Author Topic: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even  (Read 5953 times)

FausseBourgeoise

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To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« on: September 19, 2015, 10:35:15 AM »
I have been living in Vancouver for 10 years and yes, if you want to live EXTRAVAGANTLY, these numbers are accurate.
But what makes me so so SO angry is the notion that a young professional should be renting an "average apartment". What is this nonsense?
Going out for three drinks six times a month? Spending ludicrous amounts of money on fitness when we have the seawall?
My numbers are about half of what is quoted.

http://notable.ca/breakdown-this-is-the-minimum-amount-of-money-a-young-professional-needs-to-live-in-vancouver/
 An excerpt:

So here it is Vancouver. This is what you’re spending on living expenses:

Housing/Utilities: $1723.63
Transportation: $120
Groceries: $400
Dining Out: $240
Drinking: $126
Health and Fitness: $123.85

Total: $2,733.48

nobodyspecial

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2015, 10:47:50 AM »
That's the price of a (admittedly non-luxury) downtown apartment, but the transport cost is a 2 zone monthly pass to any of the surrounding cities where an apartment is half as much.

It's like saying that people need $41k/pa to live in New York, with an apartment on central park in Manhattan - well no s***

« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 05:01:35 PM by nobodyspecial »

FausseBourgeoise

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2015, 10:50:53 AM »
I mean I'm all for living where you work, but you could cycle downtown in 10-15 minutes from many much cheaper areas, and then buy one-shot transit passes at $2.10 for super long distances.

Edit: super long distances, like to those "weekly sushi dates".

ARRRRGH
« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 10:52:26 AM by FausseBourgeoise »

Zikoris

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2015, 03:52:41 PM »
Yeah - we spend $1400-$1500/month for TWO people, living in downtown Vancouver waling distance from both our jobs (as well as everything else). $1700/month is a pretty darn fancy apartment, even here - $1000-$1200/month is more like a normal 1 bedroom place. Studios are more like $800-$900, going down to about $600 for REALLY tiny places.

You don't need any sort of transit pass if you live and work downtown, because you can walk or bike anywhere very easily. There are even separated bike lanes crisscrossing the entire downtown area.

B-May

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2015, 06:14:01 PM »
When I lived in Vancouver in my pre-Mustachian days, I didn't even spend that much.

Rent was $1350 for two of us (so $675 each) for a one-bedroom in North Van, with AMAZING views.
We didn't have a car, I think at the time the one-zone bus pass was $80 or 90. We both worked in North Van as well.
Fitness was the Grouse Grind with work paying for my pass.

We probably ate out too much. Damn, I miss the cheap, good quality sushi in Vancouver!


Ramblin' Ma'am

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2015, 07:27:38 AM »
That's the price of a (admittedly non-luxury) downtown apartment, but the transport cost is a 2 zone monthly pass to any of the surrounding cities where an apartment is half as much.

It's like saying that people need $41k/pa to live in New York, with an apartment on central park in Manhattan - well no s***

Yeah, they do the same thing for "living wage" numbers in the Boston area. Their prices for rent are consistent with renting a 1 bedroom apartment in or near the city. But then their transportation costs match those of a suburban rail pass and/or a car. Well, then the rent should be lower!

tardis

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2015, 09:20:24 AM »
My costs for living in Vancouver this spring as a young professional were something like:

Rent- $700
Transit- $91
Food- $200
Phone- $7
Eating out- $30  (I too miss the cheap sushi)
Drinking- $0
Fitness- $30
Entertainment- $60
Clothing- $10
Travel/Large purchase fund- $150
Total- $1248  Annually-$14 976

So less than half while adding a healthy holiday, clothing and entertainment budget.

Zikoris

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2015, 02:18:01 PM »
My costs for living in Vancouver this spring as a young professional were something like:

Rent- $700
Transit- $91
Food- $200
Phone- $7
Eating out- $30  (I too miss the cheap sushi)
Drinking- $0
Fitness- $30
Entertainment- $60
Clothing- $10
Travel/Large purchase fund- $150
Total- $1248  Annually-$14 976

So less than half while adding a healthy holiday, clothing and entertainment budget.

