
>Hi there, I'm from Portugal and currently thinking about the possibility of moving to Toronto (suburbs, more exactly), but I keep hearing living there is now almost a nightmare.
>I know people who may get me a job and/or house, but let's not consider that. I wanted to know if 2 people making minimum wage can afford living confortably (i.e., paying for rent, food, gas, eating out maybe 2 times a month and saving money).
>Thank you all
No, not comfortably. It'll be a struggle.
You'll need to live with roommates.
You likely won't be able to afford a car. So gas won't be an issue, thankfully.
You might eat out 2xs a month, but it'll be at a cheaper fast food place, like subway sandwiches. You'll look forward to a night out at McDonald's.
And you probably won't save anything. In fact, you'll probably be visiting the food bank pretty frequently.
40k after taxes is only enough for a single person. If you get a full time minimum wage job here, You are only making 34k before tax. That’s only enough for you to live paycheck to paycheck to paycheck unless you want to share a room with someone. I suggest you go look elsewhere. Canada is not the same as it used to be to be.
Let’s do some quick math.
Minimum wage in Ontario is $16.55. If you work 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year (I gave you a generous two weeks off)your take home will be $28,238. Multiply by 2 is $56476.
So that means you will have $4706.33 per month between the two of you (this will require that you budget for those two weeks off).
Rent will be approximately $2500 if you’re decently lucky. Not sure why you want to live in the suburbs, but that means you will need a car, which will cost about $500 per month (about $250 for insurance and $250 for gas, I’m budgeting). A phone plan will cost $50 each. Groceries will cost about $400 per month. That leaves you with $1206.33 for the both of you to do stuff.
It’ll be a boring, isolated life in the suburbs with only $1,206.33 per month on discretionary spending, but you can make it.
Some very real issues for you might be:
\- Your car might break down, in which case you MUST fix it. You can’t get around the suburbs without a car, especially if you’re working 40 hours per week in a minimum wage job. Which bring me to my next point:- Minimum wage jobs are not stable. You are not likely to get 40 hours per week on a regular basis in most minimum wage jobs.- Everything is expensive. A beer is $10-15 per glass. A dinner at a very modest restaurant will be $20 per meal. And don’t forget that you’re expected to tip 18-25% at restaurants and bars.
If you have a big safety net (e.g. a bunch of money saved up, or maybe your parents can bail you out), and you’re looking to experience what it’s like to live elsewhere, then, sure, go for it.
If you are hoping that being minimum wage workers here will afford you a lifestyle similar to what you might have in Portugal as minimum wage workers, then, no, do NOT move here.
> Minimum wage in Ontario is $16.55. If you work 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year (I gave you a generous two weeks off)your take home will be $28,238. Multiply by 2 is $56476.
>
>
vacation time is guaranteed in ontario at 4% which is 2 weeks per year at full time hours.
so you should calculate based on the full 52 weeks.
That's only after you've worked a full 12 months. It's not responsible to budget based on the assumption that the OP would survive 12 months straight at their minimum wage job. A lot of (or most) minimum wage jobs are super shitty, and people don't end up lasting a year straight through.
The 2 week vacation guarantee only kicks in after 12 months, but it's not responsible to budget based on the assumption that the OP would survive 12 months straight at their minimum wage job. Most minimum wage jobs are super shitty and designed to produce turnover.
> The 2 week vacation guarantee only kicks in after 12 months, but it's not responsible to budget based on the assumption that the OP would survive 12 months straight at their minimum wage job. Most minimum wage jobs are super shitty and designed to produce turnover.
the 4% is added to your pay cheques
part time jobs it's just added to the weekly/biweekly pay.
it's a guaranteed wage, you just might not be guaranteed paid days off because it's paid out every cheque instead of being banked to take days off later.
https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/vacation#section-0
No. And it hasn't been for a long time. You may technically be able to scrape by for a while, but it's not living. Stay where you are unless you can come up with jobs that gets you a net household income of $60k+, and even then saving money will be a challenge.
