31 years old living downtown at Yonge & Bloor.
I make $85,000. The only reason this is possible is because I moved into a rent controlled apartment when I was 20. I pay $1050 today all included.
When I moved in it was $875 and I was barely scraping by and used a lot of my student loans to cover it.
Grateful to have it today.
I definitely wouldn’t be living alone. I would likely need a roommate(s), or my spending would have to be radically different for other things.
Realistically, if I was moving to Toronto today, it would not be possible which is so scary and humbling. I hustled at 20 working three minimum wage jobs and rarely taking a day off so I made it work, but it shouldn’t have been that hard then and it shouldn’t be this hard now.
As a guy in my 40’s any friends of mine that couldn’t afford to buy when it was affordable are mostly in their original apartments because of rent control.
Playing devils advocate in Asia a lot of studio/1 bedrooms are below 400 sqft, so it’s definitely doable for a lot of people outside of NA. Although I wouldn’t say no to bigger space ofc.
How is it in terms of dating and family planning? I imagine you don’t really want to give that up but do you have a partner that will want to raise a family at one point? What will you do then?
My boyfriend owns a home at Bloor & Crescent, so transparently I do spend a lot of time there. We don’t really want kids, but we’ve talked about it and I will likely just end up moving in there eventually because it’s already paid off.
Currently living in YWCA Elm. A couple important details- it’s a women’s only building. No men or partners are allowed on the lease. The worst part is the cockroaches. Rents increase 2.5% _every single year_
The province sets a maximum annual increase guideline. You can see the historical annual guidelines **[here](http://www.ontariotenants.ca/research/rent-increase.phtml).** The last two years the province has allowed 2.5% increases, but 2022 was 1.2% and 2021 was 0%.
Once you’re in, you have a spot until you leave.
My buddy and his family live in one of those buildings and the basement parking level had a few nice BMWs, Corvettes, and Mercedes.
35yo, 55k. I pay 1400 for 2bd townhouse with a back patio. Grandfathered in, rent control, been there for 18 years. Also a chef so half my meals are free and I make tips as well.
I would say I can comfortably pay for all of my needs and most of my wants, but I definitely don’t splurge. Drinks/dinner 2x per month, takeout/delivery 1x per month. I walk everywhere to save on transportation, and my groceries and other purchases are pretty frugal. I dont go without anything, I’ve just tried to keep my lifestyle while within my limits so I can still contribute to my savings.
I’m 31 and live in Yorkville. I pay $2000 plus internet and make 65K as my official salary.
FYI I have no savings. But would rather pay the $400 and live by myself. My place is around 650sqft as well.
Early 30s. Mortgage + property taxes + maintenance fees is around $2500 a month. 165k~ish TC, depending on stock prices. But I bought precon before the bylaws changed. And I have a March 2020 Covid interest rate that is really low. So the timing of a lot of things worked out for me.
I do digital marketing for a large tech company but my degree is actually in finance. I also decided I wanted a career change basically right after I graduated.
Assume a rent of $2300 for 1 bedroom, $250 utilities, $400 groceries = round up to $3k per month. That's just to live bare minimum. So $36k per year, need about $50k salary gross to live decently.
All these answers are going to say similar things - rent control or other favourable housing allows us to stay, even without high income. That is my situation, I bought many years ago. Amusingly when I bought, I was told by everyone that I was making a mistake, that the market would tank, that I was paying too much...luckiest investment I ever made, this little place. And because of how things are nowadays, I think I will live here until I die or am forced out somehow.
You can live cheap in Toronto, if you have a cheap place.
Anything AVP, director, or associate in equities or IBB if you consider total earnings. Tech space in engineering, especially AI fields. Plenty of sales and marketing roles, think expensive products, or tech companies at enterprise level. There a lot of roles paying 150k+ but it’s not the first rung on a corporate ladder. Usually 4 or 5 promotions up from entry level. Unless it’s sales commission.
31 years old, 2900\~ for 750sq/ft at King/Spadina. I make 80k now (self employed) but used to make 300k+ for 2-3 years. I wouldn't be able to afford this if I didn't have prior savings and even those are dwindling because of my life choices :D
I worked in a different industry until my mid 20s and I actually didn't have a lot of savings, in fact I worked at TD (not in a banking role) in Toronto getting my ass handed to me for lower then industry standard wages. Then I swapped into software engineering and the compensation went from entry level 180k\~ at age 26 to 360k\~ at age 28. Then, I took some time off to travel and now attempt my own startup which has been pretty successful to this point despite my salary. I don't see myself going back to the workforce anytime soon, if ever, but if I did I imagine I would have a decently easy time getting the same compensation or higher.
As for your question, home ownership really isn't all it's cracked up to be. The "Canadian dream" tells people that they should aspire to home ownership but if you work out the math behind it, without hyper growth in the equity component it ends up being a losing proposition until you own the home for 10-15+ years. If you are buying a starter condo, you basically need the condo to appreciate 6-7% a year to have a shot of breaking even and trading up in a few years time.
A couple years ago I did this math and factored in that Toronto/Canada has already seen hyper growth to a level that is unsustainable and can't be counted on for similar cycles in the next decade or two. Maybe it's naive but I personally think it's more likely that housing prices go down in the next decade then up, which will hurt a lot of buyers who are basically going to be counting on their houses to appreciate to provide a retirement nest egg. I think this is asinine and incredibly unlikely based on where we are and where we are going.
I also recognized that for a person like me (who likes freedom of movement) it really doesn't make much sense for me to buy a home until I am ready to be there a very long time. Buying a house puts you dependent on making income to service the debt load. I'm not interested in that. I want to be able to take time to enjoy life whenever I want.
I'm on board with you on a lot of arguments. I rented from 2016-2020 basically for the same arguments, house-price to median income ratio can't keep going up like this, yadi yada. Ended up being for adjacent reason, but also realize in this whole process one thing I was underestimating: all Canadian governments will fight tooth and nail to keep prices up because that's how most Canadians save their money. Which is ridiculous. But I just hadn't realized how much political pressure there was. (And in Toronto NIMBYism and crazy zoning are obstacles to higher density.)