Yup! Our expenses for two people are only slightly higher - our 2014 spending averaged out to:

Housing: $780 (included some moving expenses since we downsized to a smaller place halfway through the year)
Food and eating out: $267 (includes Costco membership)
Entertainment: $117 (heavily skewed to the 5 year anniversary parachuting-off-a-mountain experience, as well as my fancy-pants ballet classes)
Shopping: $107 (mostly electronics and furniture for new apartment)
Bills: $84 (internet and two cell phones)
Personal care: $63
Transportation: $44 (bus tickets and bike parts)
Everything else: $33 (mostly cat food)

Total: About $1495/month for a pretty darn luxurious lifestyle for two people.

tardis

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2015, 02:38:25 PM »
This forum is terrible- I keep wanting a live in SO to cut costs, rent being #1.  :)  Not really the best reason, haha.

Zikoris

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2015, 02:49:43 PM »
This forum is terrible- I keep wanting a live in SO to cut costs, rent being #1.  :)  Not really the best reason, haha.

You know, it makes a difference for sure, but I think a lot of people massively overestimate how much. If I were single my rent wouldn't be double what I pay now, because I wouldn't be in this apartment, I'd be somewhere much smaller (it would still be more, but maybe $100/month more). Food costs would be about the same, and my cell phone and bike maintenance and bus tickets would be exactly the same. Just some food for thought.

JLee

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #10 on: September 29, 2015, 06:37:13 PM »
This forum is terrible- I keep wanting a live in SO to cut costs, rent being #1.  :)  Not really the best reason, haha.

You know, it makes a difference for sure, but I think a lot of people massively overestimate how much. If I were single my rent wouldn't be double what I pay now, because I wouldn't be in this apartment, I'd be somewhere much smaller (it would still be more, but maybe $100/month more). Food costs would be about the same, and my cell phone and bike maintenance and bus tickets would be exactly the same. Just some food for thought.

Unless you're renting a room from someone or have roommates, splitting a 1br apartment is likely substantially cheaper than renting a smaller one yourself.  Electric/internet/etc is also roughly the same for two people vs one, if you are factoring in heat/AC - plus you have two incomes to work with. :)

tardis

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #11 on: September 29, 2015, 07:59:33 PM »
Haha, the internet thing is so true.  Last time internet wasn't included in my rent, I paid for the lowest possible internet package and used less than a quarter of it with what I considered moderate use.

Zikoris

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2015, 09:24:39 PM »
The little tiny places I see for rent frequently seem to throw in internet with the rent. Both the tiny places and normal places tend to include electricity/utilities. So you don't save that much - the 1 bedroom place might be $800-$900 + internet, vs $500 including internet for the tiny place. So you do pay a little more, but not that much really.

BigBangWeary

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2015, 02:52:56 AM »
Kudos to anyone living Mustachian in Vancouver. Keep it up!

Two9A

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2015, 03:04:12 AM »
Last time I heard anything about Vancouver rents, they were higher than San Francisco (where 100sqft will set you back $4k, I'm told). I'm honestly surprised that the figure is as low as $1700, including utilities even.

* puts Vancouver on his list of possible places to move to when FI...

nobodyspecial

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #15 on: September 30, 2015, 04:49:04 AM »
House prices are astronomical for the same reason as SF. But unlike SF the city has a policy of densification - building condo towers along transit lines so rents, for an apartment, aren't too bad.
Salaries are half of those in SF though!

Left

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #16 on: September 30, 2015, 04:59:24 AM »
I'm just surprised there are so many Canadians here...

part of my FI life would be living in Canada for a few months a year

tardis

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #17 on: September 30, 2015, 06:12:42 AM »
In my (admittedly short) room search, I had a hard time finding a room, not even a studio or 1 bedroom, for less than $700, while being less than 45 minutes on transit to Gastown.  I know people who have rented a 2 bedroom condo for $1400 and thought it was an alright deal.  Not sure if I just wasn't looking in the right places, but I have friends searching right now who would love to know where to find a $500 apartment that isn't in the heart of Downtown East side.

I'm a red panda

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #18 on: September 30, 2015, 07:32:49 AM »
Eating out and drinking should not be included in "break even". These are not necessary to life.  I manage my life just fine without ever drinking, for instance.


nobodyspecial

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Re: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even
« Reply #19 on: September 30, 2015, 07:34:42 AM »
Compared to SF,  those are bargain rents