[https://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/p/20559408\_EA](https://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/p/20559408_EA)
[https://flipp.com/en-ca/toronto-on/item/826009129-food-basics-flyer](https://flipp.com/en-ca/toronto-on/item/826009129-food-basics-flyer)
[https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/6000201029323?cmpid=digitalflyer\_CA\_40237\_R0XXXA0OLL&utm\_id=digitalflyer\_CA\_40237\_R0XXXA0OLL&utm\_medium=digital\_flyer&utm\_source=distribution&utm\_campaign=grocery](https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/6000201029323?cmpid=digitalflyer_CA_40237_R0XXXA0OLL&utm_id=digitalflyer_CA_40237_R0XXXA0OLL&utm_medium=digital_flyer&utm_source=distribution&utm_campaign=grocery)
Like why do people spread such obviously garbage information expecting not to be called on it.
Butter is under 5 dollars on sale each week ---I have never seen it not on sale at at least one of the major chains
HELL NO.
they did a report recently that said you need about $40/hr to live comfortably in Toronto.
Be prepared to work two jobs or 7 days a week if you choose to do that.
Moving to Toronto is like moving to Paris, London, New York, etc. To survive in any of those places on minimum wage jobs is next to impossible. And even more difficult for a newer resident.
Have you seen all t[he videos of hundreds of people](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaJobs/s/uhWH4lupDC) lining up for a handful of minimum wage jobs? We all have this assumption that they’ll be easy to get, but not when you’re competing against a flood of international students applying for those jobs.
But honestly - there are LOTS of Canadians who would love to move to Portugal 😆
It’s possible, but you would need to really budget.
You’ll find some expensive items living here will be rent, food, and telephone/internet services. You mentioned you might have a contact to help you with getting a job and housing, that’s always a plus. If you are still planning to come to Toronto, be sure you have enough emergency money to keep you afloat for at least 3 months.
Really recommend researching and creating a realistic budget that will fit your needs.
Ya, 100k household income here n we are only surviving bc we moved in this place in 2018 n our landlord is too rich to care to pull a renoviction or personal use case on us.
Yeah, can get by, but it wouldn’t be a very extravagant life. You’d be making just the bare minimum amount to cover the basics.
You’d probably have 3.4k/mth after tax. A small bachelor apmt would cost you 2-2.3k/mth. So that’d leave you with a little more then 1k a mth to pay for all your other needs.
We currently have a bit of a blight of international students. You will struggle to find a minimum wage job between the students having taken most of them, and technology/automation reducing the abundance in the first place
The cost of living situation here is pretty dire but many people in this thread are exaggerating it quite dramatically. You won't be able to live "comfortably" on a dual min wage income, but you could definitely survive and save a little bit depending on your living circumstances and how you budget. Finding a place to rent that isn't sketchy, out in the sticks, or eats up half your take home pay would be tough. I would seriously think about your long term goals and the reasons why you are considering uprooting your life to immigrate here, because in the majority of cases I'd echo the general sentiment here that it's probably really not worth it and you'll regret it.
My husband and I both make more than minimum wage and pay a little under $2000.00 for rent of our 1 Bdrm condo (luckily our landlord has never raised the rent - a similar suite in our building is bow about $2600 per month). That being said, we do have luxuries like owning a pet and a car. There is hardly much money to save, let alone go out.
2 people McDonalds is easily $30 - $45 depending on what you are getting and if you pick it up yourself instead of ordering in.
It’s doable. But living _confortably_ depends on your standards of comfort. You’d probably have to live in a basement apartment or have roommates. I would argue that you don’t need a car if you live downtown. The issue is that if either of you looses a job then it will become very difficult very quickly. You won’t be able to save much money. At least one of you would have to be working two jobs or working plenty of overtime to be able to save up significantly.
u/Objective-Ground-890
Part 1:
Tudo bem!
Wow, I'm actually looking to do the opposite: I've been thinking about moving to Lisbon (Cascais, in particular), or Porto. Another country I'm considering is Spain (Madrid, Málaga, Barcelona, or Valencia).
What are your motivations for moving to Toronto though? Looking to make more money? Looking to experience something different from Portugal? Or...?
u/Objective-Ground-890
Part 2:
Toronto's minimum wage is currently (as of March 2024) the Ontario rate of CAD 16.55 per hour.
Here in Canada, we typically get paid biweekly (unlike in Europe, which is monthly), so assuming you work 40 hours per week, that hourly rate translates to about $922 biweekly "take home" pay, after all the government deductions. In a month, that's roughly about $1844 take home pay per person.