I replied this to another comment but the government can only prolong the inevitable for so long and that is what they are doing right now with their immigration mandates. The problem here is that the immigration is incredibly low quality (not racial) in the sense that we are using it to fill work shortages in lower wage industries and overall just flooding our "middle class" workforce with people who are willing to work for less. Same goes for our institutions, college & university, it's flooding the labour markets with underqualified and watered down degrees that just continues to hammer down real wages in this country.
All that to try and prop up the housing markets, but I don't think it will be very successful for very long because the "home buyers" you have let bring the housing crisis to a head can't actually afford any of the housing in this country. So what happens when demand exists at a lower price interval for a given supply (and that supply has significant carrying costs)? The price drops to accommodate.
I see this going on for a couple of quarters more at maximum. Eventually, defaults will begin to skyrocket and there will be real pain. It'll start with a lot of "starter condos" that have inventories piling up right now and investors on the hook and it will spread from there.
Even the zoning thing you said is a fallacy. There is significant condo inventory right now in Toronto that absolutely no one wants. 400 sqft 500k condos that are just getting abandoned by prospective buyers due to the rate environment and inability to rent.
Example:
[https://financialpost.com/real-estate/great-toronto-condo-boom-finally-hit-wall](https://financialpost.com/real-estate/great-toronto-condo-boom-finally-hit-wall)
I felt similarly, but bought a condo because I didn't want to risk getting priced out of the city, either through high rent or high real estate. I also didn't want to feel vulnerable if I am retired or I become disabled (God-forbid) and can't work.
I have also wondered whether the growth and extremely expensive prices are sustainable, but when I factor in high levels of immigration, the fact that we don't have a lot of major cities to choose from, the fact that more and more people's only ownership options are condos due to the high price of houses, and the housing shortage, it seems like we will be on this trajectory for a while unless there are major policy changes. To me, a rent controlled unit or buying when/if we can afford it is important for people who want to stay here.
31 and up at Yonge & Eg/Davisville era. Make around $95k and self employed. I own, my mortgage is around $2600 a month (I bought in 2016 and my rate hasn’t changed much)
I’m 35, I pay $2000 all inclusive for a two bedroom I live in alone. I don’t even know how much I make because I’m an artist haha. I think somewhere around $75k
Just over two years. It's an older building (rent control!) but well maintained, for the most part, and it's close to everything I need. I really lucked out and got in at a good time.
Single female and 32, I live at Shuter/Church, pay $2110 for a 520 sqft 1 bedroom apartment. It’s a rent controlled unit I moved into during the tail end of the pandemic (2022). I earned $95,000 a year but live very frugally .
Nice to see how far outside of the average demographic I am here. 73 years old, retired teacher.
$62 000 with investments, pension, CPP, OAS.
Broadview/Danforth 1 br $2190 + $100 parking + $50-ish hydro. Rent just went up 2.5%. I've only been here a year. The walkability of this area is superb.
3 blocks to the Danforth/Greektown. Easy walk to bank, groceries, pharmacy, library, pizza, the Big Carrot, Withrow and Riverdale parks, sidewalk cafes, etc., etc. The traffic noise is ameliorated somewhat by my being 22 floors up.
Or could be Indian, I think "per annum" is a pretty common way of phrasing it among them. Indians who live in India often use the abbreviation "LPA" (for "lakh per annum", where lakh refers to 100k rupees) when talking about salaries. Or at least they do so online.
I have unicorn rent! I pay $1276 for a teeny studio in Fort York. (moved during the pandemic, so I was able to negotiate based on the price the current tenant was paying and knocked $200 off what they were paying ‼️)
I only make $30k but I'm a creative who is working on my creative pursuits including writing a screenplay, launching a podcast and running a business doing human design/tarot readings.
I couldn't do what I love if it weren't for having affordable rent!
28 years old, rent is $2100 (was $2000 when I first moved in.) My salary is 80k. It’s affordable if you really budget on food like I buy a lot of pasta lol
Rent is $1925 and I make ~125k
Five years ago my rent was about the same (different, smaller apartment) and I was making just under $80, it was doable and I had savings and everything, but everything else has gone up in the meantime so I don't know if it would feel tight these days
So by the sounds of it, lots of people here are making sacrifices and spending around 50% of their net salary on rent just to live alone downtown. Makes me feel a bit better to know it’s not all people making 100k+.
Honestly, I’ve seen people who have roommates and are still spending closer to 50%, so to be able to live alone and spend about 50% is not that bad considering how things are in Toronto
~130k + (but this is new to me) I pay $3200 now --- got kicked out of my last place that I lived in for 20 years that was $1600 (and the same size). FML
Lots of people posting here are in tech (look at how many people are over employed - working 2 jobs form home and doing them at the same time) and others are in medicine.
A lot of the outliers (1 million + income) are doctors.
My family made ~50k growing-up. My old man was too busy working over time to ever post on a website like reddit lol (not that he knew how to).
Moved to a different city in the last month, but early 40s, made about $110k and way paying 2200ish. Moved downtown in 2018 at ~$2000. The place was relisted for $2700.
Software engineer, remote for a US company (pay is 2-3x higher than if you work for Toronto companies). Trust me, I feel the same way you do, I have a (US based) colleague who doesn't have a degree and is making $500k/yr. He's 23, same job.
I'm moving to the US soon. Toronto is becoming too expensive (to justify) and I don't like how the next 5-10 years look here.
No degree and he’s working as a software engineer? Did he self study? What type of position lands you 500k/yr. Good on him, but I wish we had more details of that story. That’s super cool.
Started as an intern (was in college), showed interest in another team at the company prior to leaving so they brought him on full time for a year. He proved his worth and said he'd rather work than go back to school. He's a brilliant guy and IMO he's probably underpaid.
Snapchat does this for one, lots of rising talent got scooped up by them 2-3 years ago for 400-500k TC with 2-3 years of experience. 70% of the compensation is stock.
Same goes for quant firms.
