Canada, salaries, cost-of-living

[Kati Compton]

I'm just curious how salaries translate in Canada. Salaries (in my field) are lower north of the US/CAD border, but it seems like so is the cost-of-living (healthcare, etc).

So, for those living in Canada, and even more specifically near Toronto (since I interviewed there), what is a reasonable salary for someone with a tech addiction who already likes to save for retirement and wants to live in the suburbs? Obviously the more the merrier, but I'm looking for more of a lower bound here.

Figure family of four (someday), not entirely but mostly on this salary.

Not asking for personal info here, just guesses. Please don't guess if you have no idea. ;)

[karen]

A good salary for what type of position?

If you're asking me what it takes to survive, I'd say that this also varies a great deal based on your lifestyle and family situation an which suburb you are considering.

If you'd like to contact me off-board, you can send me a PM with your contact info.

If you are interested in software-related labour market studies, wander around the Software Human Resource Council at www.shrc.ca.

As a rule of thumb, man of the young urban techies I work with seem to do well on salaries that are considerably lower than the US techies I work with. I'm talknig 60-90k CAD compared to 60-120USD that my US colleagues earn. It might be that they live a less expensive lifestyle. I dunno.

Karen

[Kati Compton]

Basically, I guess I'm wondering if I think my husband and I need US$150K/year here, what would we need in Canada? As for which suburb - I don't know yet. A nice one, but it doesn't have to be super-ritzy.

[Mike Temporale]

If you'd like to contact me off-board, you can send me a PM with your contact info.

I would have to agree with Karen. If you want another reference/point of view, I'll gladly share my information with you off-board. We can chat it out over MSN, ICQ, or email.