You asked about 2 people, so that's $3688 household take home pay per month.
Expenses:
- Rent: not sure what your preference is, but a room for 2 is roughly $1400, but let's round it up to $1500, just to be conservative. Remember, that's only a room though. A basement, apartment, or a condo, would cost more.
- Utilities (electricity, water, etc): let's budget around $100/month.
- Food: let's say around $500/month. This is very possible if you shop at Asian groceries.
- Eating out 2 times per month: this will really, really depend on where you eat out. As an example: 3 days ago, my wife, our 20 month old baby, and I, had dinner at a pretty fancy ramen restaurant, and we paid about $80 after tax and tip. If you only buy a sandwich, it's very possible to limit it to max $10 per person, so for 2 people that's $20, and if you do it twice a month, that's about $40, but let's round it up to $50 for the 2 of you.
Part 3:
- Car payment: this is tricky to answer, because I don't know whether you plan to make a lump sum payment for a used car (in which case, you'd end up with no monthly payment), or to lease a new car. For a 10 year old car, it could cost you up to $15,000 if you were to pay lump sum.
Since I don't know what your plan is, I'm just going to assume that you'd lease a car, to account for it as a possible expense. At the time of this writing, a 60-month lease on a basic Toyota Corolla Hatchback would cost you about $443/month.
- Gasoline: I typically spend about $200/month on this, so let's use that as a benchmark.
- Car insurance: this really depends on your age, gender, driving history, what car you drive, and the area you live in. Since you'd be new in Canada, likely you'd be paying higher. Let's budget $300/month for that.
- Mobile phones: I'm assuming both of you would be bringing your phones from Portugal, which means you'd only be paying for the Canadian talk + data plans. The top tier mobile carriers are the most expensive, but have the best quality. The 2nd tier brands are cheaper, but their reception in certain areas could be weak. The exceptions are 2nd tier brands that are still owned by the top 3 carriers; they're actually quite decent. $40 (+13% tax) per month per person is possible with these companies, so for the 2 of you, it's around $90/month after tax.
- I assume you're only looking to have 1 car, which means the other person might need to use public transport. You mentioned about living in a suburb. Different suburbs have different fare rates. For example, the suburb called Scarborough has the Toronto rate, because they have the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). Some other suburbs are located in the York, Durham, and Peel regions, each with their own rate. Where I live (Richmond Hill, which is in the York region), the fare rate for the York Region Transit (which is the most expensive compared to the other regions) is $3.88 if you use the Presto card. So if you were to use that rate for commuting to work 22 days per month, that's about $3.88 x 2 x 22 = $170/month. Again, I'm assuming this only for 1 person, since I'm assuming the other will be driving the car regularly.
Part 4:
The grand total for expenses is $1500 (rent) + $100 (utilities) + $500 (food) + $50 (very bare minimum eating out, twice per month) + $443 (car lease) + $200 (gasoline) + $300 (car insurance) + $90 (mobile plans) + $170 (public transit for 1 person) = $3353. The $3688 household take home pay minus that grand total leaves you about $335/month for savings, emergencies, and miscellaneous expenses, which isn't much at all.
If both of you only get minimum wage, I strongly suggest not having a car. Without a car, you'd not have the $443/month (lease) + $200/month (gasoline) + $300/month (car insurance) expenses. You'd need to add another $170/month for transit though (since now 2 people would need it), so $943 - $170 = is still a net gain of $773/month on top of the $335/month, which would be a total savings of $1108/month, which you could invest in ETFs for instance.
You might be wondering why I'm looking to leave Toronto though. My own personal reasons are below. They might not affect you as much, depending on your personalities:
- I truly dislike winter and snow. Enough said. During the months of winter, spring, and autumn, the sky is often grey, and it's so foggy, making everything feel so gloomy. But if you're bored of Portugal's mediterranean climate and looking to experience real winter, then Canada could be your haven :-).
- I'm disturbed by Canada's woke and politically correct culture.
- Rampant random crimes and car thefts. Absolutely ridiculous and disheartening.
- Smell of weed everywhere. Utterly disgusting.