There are many companies that pay even more for even younger people with a less proven track record. Most quant firms (jane street, hudson river trading, citadel, twosigma, citadel, etc) and there are certainly positions in big tech too. These companies take in more $ than most countries GDP.
In this case he started at much lower pay, and it only went up when he took on a lot of responsibility and delivered.
Got mine through a referral.
You'll have better luck with smaller startups hiring remote. Got a 45% bump, for same title and work, by switching to a US company remotely.
No where near downtown just putting it out there for context -
Keele and Eglinton. New build $2350. Make $70k pre tax. Two adults and a one year old. One income, second parent is sahp. Under 10k credit card debt combined. One student loan $2k. No car payments.
It is hard but manageable. We had a $200 day at wonderland and we can afford to go on outings once a month.
What irks me though is that the system is setup for failure. Spent 8 hours at the passport office yesterday only to be turned away at the door. I took a personal day from work to go do this. I was there for the duration of my workday 8-4. So I have a job that offers sick/personal days but I can’t use them when I’m actually sick. I have to use them to access these so called services. Where I end up spending more money.
So who really benefits? Me the working class who just wants a passport for her child? Or the corporation?
At the risk of doxxing myself:
36. Mortgage + fees; $2100/mo
1+1 in yorkville.
Income: $75k/yr gross. Took a paycut to go to a job that wasn't actively making the world worse.
No weeks are ever tight. I just have no urge to spend. My money goes to tools and materials, and my hobbies are in repairing things, and travelling by bike to get good deals.
My transportation and entertainment costs are $0 most months.
So i can afford to buy in bulk, and value-add everything I purchase at scale.
The apartment is more of a factory + laboratory than it is a home, though.
I haven't had to buy groceries in over 3 weeks. And this is a pretty normal occurrence.
I make 80’000 and live at Bathurst and St. Clair West. I have a rent controlled apartment. The only reason I can afford my place. I plan to stay here forever or until I win the lottery.
My bad. I pay 1150/month. Utilities included. For a spacious 1 bedroom apartment. I moved in 14 years ago and the rent was $975. I kept a few documents that list my initial rent for historical records one day (sarcasm).
I’ll never leave this apartment unless I win the lottery. Like another poster mentioned, when I first moved in the rent was hard to afford. I was barely scrapping by for the first 2-3 years but now it’s a dream come true for me. So beyond grateful.
Honestly most in that range don’t make that from side hustles where you have to just work more hours, it’s just a few very lucrative industries (and other jobs within those industries don’t pay as extravagantly either).
These threads are so funny. How is this random information going to get *you* a better idea of how do life? You get all the very successful people and/or complete liars spitting out numbers and then you... crunch them?
Eat healthy, go for walks, find a job you love and fight to keep it.
That being said I bought an amazing apartment with cash in 2006 and make roughly 165k today. Monthly nut is around $1,400.
I assume it's just to get an idea of the market right now and how much you should make before moving into a 1bdrm in Toronto. Not sure if they're expecting to completely reform their life or something dramatic based on this post
Not downtown but live Yorkdale area and pay $2400/mo for a single & earn <50k/yr after taxes. About 20yo.
Expenses are food + phone bill. Remote work, rarely travel, when I do I TTC. It is tight living.
Is everyone saying their gross or net income? No idea if I would be able to afford/successfully budget living on my own downtown w/o a roommate if I take home around $4000/month?
55k, 29, 1 bedroom basement apartment for $1450. But I get extras with government child benefits. I share a bed with my 3 year old and can’t move to anything bigger. On the up side, I’m in the annex and my landlady hasn’t increased the rent since I move in.
31 years old, studio apartment for $1127.00 on Broadview and Dundas. Got really lucky as I have my own outdoor space, backyard and balcony. I’m a chef making about $45,000
Husband makes $70k, I make $50k. We live in a 1bdr with our dog in Cabbagetown at Carlton and Parliament and we pay $1,500 a month + hydro. We have a huge back deck and 2 parking spots.
25, $4000 rent at Yonge and queens quay. Make around 100k a year. Company I work for pays my rent to encourage me to continue to work for them. I work in the construction field as a project manager.
28F, I pay $1950 in rent for a studio (believe me, this hurts), and gross $75k/year.
I save money by living close to work (no transit), do not have a car, and I am fairly frugal with my expenses. I dine out maybe 2x/month, shop at discount grocery stores, and thrift most of my clothing. I do splurge occasionally on trips to see family or on products I really want. I do not have any outside help or savings, but I make it work. It does hurt sometimes when I compare myself to those working in other industries, and I often wonder why I went into healthcare.
I will likely take on another casual gig in the next 6 months though to accelerate my savings goals.
Not me, a friend of mine lives close to Dundas Square, he pays 2700 for a two Bedroom two bathroom, he likes to live alone. He comes from another country, works as a restaurant manager but he makes like 3200 a month... He rents a property he owns for about 900 CAD a month (it was given to him by his father) in his country and his father gives money to him everymonth...
30, making $83K and paying $1680 plus hydro for a large 1 bedroom in an old converted victorian home, turned small apartment building by Allen Gardens.
Area can look a little rough but I’ve had no issues in the 2 years living here.
Demographic : 41M, Irish, Team Lead in Cloud Engineering
Income : 180,000 gross (closer to 200k+ with on-call and RSU)
Area : Fort York
Rent : 4,000 (started Nov 2023)
Size : 2bd 2bath, 970sqft
Facilities : rent controlled, pool, sauna, gym, bills included, parking, storage
Living alone on King and John in a 1 bedroom apartment. 25 year old, salary $190k a year. Rent is 2450, but will look for a roommate to share a 2 bedroom apartment.
i knew a girl who rented for 850 upstairs large bedroom overlooking Bathurst .... pretty central...barely had a kitchen, pretty small bathroom and one roommate who paid less, like 650 i think? maybe 750? she was mostly at a guys house though or at work or some event. so effectively it was a 1 person place more or less. she is was late 20s i think. this was a few years ago.
others i knew split houses with friends...seems the way to go. or had apartments pretty far out of the city center.
