Cost of Living Comparison: Calgary & Vancouver

[Jero Miginla]

I am currently in the midst of accepting an offer from my company to move to Vancouver from Calgary to take on a new role. I would like to negotiate my compensation based on the cost of living being higher in Vancouver than in Calgary. I am having trouble finding credible data to support the theory that Vancouver is more expensive than Calgary as well as I am not certain how to accurately compare the cost of living between the two cities.

Does anyone on CP have any thoughts on how to properly compare the costs between the two cities so that I can make a informed business case for an increased salary?

Thanks in advance.

[AMG_G]

Try this site...http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...ity2=Vancouver

Also, don't forget to factor in PST, $1.50/L gas on average and med for depression. Sadly, Calgary has become very expensive to live in just look at what they call fine dinning...easily $100 per head for mediocre food.

[Cuz]

Well, it's pretty easy to anecdotally say that Vancouver has a larger cost of living, as I can attest to, but I have no idea where to start actually proving it...

[Jero Miginla]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

Try this site...http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...ity2=Vancouver

Also, don't forget to factor in PST, $1.50/L gas on average and med for depression. Sadly, Calgary has become very expensive to live in just look at what they call fine dinning...easily $100 per head for mediocre food.

Thanks for this, I have actually looked at this site but unfortunately I don't feel I can use it to prove to my boss that Vancouver is more expensive than Calgary. The content here may or may not be accurate and is completely user driven.

Forgot to consider the meds for depression though. Thanks for that.

[Jero Miginla]

Originally Posted by Cuz

Well, it's pretty easy to anecdotally say that Vancouver has a larger cost of living, as I can attest to, but I have no idea where to start actually proving it...

This is exactly my problem. Everyone I speak to has lots of anecdotal evidence, but IU'm struggling to put that into a metric that would make sense to me and my employer for a bump in salary.

[ShaolinFlame]

Originally Posted by Jero Miginla

I am currently in the midst of accepting an offer from my company to move to Vancouver from Calgary to take on a new role. I would like to negotiate my compensation based on the cost of living being higher in Vancouver than in Calgary. I am having trouble finding credible data to support the theory that Vancouver is more expensive than Calgary as well as I am not certain how to accurately compare the cost of living between the two cities.

Does anyone on CP have any thoughts on how to properly compare the costs between the two cities so that I can make a informed business case for an increased salary?

Thanks in advance.

Your company should be providing you a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) as part of your relocation package. This is often sourced from a relocation company. Runzheimer is one that I know of who do these up.

Do you work for a small or large company? Do you have a relocation provider or does your HR department take care of relo in house? Has your employer provided a detailed relo policy to you? I can probably be of some assistance with more information.

I can tell you that your guess is correct - COLA reports constantly show Vancouver as having a higher cost of living than Calgary.

[ranchlandsselling]

Compare the cost of the average home compared to yours at the same distance in commute in both cities.

Compare the cost of gas for that commute distance.

Compare the cost of PST

Commissions on real estate sales and mortgage penatly costs are tax deductable but you'll still incur some costs.

Costs of moving.

Significant other? How does it affect him/her?

Difference in vehicle insurance, surely you can get quotes
Home insurance

etc.

[kobasew19]

Don't forget to factor in Riot Insurance.

[V]

Vancouver's more expensive, but once you cross the Port Mann it gets a lot cheaper. They may say that you can live in Surrey and commute to Vancouver for work. Many, many people live in Surrey or east and commute into the City for work.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by V

Vancouver's more expensive, but once you cross the Port Mann it gets a lot cheaper. They may say that you can live in Surrey and commute to Vancouver for work. Many, many people live in Surrey or east and commute into the City for work.

And those people commute for an hour plus (one way) each day....

[V]

Yeah, I know. It's insane. But they're used to it and can live with the commute because at least they can afford more than a crackhouse that way.

[squiggs96]

I think you'll have a few problems with this, but I wish you the best of luck. Yes, Vancouver costs more to live in than Calgary, but Calgary has higher wages unless you are in a select industry such as mining. For an audit manager at a Big 4 accounting firm, the Calgary office pays about $25,000 more per year. If you were in tax, it's larger. I know a guy who transferred from Vancouver to Calgary in tax and got a $40,000 raise. Calgary also has a lot of oil and gas money. The same is true for lawyers that I've known who have made the transfer. The upside of this is I find the hours in Vancouver are more relaxed, and not anywhere near as high as Calgary.