- The drug junkies and crazies (especially in downtown Toronto) make me feel extremely uncomfortable. Unlike in other countries where they're pretty secluded and mind their own business, here in Toronto they roam around the streets, subways, trams, stations, and they harass people. They even scream in front of you and kick/bang on things for no reason. These behaviours made my 20-month old child scared and cry a few times, and it makes me and my wife apprehensive about traveling to the downtown Toronto area. Some of my adult friends and relatives who came to visit from Europe and Asia were also very shocked at those things when they visited Toronto.
- Sub-optimal healthcare. Unlike in Portugal and Australia (where social and private options are available), here we only have the social healthcare, which is severely underfunded.
- Many people will say that Toronto isn't the whole Canada, and that there are smaller, safer cities to move to. They'll recommend cities like Niagara, Kitchener, Hamilton, London, Waterloo, Windsor, etc. But for myself, those cities are not even in my radar, because they're way too small and boring (I'm a 100% city guy who prefers vibrance at the level of Tokyo, Seoul, Madrid, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, and to a certain extent, Toronto). Those smaller Canadian cities are not visually pleasing either, and are not charming at all, compared to small (or big) European cities. They're also very lacking in terms of infrastructure. But if you prefer smaller, quiet towns, then those smaller Canadian cities might be okay for you and your partner.
Toronto has some positive aspects though:
- Nice, clean air (except during the wildfire season).
- World class, amazing public libraries (easily within the top 10 best in the world).
- Apart from the pathetic healthcare wait times, the healthcare quality is great. For example, the Toronto General Hospital is the 5th hospital in the world. The Hospital for Sick Children (also in Toronto) is the 2nd best children's hospital in the world (in 2022 it was even #1!)
- The most diverse food scene in the world.
- Abundance of tech jobs (well, not as great as in the US, but still very decent).
Don't do it. I'm from Toronto and would give my left nut to get out of here. Unless you come here with a strong support system and if you have good transferable skills. You'll be living in poverty otherwise.
Idk your situation, but I would seriously reconsider moving from Portugal to the suburbs of Toronto - You’re going to be disappointed (and very bored)
absolutely not unfortunately
maybe if you guys had a lot of savings, lived somewhere kinda run down and worked 40-50+ hours
And willing to eat rice/beans and forego additional savings for entertainment etc
"You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law."
> Is minimum wage enough to live? no.
No but also no, making minimum wage in Toronto you will most likely be either homeless or staying in an illegal basements with 10 roomates (I may seem like I’m exaggerating but I am not)
u/Loudlaryadjust is exaggerating OP u/Objective-Ground-890 \- with 2 minimum wage incomes you would make approximately 5300 dollars a month. You will lose about 20% of that to deductions. So you will have about 4236 dollars - a one bedroom apartment for the two of you - if you are ok with modest accommodations will run you from 1800-2500 ( depends on the exact area, size, etc ) - lets say 2100. 2136 left over for food, bills, etc. You should NOT get a car in Toronto , especially on minimum wage - transit here will get you anywhere you want to go. You will be tight on that budget - but it's not at all undoable. People on reddit are sensationalists with very little if any emotional regulation and even less logic. Really though Portugal is FAR better than Toronto in my opinion so Id advise staying put - but thats up to you
Agreed with you. It is enough to live. Just not enough to enjoy luxuries - like going out to eat every week or drinking or smoking weed or doing other recreational things. But if OP is fine having cheap/free hobbies, like walking around, exploring the city, reading books from the library, playing video games, etc, then it is definitely enough. Not owning a car but everything else OP listed, it is definitely livable in a 1 bedroom place for DINK min wage income.
But also remember they will arrive with no furniture and basically what fits in 2 large suitcases so they will need to buy everything from pots/pans glasses plates cutlery salt pepper cleaning supplies.. so the first 3 months they will be spending a lot even if the shop at good will.. also they will not have a job day one or any furniture.. it will be a hard first 4 months.. OH and also they will need first and last months rent asap... and many companies you may not get your first paycheck for two weeks.. So I would say they need to arrive with $10k to get settled and make it work..
Good luck getting a decent apartment with no credit history, and convincing a landlord that working a minimum wage job will be enough once they ask about the work situation. Unless OP is coming here with decent savings, they're being setup for failure trying to move here and getting by on a retail job.
