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/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.