If you’re moving from Toronto to Vancouver, you may be feeling overwhelmed. Just know that you’re not alone, and this guide will help.
How Far is Toronto from Vancouver?
The quickest way to go from Toronto to Vancouver takes you through the US border, which makes it a 4,339.9km drive. In terms of drive length, this is about 40 hours.
Especially right now (2020), going through the US border presents some additional complications.
In order to not cross any international borders, it only tacks on an additional 70 km.
However, because of the speed limit difference, this will also add an additional 5 hours to the total drive time.
Moving From Toronto to Vancouver Average Cost
What is most important, is finding a reputable moving company to work with.
As long as you find a quality company, moving from Toronto to Vancouver will cost $6,250-$10,500+ from start to finish.
Without learning more about your specific moving requirements, it is difficult to give an exact estimate. If you’d like a free, no obligation quote, be sure to give us a call at (778) 885-4170.
We’ve provided some rough estimates for you to use as guidelines.
Average Cost to Move a Studio
To move a studio, the average cost will be roughly $6,250.
Average Cost to Move a 2 Bedroom
If you live in a 2 bedroom home, you can expect this move to cost an average of $8,000.
Average Cost to Move a 4 Bedroom
And lastly, a 4 bedroom house will cost an average of $10,500+.
Doesn’t That Seem a Little High? I Just Got a Quote for $2,000.
If you’re further along in the moving process, you may have already gotten some quotes. If the estimates above worry you, then you need to listen to this section.
If you’re moving anything more than a room worth of stuff, and you got a quote for just a few thousand dollars, you should be alarmed.
It seems like such a good deal, Toronto to Vancouver for just a few grand, what a deal!
Except for one issue. All of a sudden moving day rolls around and you come to find out that this quote was based on only 1,000 pounds of stuff.
Any additional cargo is, as you can probably guess, an additional charge.
And if you can’t already guess, your 3 bedroom house is more than 1,000 pounds. Quite a bit more.
This quote was based on, give or take, one room’s worth of stuff from your home. That’s right, you’ll typically have about 1,000 pounds worth of stuff per room of your house.
These “reputable movers” can pretty quickly rack up this “$2,000 quote” into a $14,000, or even more.
With the estimates above, we’re trying to factor in the full cost, with no additional hidden fees.
Should I Move From Toronto to Vancouver?
Cost of Living Compared
Utilizing data courtesy of Numbeo, the cost of living in Vancouver and Toronto is very comparable. Overall, the cost of living is marginally cheaper in Vancouver than Toronto.
But, where the real difference comes in is the local purchasing power. Factoring in average salaries, your money actually goes further in Vancouver than Toronto.
So, if you’re relocating for a new job, the only way that you’ll likely see a difference is if you make more money in Vancouver than you did in Toronto.
Crime Rate
Toronto and Vancouver also have a very similar crime rate. Although you should not let the difference in crime rate play a large role in your decision to move, you should be aware that Toronto’s crime rate is growing at a rate faster than Vancouver.
But, this could only be a temporary shift, so take it with a grain of salt.
More importantly, look into the crime rates of the individual neighbourhood that you are considering moving into, as well as the neighbourhood you currently live in.
Cultural Differences
Although Toronto and Vancouver are both known as culturally diverse, Toronto is actually considered more multicultural than Vancouver.
Both cities have a majority English speaking population, but Toronto has a wider range of languages spoken.
Public Transportation
It is not completely fair to compare the public transit systems of Toronto and Vancouver, because the two metropolitan areas are very different in how cities are situated.
Vancouver’s public transportation is very useful, but that’s kind of what we expect when you take into account that the lower mainland has less than half the population of the Greater Toronto Area.
Toronto has 76.9km worth of subway lines, which includes 75 stations. There are also 2 new lines which are under construction. These are set to be completed by 2022 and 2023.
Vancouver’s “TransLink” skytrain system consists of 3 lines, which totals 79.6km of skytrain rail. The Lower Mainland has 53 stations versus the GTA’s 75 stations.
Overall, Toronto and Vancouver both have great public transit systems. Which is better will depend on where you’re trying to get to and from.
Weather
Vancouver and Toronto both have different aspects of their weather to like. Which city’s weather you’d enjoy will depend on what you prefer (or dislike less).