Supply and demand is a big factor in Vancouver. People from all over the world want to live there because of scenery, oceans, proximity to the States and Whistler, ease of flights to Asia, mild winters, warm (but not hot) summers, restaurants, etc.

The unemployment rate is higher in Vancouver, and with two major universities, and the desire of foreigners to move to Vancouver, there is also a vast supply of labour, unless you are specialized. The corporate tax rate is higher in BC than Alberta, leaving less money to pay wages.

I hope you get a raise, but I wouldn't count on it.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by V

Vancouver's more expensive, but once you cross the Port Mann it gets a lot cheaper. They may say that you can live in Surrey and commute to Vancouver for work. Many, many people live in Surrey or east and commute into the City for work.

but then you'd be surrey.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

Try this site...http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...ity2=Vancouver

Also, don't forget to factor in PST, $1.50/L gas on average and med for depression. Sadly, Calgary has become very expensive to live in just look at what they call fine dinning...easily $100 per head for mediocre food.

Don't go to mediocre places then. There's a lot of incredibly good restaurants in Calgary.

I also used to think that Calgary's restaurants are universally expensive - but not the case, you just need to venture into the Northeast and there are many cheap and delicious options in a lot of different types of cuisine. One of the best meals I've had recently was Pio Peruvian. Amazing.

[Jero Miginla]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

I think you'll have a few problems with this, but I wish you the best of luck. Yes, Vancouver costs more to live in than Calgary, but Calgary has higher wages unless you are in a select industry such as mining. For an audit manager at a Big 4 accounting firm, the Calgary office pays about $25,000 more per year. If you were in tax, it's larger. I know a guy who transferred from Vancouver to Calgary in tax and got a $40,000 raise. Calgary also has a lot of oil and gas money. The same is true for lawyers that I've known who have made the transfer. The upside of this is I find the hours in Vancouver are more relaxed, and not anywhere near as high as Calgary.

Supply and demand is a big factor in Vancouver. People from all over the world want to live there because of scenery, oceans, proximity to the States and Whistler, ease of flights to Asia, mild winters, warm (but not hot) summers, restaurants, etc.

The unemployment rate is higher in Vancouver, and with two major universities, and the desire of foreigners to move to Vancouver, there is also a vast supply of labour, unless you are specialized. The corporate tax rate is higher in BC than Alberta, leaving less money to pay wages.

I hope you get a raise, but I wouldn't count on it.

This is really interesting and I appreciate you thoughts. When I first met with my employer and brought up the cost of living difference, my boss mentioned that in Vancouver "it costs more to live but people get paid less" which I beleive to be accurate from your post and what I have heard from others.

My concern lies in the fact that the company has asked me to make the move, not the other way around. I would be happy to stay in Calgary and the new role I will be taking on doesn't specifically need to be based in Vancouver (the $ would be the same in Calgary or Vancouver). I guess my point is that if the company asks you to move to a new city that is more expensive than the current one, I would think they would compensate you appropriately.

[rotten42]

Don't forget about relocation costs too.

[Arsenal14]

StatsCan Inter-City Consumer Price Index: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...on165c-eng.htm There's no data included for Calgary, but it does show Vancouver about 5% higher than Edmonton.

There's also the CPI by city table, but I think each city's value is relative to itself. So Calgary is up 26% from 2002, Vancouver is up 19% over the same time, but there's nothing indicating what the relative values were in 2002: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...con45a-eng.htm

[oilyfan]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

StatsCan Inter-City Consumer Price Index: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...on165c-eng.htm There's no data included for Calgary, but it does show Vancouver about 5% higher than Edmonton.

There's also the CPI by city table, but I think each city's value is relative to itself. So Calgary is up 26% from 2002, Vancouver is up 19% over the same time, but there's nothing indicating what the relative values were in 2002: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...con45a-eng.htm

I moved from Edmonton to Calgary recently, I would hazard that cost of living is 5% higher in Calgary.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

but then you'd be surrey.

Oh, Surrey isn't that bad

[PsYcNeT]

If you know someone with access, the Mercer's Cost Of Living Survey rated Vancouver the priciest city in Canada to live in back in June, but to buy access to the actual survey #s you need to pay $699 :<