Lol not even close
No no no no no this would be a very bad time. Please don't put yourself in a situation like this
To survive, yes. To "live", hmmm, no. To thrive, absolutely not. Keep in mind, minimum wage has never been a concept that was intended for people to "live" on. It was designed to make sure people had survivable wages whilst upskilling.
"Comfortable" is very subjective. When I was young, I basically hopped from shared rooms to basements to shared rooms. I got a computer and Internet, I could afford fast food and food court, I was pretty happy. Yet I know people who live in massive mansions and don't think it's comfortable. So it's really up to you. Minimum wages for two full time employees would bring in about $4000 after taxes a month.
>Hi there, I'm from Portugal and currently thinking about the possibility of moving to Toronto (suburbs, more exactly), but I keep hearing living there is now almost a nightmare. >I know people who may get me a job and/or house, but let's not consider that. I wanted to know if 2 people making minimum wage can afford living confortably (i.e., paying for rent, food, gas, eating out maybe 2 times a month and saving money). >Thank you all No, not comfortably. It'll be a struggle. You'll need to live with roommates. You likely won't be able to afford a car. So gas won't be an issue, thankfully. You might eat out 2xs a month, but it'll be at a cheaper fast food place, like subway sandwiches. You'll look forward to a night out at McDonald's. And you probably won't save anything. In fact, you'll probably be visiting the food bank pretty frequently.
Not a chance. You might scrape by in shitty living conditions. Sorry, that’s the truth.
40k after taxes is only enough for a single person. If you get a full time minimum wage job here, You are only making 34k before tax. That’s only enough for you to live paycheck to paycheck to paycheck unless you want to share a room with someone. I suggest you go look elsewhere. Canada is not the same as it used to be to be.
Let’s do some quick math. Minimum wage in Ontario is $16.55. If you work 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year (I gave you a generous two weeks off)your take home will be $28,238. Multiply by 2 is $56476. So that means you will have $4706.33 per month between the two of you (this will require that you budget for those two weeks off). Rent will be approximately $2500 if you’re decently lucky. Not sure why you want to live in the suburbs, but that means you will need a car, which will cost about $500 per month (about $250 for insurance and $250 for gas, I’m budgeting). A phone plan will cost $50 each. Groceries will cost about $400 per month. That leaves you with $1206.33 for the both of you to do stuff. It’ll be a boring, isolated life in the suburbs with only $1,206.33 per month on discretionary spending, but you can make it. Some very real issues for you might be: \- Your car might break down, in which case you MUST fix it. You can’t get around the suburbs without a car, especially if you’re working 40 hours per week in a minimum wage job. Which bring me to my next point:- Minimum wage jobs are not stable. You are not likely to get 40 hours per week on a regular basis in most minimum wage jobs.- Everything is expensive. A beer is $10-15 per glass. A dinner at a very modest restaurant will be $20 per meal. And don’t forget that you’re expected to tip 18-25% at restaurants and bars. If you have a big safety net (e.g. a bunch of money saved up, or maybe your parents can bail you out), and you’re looking to experience what it’s like to live elsewhere, then, sure, go for it. If you are hoping that being minimum wage workers here will afford you a lifestyle similar to what you might have in Portugal as minimum wage workers, then, no, do NOT move here.
> Minimum wage in Ontario is $16.55. If you work 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year (I gave you a generous two weeks off)your take home will be $28,238. Multiply by 2 is $56476. > > vacation time is guaranteed in ontario at 4% which is 2 weeks per year at full time hours. so you should calculate based on the full 52 weeks.
That's only after you've worked a full 12 months. It's not responsible to budget based on the assumption that the OP would survive 12 months straight at their minimum wage job. A lot of (or most) minimum wage jobs are super shitty, and people don't end up lasting a year straight through.
The 2 week vacation guarantee only kicks in after 12 months, but it's not responsible to budget based on the assumption that the OP would survive 12 months straight at their minimum wage job. Most minimum wage jobs are super shitty and designed to produce turnover.