Vancouver’s rainy climate can often feel annoying, however, Vancouver’s winters are much milder than Toronto’s cold weather.
While living in Toronto, the trade off is less rain, but colder weather.
Toronto’s summers are also longer than Vancouver’s by about half a month, and warmer by about 1 degree Fahrenheit.
Buying a Home in Vancouver
Vancouver has many different neighbourhoods that are fantastic to move to, whether you’re a student, professional, or raising a family. Here are 3 neighbourhoods to consider, courtesy of VanMag.
The West End
The West End is a beautiful neighbourhood situated in downtown. For being in downtown Vancouver, you can find some “affordable” housing—affordable in Vancouver’s version of affordable. Average monthly rent in this neighbourhood is $1,287.
The West End is not the greatest neighbourhood for raising a family, especially if you have several kids, as many of the apartments downtown can be pretty cramped.
West Point Grey
West Point Grey is a big neighbourhood full of detached homes. This is a great place to raise a family, especially if they are getting older, as it is very close to UBC.
It is not very well connected by transit, especially if you need to go anywhere that’s not in Vancouver. For this reason, if you or your family wants to utilize transit a lot, you may want to look into other areas.
Average monthly rent in West Point Grey is about $1,945.
Burnaby, Langley, or North Vancouver
If you’re looking for a suburb of Vancouver, look in to Burnaby, Langley, and North Vancouver. Burnaby is directly adjacent to East Vancouver, while North Vancouver is just across the Lions Gate bridge, and Langley is about an hour east taking the Trans Canada highway.
These are all fantastic cities, especially for raising families with lots of fantastic schools and community events.
Buying Your New Home in Vancouver
If you’re looking to invest in property, there are many different real estate listings to look through, and there are constantly more coming onto the market. Working with a realtor to keep an eye out for you is invaluable.
We strongly recommend Josh Kepkay, of Vancouver Real Estate Today. You can contact him at (604) 313-9805.
Landing a Job in Vancouver
If you are able to, getting a new job in your new city before you get there is incredibly helpful.
There are tons of different websites that you need to use in order to land a job, or at least some job prospects, before getting there. Here are some of the best ones!
City of Vancouver Jobs
The City of Vancouver is constantly hiring people. They often are looking for administration, engineering, parks workers, city planning workers, and more. You can check out current job listings from the city.
Indeed
Indeed is among the largest job directory sites in Canada. As of the time of writing (November 2020) more than 22 thousand jobs on Indeed.
There are tons of companies that post their job listings on Indeed, and no other directories, so you can’t afford to neglect it.
Word of Mouth
One underutilized way to secure a job is to talk to the people that you know. Especially if you know people who have previously (or, even better, currently!) lived in Vancouver.
Remember, a big part of life is about who you know!
Checklist to Keep in Mind While Moving From Toronto to Vancouver
Come up with the exact budget that you will commit towards moving, and call around to find out who can work within it. Of course, make sure that it is realistic, but not having a budget at all will only lead to potentially overpaying, nothing good.
Call around to moving companies around you to get as many quotes as possible (remember that you need to get the quote for exactly how much stuff you have). If staying within your budget with a moving company turns out to be an impossible task, look into cheaper alternatives such as a portable moving container or U-Haul.
Although these solutions will be much more work, if your budget will not allow a moving company, these alternatives will get the job done.
Get your housing situation sorted out before you get to Vancouver. This is even more important in the winter, as you would not want to be stranded without shelter when it’s cold and rainy.
Getting top dollar for your home in Toronto is going to be very important. One of the best ways for you to work with a reputable realtor. We recommend Ms. Georgina Kasmetis, who has 30+ years of experience buying and selling property in the GTA. You can find her here.
You also need to keep your kids’ schools in mind. Get in contact with the right people in your kids’ current schools and let them know of your location change.
You’ll also want to research schools in Vancouver to figure out where your kids will go, if you’re going that way. Here’s a great resource of public schools in Vancouver.
If you’re considering sending your kids to a private school in Vancouver, we encourage you to do further research here.
Use this Government of Canada website for your guide to changing your moving address for most of your required address changes. This is extremely important, but it’s absolutely not the one size fits all change to make. You will still need to manually change your address on other mediums, such as financial products
Make sure that you personally reach out to the people that are important in your life. The last thing you would want to happen is for them to find out in some other way.
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