According to one Canadian, moving to the states was the best decision he could have made for himself.
TikTok user and former Torontonian @theafroxo shared why he packed his bags and uprooted everything he’s ever known to live in New York, a city he’s called home for a couple of years now.
He says the biggest comments he gets is from people wondering why he would leave “the better version of America.”
“I always have to tell people the truth, that Canada is the ghetto version of America,” he said in a now deleted video posted this week that had over 130,000 views as of publication.
“I don’t understand the point of living in a knockoff country when you can go to the real deal and have a much better life.”
THE JOB MARKET
He says everyone can have an opinion and that he is strictly speaking for himself when he says the U.S. is a better place to live in all aspects of life, including better salary, cheaper groceries and so much more.
“The Canadian job market is so bad that you could move to America and do the same job and get twice the salary,” he said.
And he isn’t wrong. According to Spring Financial, a Canadian personal lending fintech, although the difference between both countries in terms of pay isn’t massive, Americans do have higher average salaries than Canadians.
In fact, the average salary of Americans is $56,690 (USD) and about $43,867 (USD) in Canada.
This is a result of higher operating costs, supply and demand, cost of living and venture capital culture.
THE COST OF HOUSING
The only category where he believes New York falls flat is in the housing costs.
“I live in New York so obviously the rent prices and the housing prices are much more than Toronto but groceries, utilities, everyday essentials, phone plans you name it, are cheaper than Canada,” the TikToker said.
However, according to a new report from Zoocasa, New York is actually more favourable when it comes to home prices.
The real estate company analyzed housing affordability in 28 cities in America and 12 in Canada and found that the price of an average home in Toronto is $718,519 compared to New York which sits at $659,300.
(DIS)HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The TikToker even pointed out that Americans also tend to assume that Canada’s health-care system is totally free, when in reality the Canadian government doesn’t currently cover universal dental care, surgeries and prescriptions.
He also touched on Americans asking him if he’s scared of the gun violence down south and explaining that he grew up in community housing and guns were a normal occurance to him.
In fact, he even said he’s heard about less shootings where he lives today, than compared to Toronto.
