Is it cheaper to live in Halifax or Toronto? This data says the relative costs are comparable
Median Halifax household in 2024 spent 31% of before-tax income on housing and transportation
The share of income Halifax households typically spent on housing and transportation costs in 2024 was comparable to cities like Toronto, according to recent Statistics Canada data analyzed by CBC News.
Half of households in Halifax were estimated to spend about 31 per cent or more of before-tax income on those two expense categories. In Toronto, the figure was 30 per cent.
With housing costs having rapidly increased over the last several years, Halifax realtor Chris Melnyk said the data lines up with what he's seen.
"A lot of people have this kind of misconception that … homes are cheap," said Melnyk.
Over the last few years, he's regularly received inquiries from people outside Nova Scotia who are interested in moving to the province. But, some decided not to after discovering Halifax homes were expensive.
Melnyk said prices for many homes in and around the city effectively doubled from 2019 to 2022, adding that overall prices have been climbing since then following a brief decline.
"The value proposition [of moving to Halifax] doesn't make that much more sense anymore relative to say, a number of years ago when it was a lot cheaper."
Up until two years ago, Montreal-based musician and music teacher Rachel Sunter was living in Halifax, where she saw that change in housing prices first-hand.
While renting, Sunter started to consider buying her first home just before 2020. But in only a couple of years, that was out of reach.
"I could be a homeowner on one side of that [and] on the other side had no chance," Sunter said.
Rising rents were one of the main reasons for Sunter's decision to move to Montreal after more than a decade living and building a career in Halifax.
There, Sunter rented a house with roommates. She said she was repeatedly told for a number of years that the house would be demolished, prompting multiple searches for a new apartment.
"Each year, all I could see was that there was nothing … I would be able to afford [while] paying rent and having a teaching business at the same time," Sunter said.
Rents are, on average, considerably lower in Montreal, although Sunter said owning a car there has been more expensive for her due to licensing costs and other fees.
The Statistics Canada data shows the median household in Toronto does spend a higher proportion of before-tax income on housing than in Halifax. But, when transportation costs are factored in, the cities are similar.
By that combined measure, Halifax ranked 22 most expensive out of the 50 largest census subdivisions in Canada, which generally represent municipalities.
The figures are from the statistics agency's relatively new Housing and Transportation Cost Index, which aims to provide a better sense of what it costs to live in an area as of May 2024.
The idea behind the index is that even though housing in suburban areas can be cheaper than in the city's core, commuting and other transportation costs can offset that advantage and vice-versa.
In Halifax since 2024, the average price of regular unleaded gas has been consistently higher than in Toronto, according to Statistics Canada. At the same time, wages in Nova Scotia were the lowest in Canada last year.
Out of all the provinces, Nova Scotia was the sixth-most expensive in terms of the fraction of before-tax household income spent on housing, said Marcello Barisonzi, a senior analyst with Statistics Canada.
But the province was the most expensive for transportation, pushing Nova Scotia to fourth place overall.
Barisonzi said transportation costs were most expensive for those living in small towns.
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