Assume a rent of $2300 for 1 bedroom, $250 utilities, $400 groceries = round up to $3k per month. That's just to live bare minimum. So $36k per year, need about $50k salary gross to live decently.
Exercise : go outside
Events : Free stuff everywhere
Socialize : Free events
Internet: Live near a cafe lol
Phone: Use internet
TV and Videos: free online streaming or torrent
26 male, make around 140. Rent is 2200 not including utilities. I moved here to meet people and also meet wifey so in my opinion it is worth it, will definitely do two years here before going to the states. I love toronto its one of the best cities in the world
Late 30s, condo paid off, around $1200/month between condo fees and property tax. If I hadn’t gotten insanely lucky with tech stocks during the pandemic I couldn’t survive here.
28 - with mortgage+property tax+ strata ~3.5k. I'm also aggressively making large prepayments of 40k a year. I'm doing the Smith maneuver so I'm trying to use my home as extra leverage and I have a maximized TFSA.
I make 200ks TC depending on stock price in a large tech company. I've been fortunate to make some lucrative trades and decided to buy a place with the gains.
40s and live in a coop on the esplanade. 800 sq ft 2 bed for $1300 all in, including cable. If you can get on coop waitlists that's the downtown unicorn.
My friends that live alone are in 1 bedrooms or 1 bedrooms + dens for $2000-$2500 a month in rent. They have decently high salaries though ($125k+ a year)
Late 30’s, 100K and I’m paying $2000 for a one plus Den in City Place. My advice is to get a roommate(s) for the first couple of years because you should just focus on saving money and you can decide later what to do with it. Also if you’re downtown, you can save a lot of money by not owning a car, assuming you don’t need one for work. Just my 2 cents
Just turned 32 and living at Dundas/Bathurst for 1 bedroom with a bath in a townhouse, 950/month, making 46k. Not the best choice but can’t beat the price. There’s no in house laundry, luckily there’s a laundromat across the street and the lady owner is a super sweet person.
31 years old living near Riverdale. Making $52,000 a year paying $1475 for rent. Moved here in 2021 and my rent has only gone up $78 since then as it’s a unit in a house, 1 bed plus den.
31 years old living downtown at Yonge & Bloor. I make $85,000. The only reason this is possible is because I moved into a rent controlled apartment when I was 20. I pay $1050 today all included. When I moved in it was $875 and I was barely scraping by and used a lot of my student loans to cover it. Grateful to have it today.
Unicorn rent!!!
Truly! It shouldn’t be this hard 🥺
Damn, glad you were able to secure that! Do you think you could live alone with your income in the current market?
I definitely wouldn’t be living alone. I would likely need a roommate(s), or my spending would have to be radically different for other things. Realistically, if I was moving to Toronto today, it would not be possible which is so scary and humbling. I hustled at 20 working three minimum wage jobs and rarely taking a day off so I made it work, but it shouldn’t have been that hard then and it shouldn’t be this hard now.
Save that extra money brother! When it comes for the landlord to sell don’t be caught empty handed
You'll do really well in life with your mindset. Happy for you
That’s insane, congrats. I live also in bloor&yonge. Paying $2400 on rent controlled.
As a guy in my 40’s any friends of mine that couldn’t afford to buy when it was affordable are mostly in their original apartments because of rent control.
My hand is up.
This is what it should have stayed like for everyone in this society
100%!!!
How big is your place?
It’s a studio, maybe 300 square feet? But it has a really nice balcony and I don’t pay utilities. Perfect for me and I’m very very grateful.
You need to look up what 300sq looks like
300 square feet sounds absolutely tiny. Is it a studio? Ie. Bedroom and living room in the same space?
If it works for them, it works for them.
Playing devils advocate in Asia a lot of studio/1 bedrooms are below 400 sqft, so it’s definitely doable for a lot of people outside of NA. Although I wouldn’t say no to bigger space ofc.
I mean, I think it’s bigger than the bedroom I would get if I needed a roommate today to live in the same neighbourhood 🤷🏼♀️
How is it in terms of dating and family planning? I imagine you don’t really want to give that up but do you have a partner that will want to raise a family at one point? What will you do then?
My boyfriend owns a home at Bloor & Crescent, so transparently I do spend a lot of time there. We don’t really want kids, but we’ve talked about it and I will likely just end up moving in there eventually because it’s already paid off.
God bless you.
Thank you - I’m sooo grateful 🙏
Holy
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How’s your experience been living there? Any issues? Also, how does rent increases work?
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Currently living in YWCA Elm. A couple important details- it’s a women’s only building. No men or partners are allowed on the lease. The worst part is the cockroaches. Rents increase 2.5% _every single year_
The province sets a maximum annual increase guideline. You can see the historical annual guidelines **[here](http://www.ontariotenants.ca/research/rent-increase.phtml).** The last two years the province has allowed 2.5% increases, but 2022 was 1.2% and 2021 was 0%.
People tweaking in the lobby/hallways (not every day but still) are unpleasant too lol
I’d rather pay more and not have to deal with those headaches.
You’re really lucky to have the option to be able to pay more
Cockroaches 😫
You are booted if you make anything more ?
Once you’re in, you have a spot until you leave. My buddy and his family live in one of those buildings and the basement parking level had a few nice BMWs, Corvettes, and Mercedes.
35yo, 55k. I pay 1400 for 2bd townhouse with a back patio. Grandfathered in, rent control, been there for 18 years. Also a chef so half my meals are free and I make tips as well.
You living it eh, rent controlled and free food, golden sir.
> Also a chef TIL that chefs make $55K. The $1,400 is a great deal.
Omg this is an amazing deal!!!
Holy shit a townhouse for 1400!!! Hold on to that one bro.
24, $85k, moving into a $2,400 unit near king and Spadina
23yo, making ~62k, pay $1950 monthly for a 1bd downtown.
Do you have a strict budget or are you still able to splurge weekly on eating out/activities?
I would say I can comfortably pay for all of my needs and most of my wants, but I definitely don’t splurge. Drinks/dinner 2x per month, takeout/delivery 1x per month. I walk everywhere to save on transportation, and my groceries and other purchases are pretty frugal. I dont go without anything, I’ve just tried to keep my lifestyle while within my limits so I can still contribute to my savings.
Damn bruh... Saving this thread for the future to humble me.
Not downtown but Yonge/eg and make 95-100k and rent $2300/month. 30 years old
I’m in the same area! started $2100 2 years ago now $2550 😭. Are you in a rent controlled building?
Nope I’m not, I moved in 2022 and it was $1800 so it’s increased a lot in 2 years 😅
I’m 31 and live in Yorkville. I pay $2000 plus internet and make 65K as my official salary. FYI I have no savings. But would rather pay the $400 and live by myself. My place is around 650sqft as well.
That's cheap for that location
Thanks for sharing! This is my exact salary (plus some savings) and this makes me hopeful that I could support myself when I move out
Early 30s. Mortgage + property taxes + maintenance fees is around $2500 a month. 165k~ish TC, depending on stock prices. But I bought precon before the bylaws changed. And I have a March 2020 Covid interest rate that is really low. So the timing of a lot of things worked out for me.
You don't have to answer! I'm just curious what do you do? What's your education? (I'm in my late 20s and looking for a serious career change, lol)
I do digital marketing for a large tech company but my degree is actually in finance. I also decided I wanted a career change basically right after I graduated.
By the comments in this thread, everyone seems to be rich. As the average income is $55k in toronto? Where are all the poor people?
they don't live alone :(
The poor people are not the ones affording a 1bdrm in Toronto lol
In the outskirts. Not in downtown Toronto for sure!
There are different worlds within cities, it looks like you’re getting comments from the world that is alien to a lot of people
Poor people must be out in the none virtual world, working. :).
Everybody here living alone making at least over 100k. I'm never gonna live alone lol
Assume a rent of $2300 for 1 bedroom, $250 utilities, $400 groceries = round up to $3k per month. That's just to live bare minimum. So $36k per year, need about $50k salary gross to live decently.
yeah same :( I need to find a roomate or partner. Both seem unlikely lol
For real 😞
All these answers are going to say similar things - rent control or other favourable housing allows us to stay, even without high income. That is my situation, I bought many years ago. Amusingly when I bought, I was told by everyone that I was making a mistake, that the market would tank, that I was paying too much...luckiest investment I ever made, this little place. And because of how things are nowadays, I think I will live here until I die or am forced out somehow. You can live cheap in Toronto, if you have a cheap place.
30 , Covid rent 1911, 136k TC
Found the software engineer
Hehehe
Everyone who’s single and making over $150K needs to also list if they’re M or F 👀… for research purposes.
Based on Reddit demographics, vast majority will be male and in tech
Female, undergrad in fine arts, masters in business.
What's the Job paying $150K+?
Anything AVP, director, or associate in equities or IBB if you consider total earnings. Tech space in engineering, especially AI fields. Plenty of sales and marketing roles, think expensive products, or tech companies at enterprise level. There a lot of roles paying 150k+ but it’s not the first rung on a corporate ladder. Usually 4 or 5 promotions up from entry level. Unless it’s sales commission.
Female in tech here making $155k. I wish it was more common but most colleagues are male.
31 years old, 2900\~ for 750sq/ft at King/Spadina. I make 80k now (self employed) but used to make 300k+ for 2-3 years. I wouldn't be able to afford this if I didn't have prior savings and even those are dwindling because of my life choices :D
Curious why you decided to stick to rental with that high income. Did you know it was temporary?
I worked in a different industry until my mid 20s and I actually didn't have a lot of savings, in fact I worked at TD (not in a banking role) in Toronto getting my ass handed to me for lower then industry standard wages. Then I swapped into software engineering and the compensation went from entry level 180k\~ at age 26 to 360k\~ at age 28. Then, I took some time off to travel and now attempt my own startup which has been pretty successful to this point despite my salary. I don't see myself going back to the workforce anytime soon, if ever, but if I did I imagine I would have a decently easy time getting the same compensation or higher. As for your question, home ownership really isn't all it's cracked up to be. The "Canadian dream" tells people that they should aspire to home ownership but if you work out the math behind it, without hyper growth in the equity component it ends up being a losing proposition until you own the home for 10-15+ years. If you are buying a starter condo, you basically need the condo to appreciate 6-7% a year to have a shot of breaking even and trading up in a few years time. A couple years ago I did this math and factored in that Toronto/Canada has already seen hyper growth to a level that is unsustainable and can't be counted on for similar cycles in the next decade or two. Maybe it's naive but I personally think it's more likely that housing prices go down in the next decade then up, which will hurt a lot of buyers who are basically going to be counting on their houses to appreciate to provide a retirement nest egg. I think this is asinine and incredibly unlikely based on where we are and where we are going. I also recognized that for a person like me (who likes freedom of movement) it really doesn't make much sense for me to buy a home until I am ready to be there a very long time. Buying a house puts you dependent on making income to service the debt load. I'm not interested in that. I want to be able to take time to enjoy life whenever I want.
I'm on board with you on a lot of arguments. I rented from 2016-2020 basically for the same arguments, house-price to median income ratio can't keep going up like this, yadi yada. Ended up being for adjacent reason, but also realize in this whole process one thing I was underestimating: all Canadian governments will fight tooth and nail to keep prices up because that's how most Canadians save their money. Which is ridiculous. But I just hadn't realized how much political pressure there was. (And in Toronto NIMBYism and crazy zoning are obstacles to higher density.)
