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Toronto has a lot to offer, especially if you're looking for a multicultural environment with many distinct neighborhoods, public parks, and city-accessible beaches. The city supports a range of seasonal outdoor activities, whether you're into sunbathing in the summer or skating and skiing in the winter. Public transportation is decent by North American standards and tenant rights are strong, making renting a bit more manageable. Legal weed and events throughout the year give the city a lively edge for those willing to explore.
However, the cost of living is steep. Housing is especially difficult and expensive to secure. Salaries tend to be lower than what you'd earn for similar roles in the U.S., and the job market is highly competitive. Winters are long and harsh, and summers can be oppressively hot. Many reviewers highlight the coldness of the local population, making social integration a challenge, especially for expats. Homelessness and visible mental health struggles are a part of city life here. Transportation outside the city core isn't great, and traffic congestion and construction are persistent issues. The nightlife is underwhelming, and healthcare access is strained, with long wait times and limited availability for non-emergencies.
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7 months ago
One of the worst cities in N.America. Insanely expensive, people are awkward and making friends is difficult. Lots of homeless and mentally ill and drug addicts everywhere. Lots of construction. American corpo work culture with zero benefits of American corpo work culture, low salaries. If you want to live in North American city try to go to US instead, NY, Chicago, Miami, all of these are better.
2 years ago
Very expensive to live in. Boring, I don't mind the weather so much but I agree with previous reviews about people here having poor social skills and making friends with the locals is VERY hard. This has been confirmed by my other expat friends from US and Europe who lived here for a bit. People overall are very serious and in a group setting things like real estate and social justice/ equality are normally main topics of the conversation. Very little culture in terms of art, museums, history etc.
Food is crazy expensive. Summers are great because of the sunny, hot weather but the lake is cold and dirty.
3 years ago
I'd avoid Toronto. Weather is miserable for 4-5 months a year. Nightlife is average. Taxes are high. Every conversation with someone from here devolves into how expensive it is (and honestly, it's not particularily expensive... compared to other large english speaking cities). Transit isn't great. City doesn't feel particularily well planned.
If you want to live in a cold city, then go to Montreal or Berlin.
4 years ago
Really bad weather most time of the year - too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer, lots of strong winds throughout the year. You can't effectively take advantage of the snow because you have to commute for hours for skiing.
Work culture is American, so expect high workload and 2-3 weeks off in a year.
People are polite but not really friendly. Dating is challenging but heavily depends on your preferences. Most young people are from India and Asia or second generation Asians. Some are from Latin America, and very few are from Europe. Cost of living is very high, while salaries are almost half of what you get in America. Local purchasing power is low. The city itself is filled with home challenged people and screaming crazies, but overall it is pretty clean and safe. They scream but don't attack basically. People are dressed either in expensive clothes or sweatpants, so mostly British dress code culture.
Healthcare is difficult to access unless you're dying because of long wait times.
The city is very spread out, so meeting people is difficult. Too many cars everywhere, narrow congested streets. Everybody is in a hurry somewhere. Commute is pretty bad anywhere. The subway system isn't great compared to other cities because parts of it shut down all the time and the reach isn't quite there. People don't really go for a walk here, so the streets are either packed with commuters to work or pretty empty.
4 years ago
Vibrant city with lots of options : public transportation is great, lots of ethnic communities and great vibes in different neighborhood. I was expecting food to be more expansive, but there are lots of cheap options. The only problem is housing. Apartments and hotels are CRAZY expansive.
4 years ago
Toronto is a fantastic city with good subway transit and is a rail transit hub. Rents are about 1,500ドル for a one bedroom and 2,500ドル for a 2 bedroom condo downtown. You can get cheaper as you move outside the core. There are a lot of parks and bike trails and in the summer the Toronto islands are a great venue. No more expensive than most cities, lots of nightlife, theatre, and a good music scene when Covid isn't an issue. Crime is generally not an issue unless you go looking for problems (as anywhere).
4 years ago
Much nicer than people would have you think. Too many locals seem to be under the impression that it's the busiest, most expensive city in the world. These people clearly haven't travelled much. Not saying it's cheap, but for a big city in an English speaking country it's about what you'd expect, if not cheaper.
Pros:
- Hot humid summers, gorgeous orange autumns, cold snowy winters. If you like distinct seasons this is a great place to be. Winter is about 4-5 months, from Nov-Mar. Ignore everyone telling you it's 7+, total lie.
- Lots of cool little neighbourhoods
- Nice beaches that are actually in the city
- Legal weed
- Insanely multicultural
- Great tenant rights (no security deposits and landlords can't stop you having pets)
- Public transport is decent by North American standards
- Good local salaries (though still way less than the US)
- Cottage country
- Loads of events going on
- If you embrace winter you can have a lot of fun in the snow, ice skating, skiing etc.
Cons:
- People are pretty cold and hard to connect with
- Big issue with people with serious mental health issues roaming the streets, like pretty much every city in NA
- Everywhere outside of the downtown core is insanely boring
- Nightlife is tame. If you like a few drinks in a bar it's good. If you like a proper night out you're better off visiting Montreal
- Groceries are expensive as hell
- Public transport is bad by European standards
- Job market is extremely competitive due to mass immigration
5 years ago
Literally the worst traffic in North America, 6th worst in the world, grotesquely expensive, Horrible weather much of the year, Cold and distant people. Possibly the most Anti-American people In the world. Surging crime and homelessness since Orwellian government lockdown
On a good note, decent waterfront in the summer and fall, if you dig around You can't find decent food though very expensive.
Overall you're much better off in NYC or elsewhere. Trying to defect from here as asap.
6 years ago
Not a bad city to check out. A bit on the expensive side but you can find some great communities here. Lots of international people, good tech scene and tons of stuff to do. I would give it a lukewarm recommendation
6 years ago
Horrifically expensive, locals have very low social skills and emotional availability (after a year and a half here ALL my close friends were recent expats, and I generally meet 10-20 new people a day), and a 7-month winter sub-zero winter (up to -40 celsius) that leaves everyone increasingly overweight and miserable. Transit system is constantly under maintenance (~4 days a week?), and there is 0 traffic shaping in the city so it's always congested.
6 years ago
As for safety this city has been changing for the worse. There are multiple shootings daily, culture is getting worse.
6 years ago
Seems to be a really good place to live if you're fine with paying huge taxes for helping with inequality. However, it's definitely one of the expensive destinations for working remotely. Just consider the 4g price which is one of the highest in the world.
6 years ago
One of the friendliest people in the world. People are very polite and considerate.
7 years ago