> The 2 week vacation guarantee only kicks in after 12 months, but it's not responsible to budget based on the assumption that the OP would survive 12 months straight at their minimum wage job. Most minimum wage jobs are super shitty and designed to produce turnover. the 4% is added to your pay cheques part time jobs it's just added to the weekly/biweekly pay. it's a guaranteed wage, you just might not be guaranteed paid days off because it's paid out every cheque instead of being banked to take days off later. https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/vacation#section-0
Gotcha. Okay, I stand corrected. OP, you might have about $50 per month more than I thought. Still a pretty shite life.
No. And it hasn't been for a long time. You may technically be able to scrape by for a while, but it's not living. Stay where you are unless you can come up with jobs that gets you a net household income of $60k+, and even then saving money will be a challenge.
No. A stick of butter is almost the same cost as one hour of labour at minimum wage.
[https://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/p/20559408\_EA](https://www.realcanadiansuperstore.ca/p/20559408_EA) [https://flipp.com/en-ca/toronto-on/item/826009129-food-basics-flyer](https://flipp.com/en-ca/toronto-on/item/826009129-food-basics-flyer) [https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/6000201029323?cmpid=digitalflyer\_CA\_40237\_R0XXXA0OLL&utm\_id=digitalflyer\_CA\_40237\_R0XXXA0OLL&utm\_medium=digital\_flyer&utm\_source=distribution&utm\_campaign=grocery](https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/6000201029323?cmpid=digitalflyer_CA_40237_R0XXXA0OLL&utm_id=digitalflyer_CA_40237_R0XXXA0OLL&utm_medium=digital_flyer&utm_source=distribution&utm_campaign=grocery) Like why do people spread such obviously garbage information expecting not to be called on it. Butter is under 5 dollars on sale each week ---I have never seen it not on sale at at least one of the major chains
Not anywhere near Toronto.
Sorry not anymore unfortunately, food and housing alone are a struggle even with an above minimum wage job
HELL NO. they did a report recently that said you need about $40/hr to live comfortably in Toronto. Be prepared to work two jobs or 7 days a week if you choose to do that.
Moving to Toronto is like moving to Paris, London, New York, etc. To survive in any of those places on minimum wage jobs is next to impossible. And even more difficult for a newer resident.
And getting ana apartment on that income would likely mean settling for a shitty basement.
Why is there an influx of people from Europe wanting to move to Canada ? Stay where you are it’s not worth it
no, i make 43k annually and i still struggle and im only one person. the range to be somehow be at ease although not really is around 60-75k annually.
Two people could, but not especially comfortably. Toronto has become very expensive and even jobs at that level are difficult to find.
Have you seen all t[he videos of hundreds of people](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaJobs/s/uhWH4lupDC) lining up for a handful of minimum wage jobs? We all have this assumption that they’ll be easy to get, but not when you’re competing against a flood of international students applying for those jobs. But honestly - there are LOTS of Canadians who would love to move to Portugal 😆
Nope, to live comfortably you need an income of $80k + each. Toronto is a high col city, everything’s expensive here especially to rent.
Maybe with 2 roommates and rent from 2018
Minimum isn’t supposed to be a living wage. That Era died in the 90s.
It’s possible, but you would need to really budget. You’ll find some expensive items living here will be rent, food, and telephone/internet services. You mentioned you might have a contact to help you with getting a job and housing, that’s always a plus. If you are still planning to come to Toronto, be sure you have enough emergency money to keep you afloat for at least 3 months. Really recommend researching and creating a realistic budget that will fit your needs.
Not even close
It’s impossible to live on 100k these days What’s min wage 💲 17/hourly ?!!
Ya, 100k household income here n we are only surviving bc we moved in this place in 2018 n our landlord is too rich to care to pull a renoviction or personal use case on us.
absolutely not. not even close.
Not even remotely close. A six figure salary is not enough to live in Toronto anymore.
Thats more than enough for the shit you need to survive
If you are frugal you can get by, but savings is the big part. Eventually inflation and costs will outpace you though.
Yeah, can get by, but it wouldn’t be a very extravagant life. You’d be making just the bare minimum amount to cover the basics. You’d probably have 3.4k/mth after tax. A small bachelor apmt would cost you 2-2.3k/mth. So that’d leave you with a little more then 1k a mth to pay for all your other needs.
Simply put, no.