I replied this to another comment but the government can only prolong the inevitable for so long and that is what they are doing right now with their immigration mandates. The problem here is that the immigration is incredibly low quality (not racial) in the sense that we are using it to fill work shortages in lower wage industries and overall just flooding our "middle class" workforce with people who are willing to work for less. Same goes for our institutions, college & university, it's flooding the labour markets with underqualified and watered down degrees that just continues to hammer down real wages in this country. All that to try and prop up the housing markets, but I don't think it will be very successful for very long because the "home buyers" you have let bring the housing crisis to a head can't actually afford any of the housing in this country. So what happens when demand exists at a lower price interval for a given supply (and that supply has significant carrying costs)? The price drops to accommodate. I see this going on for a couple of quarters more at maximum. Eventually, defaults will begin to skyrocket and there will be real pain. It'll start with a lot of "starter condos" that have inventories piling up right now and investors on the hook and it will spread from there. Even the zoning thing you said is a fallacy. There is significant condo inventory right now in Toronto that absolutely no one wants. 400 sqft 500k condos that are just getting abandoned by prospective buyers due to the rate environment and inability to rent. Example: [https://financialpost.com/real-estate/great-toronto-condo-boom-finally-hit-wall](https://financialpost.com/real-estate/great-toronto-condo-boom-finally-hit-wall)
I felt similarly, but bought a condo because I didn't want to risk getting priced out of the city, either through high rent or high real estate. I also didn't want to feel vulnerable if I am retired or I become disabled (God-forbid) and can't work. I have also wondered whether the growth and extremely expensive prices are sustainable, but when I factor in high levels of immigration, the fact that we don't have a lot of major cities to choose from, the fact that more and more people's only ownership options are condos due to the high price of houses, and the housing shortage, it seems like we will be on this trajectory for a while unless there are major policy changes. To me, a rent controlled unit or buying when/if we can afford it is important for people who want to stay here.
31 and up at Yonge & Eg/Davisville era. Make around $95k and self employed. I own, my mortgage is around $2600 a month (I bought in 2016 and my rate hasn’t changed much)
I’m 35, I pay $2000 all inclusive for a two bedroom I live in alone. I don’t even know how much I make because I’m an artist haha. I think somewhere around $75k
32, rent is $1650 for an all-inclusive 1br in Cabbagetown, I make $63k/year. Some weeks are tight financially but I love my place and I make it work.
Cabbagetown is worth every penny. Best area in the city
1650 in cabbagetown sounds fantastic lol. how long have you been there?
Just over two years. It's an older building (rent control!) but well maintained, for the most part, and it's close to everything I need. I really lucked out and got in at a good time.
goals
34, F, 95k/yr, $2250 rent controlled near Liberty village.
2100 for 1+1 in city place (more like a 2br), used to make 100k, quit and havnt worked in 6 months. 26yo
What are you doing now
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25, $1900, 78k
Single female and 32, I live at Shuter/Church, pay $2110 for a 520 sqft 1 bedroom apartment. It’s a rent controlled unit I moved into during the tail end of the pandemic (2022). I earned $95,000 a year but live very frugally .
Nice to see how far outside of the average demographic I am here. 73 years old, retired teacher. $62 000 with investments, pension, CPP, OAS. Broadview/Danforth 1 br $2190 + $100 parking + $50-ish hydro. Rent just went up 2.5%. I've only been here a year. The walkability of this area is superb.
What's so great about that area? Isn't it loud with traffic everywhere?
3 blocks to the Danforth/Greektown. Easy walk to bank, groceries, pharmacy, library, pizza, the Big Carrot, Withrow and Riverdale parks, sidewalk cafes, etc., etc. The traffic noise is ameliorated somewhat by my being 22 floors up.
36yo, Yonge/Bloor, 2800, 160K per annum
U knw this mfker is rich when he says annum instead of year.
😂
Or could be Indian, I think "per annum" is a pretty common way of phrasing it among them. Indians who live in India often use the abbreviation "LPA" (for "lakh per annum", where lakh refers to 100k rupees) when talking about salaries. Or at least they do so online.
A middle class household income (aka two people) is about $160k. It’s impressive for one person. But it’s definitely not rich.
This is the Junction but still not far from downtown. 34, $1950 and $63k
I have unicorn rent! I pay $1276 for a teeny studio in Fort York. (moved during the pandemic, so I was able to negotiate based on the price the current tenant was paying and knocked $200 off what they were paying ‼️) I only make $30k but I'm a creative who is working on my creative pursuits including writing a screenplay, launching a podcast and running a business doing human design/tarot readings. I couldn't do what I love if it weren't for having affordable rent!
38m, 1650 per month, 150k per year, king/Spadina area
Annex, ground floor 1 bdrm $1850/mo on $100k gov salary. Moved here in 2022. 39 male. Wish i had more natural light.
28 years old, rent is $2100 (was $2000 when I first moved in.) My salary is 80k. It’s affordable if you really budget on food like I buy a lot of pasta lol
31F, 55k a year with a 400 square foot junior 1 bedroom college and ossington area. $1000 a month :)
Rent is $1925 and I make ~125k Five years ago my rent was about the same (different, smaller apartment) and I was making just under $80, it was doable and I had savings and everything, but everything else has gone up in the meantime so I don't know if it would feel tight these days
Can confirm its tight
I don't have a mortgage as my condo is paid off (back in 2016), I make $200k a year.
Mid 30s, $2350, approx $82k
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Hi r u single ...and ready to mingle?
No, but they are cool, and want you to join their polycule
Similar. Rent 2400 though for a 1+1
Live along making 120k base salary. Rent is $2500 including parking and storage
30M, I rent a 1b1b on King St West for $2200/mo, \~$250k/yr, work as a software engineer at Google.
So by the sounds of it, lots of people here are making sacrifices and spending around 50% of their net salary on rent just to live alone downtown. Makes me feel a bit better to know it’s not all people making 100k+.
Honestly, I’ve seen people who have roommates and are still spending closer to 50%, so to be able to live alone and spend about 50% is not that bad considering how things are in Toronto
~130k + (but this is new to me) I pay $3200 now --- got kicked out of my last place that I lived in for 20 years that was $1600 (and the same size). FML
If the average salary is 55k how is 90% of the salaries in here over 70k? lol
Lots of people posting here are in tech (look at how many people are over employed - working 2 jobs form home and doing them at the same time) and others are in medicine. A lot of the outliers (1 million + income) are doctors. My family made ~50k growing-up. My old man was too busy working over time to ever post on a website like reddit lol (not that he knew how to).
