Hamilton is more expensive to live in than Toronto, LA and Chicago: report

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Published June 21, 2022 at 5:01 pm

Hamilton is more expensive to live in than Toronto, LA and Chicago: report
According to a new study, Hamilton is the fourth most expensive major North American city to live in when factoring in the cost of living and average income in the city.

If you’re finding it difficult to afford to live in Hamilton, maybe you could try Toronto, Los Angeles or Chicago?

According to a new study, Hamilton is the fourth most expensive major North American city to live in when factoring in the cost of living and average income in the city.

The study was conducted by Canadian insurance provider PolicyAdvisor and measured the cost of living based on eight expenses: one movie ticket, a restaurant meal, a bottle of water, a cappuccino, a gym membership, a monthly transit pass, a one-way transit ticket, and one month’s rent.



The combined cost of these items was calculated as a percentage of the average monthly salary to find out where to live most affordably, based on US dollars.

Hamilton ranked behind New York City, Mississauga, and Vancouver as the least affordable:

  1. New York City
  2. Mississauga
  3. Vancouver
  4. Hamilton
  5. Toronto
  6. Los Angeles
  7. San Diego
  8. Chicago
  9. Ottawa
  10. Montreal
  11. Winnipeg
  12. Philadelphia
  13. Phoenix
  14. San Jose
  15. Brampton
  16. Dallas
  17. San Antonio
  18. Houston
  19. Edmonton
  20. Calgary

According to the study, the average person living in Hamilton spends nearly half (47 per cent) of their income on the listed expenses. 

“Despite spending only an average of $13.90 for eating out and registering the sixth lowest cost of gym monthly membership ($34.3) after Phoenix, Arizona ($32) and Brampton ($31.5), the cost of transportation is still relatively high, with a monthly pass costing $85 — more than twice the cost of a monthly pass in San Antonio, Texas ($38),” reads the report.

“The average cost of rent amounts to $1,236.9 — not cheap if considering the average monthly salary of just $2937.85 per month — the third-lowest in the ranking.”

The report may actually be underestimating how unaffordable it is. According to Rentals.ca, Hamilton’s average rent for all property types from January to May was $1,933.

Oxford Economics released a study last November that indicated Hamilton was the fifth least affordable city in North America to purchase a home, surpassing major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago, and Dallas.

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