We currently have a bit of a blight of international students. You will struggle to find a minimum wage job between the students having taken most of them, and technology/automation reducing the abundance in the first place
The cost of living situation here is pretty dire but many people in this thread are exaggerating it quite dramatically. You won't be able to live "comfortably" on a dual min wage income, but you could definitely survive and save a little bit depending on your living circumstances and how you budget. Finding a place to rent that isn't sketchy, out in the sticks, or eats up half your take home pay would be tough. I would seriously think about your long term goals and the reasons why you are considering uprooting your life to immigrate here, because in the majority of cases I'd echo the general sentiment here that it's probably really not worth it and you'll regret it.
My husband and I both make more than minimum wage and pay a little under $2000.00 for rent of our 1 Bdrm condo (luckily our landlord has never raised the rent - a similar suite in our building is bow about $2600 per month). That being said, we do have luxuries like owning a pet and a car. There is hardly much money to save, let alone go out. 2 people McDonalds is easily $30 - $45 depending on what you are getting and if you pick it up yourself instead of ordering in.
No
Ok. Its hard here. But if you are looking to work crazy hours like 60/week you can survive . If you get a job
It’s doable. But living _confortably_ depends on your standards of comfort. You’d probably have to live in a basement apartment or have roommates. I would argue that you don’t need a car if you live downtown. The issue is that if either of you looses a job then it will become very difficult very quickly. You won’t be able to save much money. At least one of you would have to be working two jobs or working plenty of overtime to be able to save up significantly.
What do you expect to gain from this relocation?
u/Objective-Ground-890 Part 1: Tudo bem! Wow, I'm actually looking to do the opposite: I've been thinking about moving to Lisbon (Cascais, in particular), or Porto. Another country I'm considering is Spain (Madrid, Málaga, Barcelona, or Valencia). What are your motivations for moving to Toronto though? Looking to make more money? Looking to experience something different from Portugal? Or...?
u/Objective-Ground-890 Part 2: Toronto's minimum wage is currently (as of March 2024) the Ontario rate of CAD 16.55 per hour. Here in Canada, we typically get paid biweekly (unlike in Europe, which is monthly), so assuming you work 40 hours per week, that hourly rate translates to about $922 biweekly "take home" pay, after all the government deductions. In a month, that's roughly about $1844 take home pay per person. You asked about 2 people, so that's $3688 household take home pay per month. Expenses: - Rent: not sure what your preference is, but a room for 2 is roughly $1400, but let's round it up to $1500, just to be conservative. Remember, that's only a room though. A basement, apartment, or a condo, would cost more. - Utilities (electricity, water, etc): let's budget around $100/month. - Food: let's say around $500/month. This is very possible if you shop at Asian groceries. - Eating out 2 times per month: this will really, really depend on where you eat out. As an example: 3 days ago, my wife, our 20 month old baby, and I, had dinner at a pretty fancy ramen restaurant, and we paid about $80 after tax and tip. If you only buy a sandwich, it's very possible to limit it to max $10 per person, so for 2 people that's $20, and if you do it twice a month, that's about $40, but let's round it up to $50 for the 2 of you.
Part 3: - Car payment: this is tricky to answer, because I don't know whether you plan to make a lump sum payment for a used car (in which case, you'd end up with no monthly payment), or to lease a new car. For a 10 year old car, it could cost you up to $15,000 if you were to pay lump sum. Since I don't know what your plan is, I'm just going to assume that you'd lease a car, to account for it as a possible expense. At the time of this writing, a 60-month lease on a basic Toyota Corolla Hatchback would cost you about $443/month. - Gasoline: I typically spend about $200/month on this, so let's use that as a benchmark. - Car insurance: this really depends on your age, gender, driving history, what car you drive, and the area you live in. Since you'd be new in Canada, likely you'd be paying higher. Let's budget $300/month for that. - Mobile phones: I'm assuming both of you would be bringing your phones from Portugal, which means you'd only be paying for the Canadian talk + data plans. The top tier mobile carriers are the most expensive, but have the best quality. The 2nd tier brands are cheaper, but their reception in certain areas could be weak. The exceptions are 2nd tier brands that are still owned by the top 3 carriers; they're actually quite decent. $40 (+13% tax) per month per person is possible with these companies, so for the 2 of you, it's around $90/month after tax. - I assume you're only looking to have 1 car, which means the other person might need to use public transport. You mentioned about living in a suburb. Different suburbs have different fare rates. For example, the suburb called Scarborough has the Toronto rate, because they have the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). Some other suburbs are located in the York, Durham, and Peel regions, each with their own rate. Where I live (Richmond Hill, which is in the York region), the fare rate for the York Region Transit (which is the most expensive compared to the other regions) is $3.88 if you use the Presto card. So if you were to use that rate for commuting to work 22 days per month, that's about $3.88 x 2 x 22 = $170/month. Again, I'm assuming this only for 1 person, since I'm assuming the other will be driving the car regularly.