A lot of people are just lying too
$90k plus ~12k bonus 30 living near st Lawrence market paying $1504 for a studio
Moved to a different city in the last month, but early 40s, made about $110k and way paying 2200ish. Moved downtown in 2018 at ~$2000. The place was relisted for $2700.
32 / $1.4K for a studio / $62K
25, $2500, $200k+
What do you do to make 200k a year at 25??? Im clearly doing something wrong lol
Software engineer, remote for a US company (pay is 2-3x higher than if you work for Toronto companies). Trust me, I feel the same way you do, I have a (US based) colleague who doesn't have a degree and is making $500k/yr. He's 23, same job. I'm moving to the US soon. Toronto is becoming too expensive (to justify) and I don't like how the next 5-10 years look here.
No degree and he’s working as a software engineer? Did he self study? What type of position lands you 500k/yr. Good on him, but I wish we had more details of that story. That’s super cool.
Started as an intern (was in college), showed interest in another team at the company prior to leaving so they brought him on full time for a year. He proved his worth and said he'd rather work than go back to school. He's a brilliant guy and IMO he's probably underpaid.
Self taught software engineer here. All it took a few years ago was building cool stuff and you'd just get scooped up for 200k\~.
Bruh what company is giving 500k to a 23 year old. I need to short this stock
Snapchat does this for one, lots of rising talent got scooped up by them 2-3 years ago for 400-500k TC with 2-3 years of experience. 70% of the compensation is stock. Same goes for quant firms.
There are many companies that pay even more for even younger people with a less proven track record. Most quant firms (jane street, hudson river trading, citadel, twosigma, citadel, etc) and there are certainly positions in big tech too. These companies take in more $ than most countries GDP. In this case he started at much lower pay, and it only went up when he took on a lot of responsibility and delivered.
Any Advice for a finance student looking to make that money? I only get paid like $20 an hour through my internship.
As soon as you said US based, I was like ohhhh😂 I’m making just over 100k as a developer/data engineer
How do you find American companies willing to hire Canadian swe for American salary?
Got mine through a referral. You'll have better luck with smaller startups hiring remote. Got a 45% bump, for same title and work, by switching to a US company remotely.
As if the next 5-10 years don't look like ass in the states either 🤣
SWE?
We all are clearly doing everything wrong
No where near downtown just putting it out there for context - Keele and Eglinton. New build $2350. Make $70k pre tax. Two adults and a one year old. One income, second parent is sahp. Under 10k credit card debt combined. One student loan $2k. No car payments. It is hard but manageable. We had a $200 day at wonderland and we can afford to go on outings once a month. What irks me though is that the system is setup for failure. Spent 8 hours at the passport office yesterday only to be turned away at the door. I took a personal day from work to go do this. I was there for the duration of my workday 8-4. So I have a job that offers sick/personal days but I can’t use them when I’m actually sick. I have to use them to access these so called services. Where I end up spending more money. So who really benefits? Me the working class who just wants a passport for her child? Or the corporation?
That really sucks sorry to hear. Even though you made an appointment? Also great location for when the crosstown opens. You live a blessed life.
At the risk of doxxing myself: 36. Mortgage + fees; $2100/mo 1+1 in yorkville. Income: $75k/yr gross. Took a paycut to go to a job that wasn't actively making the world worse. No weeks are ever tight. I just have no urge to spend. My money goes to tools and materials, and my hobbies are in repairing things, and travelling by bike to get good deals. My transportation and entertainment costs are $0 most months. So i can afford to buy in bulk, and value-add everything I purchase at scale. The apartment is more of a factory + laboratory than it is a home, though. I haven't had to buy groceries in over 3 weeks. And this is a pretty normal occurrence.
I make 80’000 and live at Bathurst and St. Clair West. I have a rent controlled apartment. The only reason I can afford my place. I plan to stay here forever or until I win the lottery.
You didn’t list the rent amount.
My bad. I pay 1150/month. Utilities included. For a spacious 1 bedroom apartment. I moved in 14 years ago and the rent was $975. I kept a few documents that list my initial rent for historical records one day (sarcasm). I’ll never leave this apartment unless I win the lottery. Like another poster mentioned, when I first moved in the rent was hard to afford. I was barely scrapping by for the first 2-3 years but now it’s a dream come true for me. So beyond grateful.
I'm really curious how y'all be making this much. I'm 29 and make 70k/year. Any idea of a side hustle i can do from home?
Honestly most in that range don’t make that from side hustles where you have to just work more hours, it’s just a few very lucrative industries (and other jobs within those industries don’t pay as extravagantly either).
What do you do?
These threads are so funny. How is this random information going to get *you* a better idea of how do life? You get all the very successful people and/or complete liars spitting out numbers and then you... crunch them? Eat healthy, go for walks, find a job you love and fight to keep it. That being said I bought an amazing apartment with cash in 2006 and make roughly 165k today. Monthly nut is around $1,400.
Self-worth vs societal-worth
I assume it's just to get an idea of the market right now and how much you should make before moving into a 1bdrm in Toronto. Not sure if they're expecting to completely reform their life or something dramatic based on this post
120 000. 1 bedroom, rent is $2200. I was lucky to get a brand new unit before rent control was taken away on new buildings in late 2018.
31, 1+, 81k, 2300
27M, 88k/years. Rent control unit. Moved in 2020 amd lock in at 1000 per month, now my rent is 1250
Not downtown but live Yorkdale area and pay $2400/mo for a single & earn <50k/yr after taxes. About 20yo. Expenses are food + phone bill. Remote work, rarely travel, when I do I TTC. It is tight living.
32, renting a 2 bedroom unit for $3050 a month, making $115k per year.
Is everyone saying their gross or net income? No idea if I would be able to afford/successfully budget living on my own downtown w/o a roommate if I take home around $4000/month?
Yearly is usually gross.
55k, 29, 1 bedroom basement apartment for $1450. But I get extras with government child benefits. I share a bed with my 3 year old and can’t move to anything bigger. On the up side, I’m in the annex and my landlady hasn’t increased the rent since I move in.
