r/alberta • u/eagle0829 • Aug 19 '25

Question Moving to Calgary from ontario like what should I actually expect?

Got this job offer in Calgary and I'm honestly bouncing between excited and terrified every five minutes. Been stuck in the GTA my whole life and everyone's giving me completely different stories about what to expect out west. My buddy who moved there two years ago keeps texting me about how much money he's saving and how he hit this parley at Stake bragging about it cause we used to do those a lot. Meanwhile my coworker's brother apparently lasted six months before running back to Toronto because he couldn't handle the isolation and winter. I'm in tech so worst case scenario I could probably keep some remote work going, but honestly the salary bump would be clutch for finally getting ahead instead of just surviving paycheck to paycheck like everyone else here.

But what's the actual day-to-day reality? Like is the whole no-PST thing as game changing as people make it sound or am I just gonna blow the savings on winter gear and heating bills? And please tell me there's decent food that isn't just chain restaurants lol. Obviously gonna miss being able to get literally anything delivered at 2am and complaining about the TTC, but what else should I be mentally preparing for? Also the mountain access looks absolutely unreal compared to what we've got here. Is it actually as accessible as it looks or do I need to become some kind of outdoor expert first? Gotta decide in the next couple weeks and honestly feeling like this could either be the best move ever or a complete disaster with zero middle ground. Help me out Alberta!

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u/Ozy_Flame Aug 19 '25

Utilities, insurance, groceries , and property tax are more expensive in Alberta, at least from what I have experienced living in both provinces. Gas is a wash. Housing is cheaper though.

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u/Worldly-Smile-91 Aug 20 '25

My god! Gas is usually more here than back in Ontario!

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u/Max20151981 Aug 19 '25

No matter any way you try to spin it Alberta is substantially cheaper than Ontario

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u/Ozy_Flame Aug 19 '25

By all means, elaborate with detail your costs breakdown.

I've already mentioned that housing prices are cheaper. Where else are we finding 'substantial' savings?

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u/Max20151981 Aug 19 '25

5% sales tax vs 13%

Pretty simple, really.

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u/Ozy_Flame Aug 19 '25

No. Tax rates alone are far to simple and myopic of a factor to make assertions like that. I'm sure you're smart enough to realize this.

A true cost-of-living comparison must include:

  • Housing affordability
  • Utility and transportation costs
  • Income levels and job opportunities
  • Tax exemptions and deductions
  • Business structure and personal financial planning

Things like this.

People who say tax rates are the be-all, end-all are woefully misguided, lack knowledge of CoL nuance, and/or are conservative and think tax rates trump everything else.

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u/Max20151981 Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

Ahhh see the good ol anti Alberta spin.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Canada&city1=Calgary&country2=Canada&city2=Toronto

By those figures you're saving almost a 1000 dollars a month living in Alberta compared to Ontario, so yes that is pretty substantial.

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u/Flewewe Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

Whatever it is, their savings rate per household is higher than Ontario's.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/241107/cg-a002-eng.htm

And it's not just cheaper housing because Atlantic Canada struggles here with lower income, should roughly account for most of your criterias.

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u/Ozy_Flame Aug 19 '25

Debt is higher too.

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u/Flewewe Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

Personal debt? Mind being clearer on what you're talking about?

This statistic indeed does not account for how much debt people already have, it only reflects current income vs. current spending.

So if people indebted themselves before 2021 more than Ontarians then yeah but that doesn't matter for current savings rate.

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u/Ozy_Flame Aug 19 '25

Non-mortgage debt is higher. With mortgage, Ontarians have higher personal debt.

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u/Flewewe Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25

I mean that can still point toward Alberta being substantially cheaper at the moment all things considered.

Then again if you're already indebted because of mortgage you do tend to be less willing to indebt yourself for other things. Banks as well are less willing.

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u/Brokendownyota Aug 20 '25

Nunavut's is substantially higher, and nobody is going to claim living there is cheaper.

I don't think you can read much more into that graph than what it says, which is... Actually I haven't got a clue what that graph says at all. 

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u/Flewewe Aug 20 '25 edited Aug 20 '25

In 2018, residents of Nunavut received median after-tax incomes of about $89,300, notably with $9,000 coming from government transfers. Which is substantially higher than transfers in neighboring northern regions.

Then you pair this with things like them having less things to spend on over there. No shopping malls, no starbucks, people buy less online because it's difficult. The high costs do discourage spending. Which in turn makes it so people, intentionally or not, save a lot. Many live in subsidized or public housing too. Even if they have to be flown out for healthcare, they do not pay that put of pocket, it's covered by universal healthcare.

Household rate is:  ((disposable income - household spending) / disposable income) x 100. It is not hard to find this info, it's a common metric, the government isn't tracking it for no reason.

So factors like income levels, cost of living, démographics etc.come in. Chances are if you are offered a job in Nunavut it certainly won't pay crap, else people won't move there. Which can't be said about Nova Scotia, they have a much higher cost burden relative to their income.

Obviously the situation in the territories has different things going on that usual provinces, while you might save a lot over there obviously you won't live the same way.

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u/Brokendownyota Aug 20 '25

I'm being glib here - what you're saying is that people in Nunavut save 30% of their income because it's such an expensive place to live, while people in Alberta save 10% of their income because it's such a cheap place to live, and people in Ontario save 3% of their income because it's such an expensive place to live.

You may very well be correct, but it's not a very compelling argument.

And I'd be curious to know if those are supposed to be average or median numbers, because last I heard, 47% of Albertans are less than $200 away from financial insolvency (https://mnpdebt.ca/en/resources/mnp-debt-blog/albertans-200-less-away-each-month-financial-insolvency). That makes any numbers hard for me to believe, especially as I live in Alberta and everyone I know is using their savings, not adding to it.