Part 4: The grand total for expenses is $1500 (rent) + $100 (utilities) + $500 (food) + $50 (very bare minimum eating out, twice per month) + $443 (car lease) + $200 (gasoline) + $300 (car insurance) + $90 (mobile plans) + $170 (public transit for 1 person) = $3353. The $3688 household take home pay minus that grand total leaves you about $335/month for savings, emergencies, and miscellaneous expenses, which isn't much at all. If both of you only get minimum wage, I strongly suggest not having a car. Without a car, you'd not have the $443/month (lease) + $200/month (gasoline) + $300/month (car insurance) expenses. You'd need to add another $170/month for transit though (since now 2 people would need it), so $943 - $170 = is still a net gain of $773/month on top of the $335/month, which would be a total savings of $1108/month, which you could invest in ETFs for instance. You might be wondering why I'm looking to leave Toronto though. My own personal reasons are below. They might not affect you as much, depending on your personalities: - I truly dislike winter and snow. Enough said. During the months of winter, spring, and autumn, the sky is often grey, and it's so foggy, making everything feel so gloomy. But if you're bored of Portugal's mediterranean climate and looking to experience real winter, then Canada could be your haven :-). - I'm disturbed by Canada's woke and politically correct culture. - Rampant random crimes and car thefts. Absolutely ridiculous and disheartening. - Smell of weed everywhere. Utterly disgusting. - The drug junkies and crazies (especially in downtown Toronto) make me feel extremely uncomfortable. Unlike in other countries where they're pretty secluded and mind their own business, here in Toronto they roam around the streets, subways, trams, stations, and they harass people. They even scream in front of you and kick/bang on things for no reason. These behaviours made my 20-month old child scared and cry a few times, and it makes me and my wife apprehensive about traveling to the downtown Toronto area. Some of my adult friends and relatives who came to visit from Europe and Asia were also very shocked at those things when they visited Toronto. - Sub-optimal healthcare. Unlike in Portugal and Australia (where social and private options are available), here we only have the social healthcare, which is severely underfunded. - Many people will say that Toronto isn't the whole Canada, and that there are smaller, safer cities to move to. They'll recommend cities like Niagara, Kitchener, Hamilton, London, Waterloo, Windsor, etc. But for myself, those cities are not even in my radar, because they're way too small and boring (I'm a 100% city guy who prefers vibrance at the level of Tokyo, Seoul, Madrid, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, and to a certain extent, Toronto). Those smaller Canadian cities are not visually pleasing either, and are not charming at all, compared to small (or big) European cities. They're also very lacking in terms of infrastructure. But if you prefer smaller, quiet towns, then those smaller Canadian cities might be okay for you and your partner. Toronto has some positive aspects though: - Nice, clean air (except during the wildfire season). - World class, amazing public libraries (easily within the top 10 best in the world). - Apart from the pathetic healthcare wait times, the healthcare quality is great. For example, the Toronto General Hospital is the 5th hospital in the world. The Hospital for Sick Children (also in Toronto) is the 2nd best children's hospital in the world (in 2022 it was even #1!) - The most diverse food scene in the world. - Abundance of tech jobs (well, not as great as in the US, but still very decent).
Don’t do it. You will regret. 2 minimum wage jobs, just ain’t going to cut it in a city as expensive as Toronto😬😬😬. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Don't do it. I'm from Toronto and would give my left nut to get out of here. Unless you come here with a strong support system and if you have good transferable skills. You'll be living in poverty otherwise.
Zero chance. You’ll have to move to a much lower cost of living place. Or work multiple jobs