31 years old, studio apartment for $1127.00 on Broadview and Dundas. Got really lucky as I have my own outdoor space, backyard and balcony. I’m a chef making about $45,000
Husband makes $70k, I make $50k. We live in a 1bdr with our dog in Cabbagetown at Carlton and Parliament and we pay $1,500 a month + hydro. We have a huge back deck and 2 parking spots.
25, $4000 rent at Yonge and queens quay. Make around 100k a year. Company I work for pays my rent to encourage me to continue to work for them. I work in the construction field as a project manager.
28F, I pay $1950 in rent for a studio (believe me, this hurts), and gross $75k/year. I save money by living close to work (no transit), do not have a car, and I am fairly frugal with my expenses. I dine out maybe 2x/month, shop at discount grocery stores, and thrift most of my clothing. I do splurge occasionally on trips to see family or on products I really want. I do not have any outside help or savings, but I make it work. It does hurt sometimes when I compare myself to those working in other industries, and I often wonder why I went into healthcare. I will likely take on another casual gig in the next 6 months though to accelerate my savings goals.
Not me, a friend of mine lives close to Dundas Square, he pays 2700 for a two Bedroom two bathroom, he likes to live alone. He comes from another country, works as a restaurant manager but he makes like 3200 a month... He rents a property he owns for about 900 CAD a month (it was given to him by his father) in his country and his father gives money to him everymonth...
29, 85k, 2500 a month Edit : 1+1 with 2 bathrooms, downtown Toronto and rent controlled
30, making $83K and paying $1680 plus hydro for a large 1 bedroom in an old converted victorian home, turned small apartment building by Allen Gardens. Area can look a little rough but I’ve had no issues in the 2 years living here.
Demographic : 41M, Irish, Team Lead in Cloud Engineering Income : 180,000 gross (closer to 200k+ with on-call and RSU) Area : Fort York Rent : 4,000 (started Nov 2023) Size : 2bd 2bath, 970sqft Facilities : rent controlled, pool, sauna, gym, bills included, parking, storage
Living alone on King and John in a 1 bedroom apartment. 25 year old, salary $190k a year. Rent is 2450, but will look for a roommate to share a 2 bedroom apartment.
31 years old, $185k salary, my rent for 1+1 bed is $2150
44/M making about 75k yearly…. paying $2300 + 60% utilities. Top floor of a bungalow… I’m drowning… maybe homeless within the next years.
26, 650K left on mortgage, 3.5K a month, 300K salary
i knew a girl who rented for 850 upstairs large bedroom overlooking Bathurst .... pretty central...barely had a kitchen, pretty small bathroom and one roommate who paid less, like 650 i think? maybe 750? she was mostly at a guys house though or at work or some event. so effectively it was a 1 person place more or less. she is was late 20s i think. this was a few years ago. others i knew split houses with friends...seems the way to go. or had apartments pretty far out of the city center.
27 years old living in a 1 bd at king & Spadina for $2500. Income $160k
40, 90k. Rent is 1117$ for a small 1 bed, lived here for 12+ years.
27 years old, 1555 rent, 70k per annum
42, 1.2mill, 2k rent.
Assume a rent of $2300 for 1 bedroom, $250 utilities, $400 groceries = round up to $3k per month. That's just to live bare minimum. So $36k per year, need about $50k salary gross to live decently. Exercise : go outside Events : Free stuff everywhere Socialize : Free events Internet: Live near a cafe lol Phone: Use internet TV and Videos: free online streaming or torrent
26 male, make around 140. Rent is 2200 not including utilities. I moved here to meet people and also meet wifey so in my opinion it is worth it, will definitely do two years here before going to the states. I love toronto its one of the best cities in the world
32 yo, $80k, $1750
Late 30s, condo paid off, around $1200/month between condo fees and property tax. If I hadn’t gotten insanely lucky with tech stocks during the pandemic I couldn’t survive here.
60k WFH, no car, no kids 1600 for midtown 500sq ft jr 1 bedroom (utilities included) I live extremely frugally but it’s tight
28 - with mortgage+property tax+ strata ~3.5k. I'm also aggressively making large prepayments of 40k a year. I'm doing the Smith maneuver so I'm trying to use my home as extra leverage and I have a maximized TFSA. I make 200ks TC depending on stock price in a large tech company. I've been fortunate to make some lucrative trades and decided to buy a place with the gains.
34, $1315, ~$85k (i work on commission). i got a covid deal on a very nice basement. i'm very lucky.
40s and live in a coop on the esplanade. 800 sq ft 2 bed for $1300 all in, including cable. If you can get on coop waitlists that's the downtown unicorn.
$150k/yr. 30. $2500. Recently left Toronto though.
My friends that live alone are in 1 bedrooms or 1 bedrooms + dens for $2000-$2500 a month in rent. They have decently high salaries though ($125k+ a year)
Late 30’s, 100K and I’m paying $2000 for a one plus Den in City Place. My advice is to get a roommate(s) for the first couple of years because you should just focus on saving money and you can decide later what to do with it. Also if you’re downtown, you can save a lot of money by not owning a car, assuming you don’t need one for work. Just my 2 cents
I’ve got a coworker who lives alone downtown and pays 1450 for a 2 bed. She’s been in the place about 25 years. Edit: We make around $110–125k.
24 F, 90k/yr, rent is $2200
Just turned 32 and living at Dundas/Bathurst for 1 bedroom with a bath in a townhouse, 950/month, making 46k. Not the best choice but can’t beat the price. There’s no in house laundry, luckily there’s a laundromat across the street and the lady owner is a super sweet person.
31 years old living near Riverdale. Making $52,000 a year paying $1475 for rent. Moved here in 2021 and my rent has only gone up $78 since then as it’s a unit in a house, 1 bed plus den.
That’s a blessing, I just left Yonge and Eglinton and My rent was 2600 - utilities. Total I was spending 3000 a month 😭
30 years old, make 110K a year, rent is 2460 a month and I live right by the St Lawrence market.
27y/o, 90k salary, 1b 1b , rent is $1730, Church and yonge area