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0 pointsghostpepper3y ago0 comments

The Vancouver housing market is really insane when you compare it to average salaries. New-grad software developer at a non-big-tech can expect the equivalent of $45k USD

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teunispeters3y ago

I left Vancouver over this.

Average salary : Canadian normal. (median $33K, 90% of people under 90K - Stats Canada and Canada Revenue Agency for sources circa 2015-ish). Need at least $300K/year to afford rent, and if you're not a multimillionaire, owning a home is out of reach. Well, except condos... then $200K+/year is ideal.

The rents are too damned high!

And yeah, there's a whole pile of homelessness and safety issues over that. That Vancouver has (on the whole) nicer climate than Seattle, let alone anywhere else in Canada - makes it "easier". I worry a lot about the people I know still stuck there.

Oh and if anyone's looking for causes, I recommend this podcast : https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/191-sold

ripley123y ago

The main cause is that Vancouver bans apartments on the vast majority of its residential land, and has done so for nearly a century.

seanmcdirmid3y ago

NAFTA (or whatever succeeded it) allows many of those Canadian SWEs to go south for better pay (e.g. Seattle), and a lot of them do. It isn't great situation all around (Vancouver loses talent because they don't want to pay for it).

teunispeters3y ago

Vancouver has NEVER paid that well. 50-60K is high end for SWE in Vancouver.

ripley123y ago

That's not been my experience at all. Amazon has really pushed compensation up over the last 10 years and 50-60K (CAD or USD!) would be low for even a junior position in the companies I'm familiar with.

FWIW the local market is fairly bimodal; there are the FAANG companies and those who keep up with them, and there are some local companies that still pay peanuts. The gap between those two is large.

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teunispeters3y ago

I left Vancouver over this.

The rents are too damned high!

Oh and if anyone's looking for causes, I recommend this podcast : https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/191-sold

ripley123y ago

The main cause is that Vancouver bans apartments on the vast majority of its residential land, and has done so for nearly a century.

seanmcdirmid3y ago

teunispeters3y ago

Vancouver has NEVER paid that well. 50-60K is high end for SWE in Vancouver.

ripley123y ago

FWIW the local market is fairly bimodal; there are the FAANG companies and those who keep up with them, and there are some local companies that still pay peanuts. The gap between those two is large.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse