Considering moving to Calgary from the US, some questions

[Uncle 3 dogs]

Definitely not New York expensive.

You could get a nice one for $800ish I would say unless you are looking for really top of the line stuff.

Depends what you consider comfortable and how frugal you are. Personally, being single, $35-40 k would do it for me, in terms of paying rent, car, utilities, food, going out, saving, etc. If you're job is in the range of $55-60k you'll be just fine.

Income tax will be somewhat higher than you're used to I think, sales tax will be just the GST (5%) on most things. The federal tax is:

* 15% on the first $40,970 of taxable income, +

* 22% on the next $40,971 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income between $40,970 and $81,941), +

* 26% on the next $45,080 of taxable income (on the portion of taxable income between $81,941 and $127,021), +

* 29% of taxable income over $127,021.

And on top of that you will be paying the provincial income tax in Alberta, which is a flat 10% I believe. So if you make $55k you'd probably be paying about $12k in income taxes (the first ~$10k of income is exempt from taxes).

Probably around $1/ L (that would translate to ~ $ 4.00 per gallon).

Expect to pay 1.5-2x what you pay in the US.

It's not New York or Paris. If you're looking for world class museums, art galleries, operas, ballets, and things of that nature you likely won't find much in Calgary. It's a relatively new and expanding city and much of this "old world" kind of culture hasn't really had time to settle in yet.

From my experience people don't get quite as worked up about sports as they do in some places in the US... you'll be fine wearing whatever jersey you want.

I dunno about baseball, but a lot of people still follow football and basketball.

CFL football is big all over western Canada.and Calgaryalways has a good team and great tailgating in the parking lot before games.

Edited June 19, 2010 by Uncle 3 dogs

[Further North]

I'm a Yooper, you're a Yooper,

We are Yoopers all!

And when we see a Yooper,

We give the Yooper call!

YOOP! YOOP! YOOP! YOOP!

YOOP YOOP YOOP YOOP! LOL So what part of the UP are you from? I grew up in Gladstone. Lived there for the 1st 20 years of my life and moved to Grand Rapids for college(hated that place). Then I took a job in Chicago and most recently in Sheboygan, WI.

All my life I've heard people say "You sound Canadian" when they hear me talk. It's a slight accent compared to many other Yoopers out there, but if I say words with "ou" combinations then it comes out. Usually when someone pokes fun of me I say "Out and About in a Boat" to humor them and move on to a new subject. :angry: I've always been astounded by the fact that they named a city up there "Houghton". It's IMPOSSIBLE to say that name and NOT sound Canadian!

Of course if I move to Calgary I'll probably never shake that. At least when people are bad mouthing Americans and I'm standing there they might not realize I am one. LOL

[Guest American Woman]

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Edited November 6, 2013 by American Woman

[GostHacked]

It's kinda like Canada, eh?

I am always quite amazed how different the dialects are in the US and Canada. I worked at a call center for about 4 years supporting US clients. From New York to Boston, to Miami, to L.A., to Jackson, to Houston, to Seattle. All different dialects and terminology. We have much of the same. Newfies speak quite differently and after a couple drinks they are almost impossible to understand. We know what Quebec's problem is, and well, we got the cowboys in the parries and Asians on the west coast .

One of the best calls was a little old lady fro Jackson Mississippi. In that southern twang, "I don't know if it's the computer so much as the ignoramus that is using it." Referring to herself. It was a good call, spent about 20 minutes with her, and her understanding of the computer was increased 3 fold. I'm good at what I do.

[Guest American Woman]

I am always quite amazed how different the dialects are in the US and Canada. I worked at a call center for about 4 years supporting US clients. From New York to Boston, to Miami, to L.A., to Jackson, to Houston, to Seattle. All different dialects and terminology. We have much of the same. Newfies speak quite differently and after a couple drinks they are almost impossible to understand. We know what Quebec's problem is, and well, we got the cowboys in the parries and Asians on the west coast .

It is true how differently we speak the same language depending on where we live. I remember reading about a man from Texas who was in China and was approached by a young Chinese woman who asked if he was American. When he told her yes, she asked which state he was from. After replying that he was from Texas, she said, 'oh, that's too bad. I was hoping to find someone who could help me improve my English,' and walked away.

My first experience with Southerners was on a road trip. We'd stop, order our food in rapid succession like we do up north, and the waiter/waitress would say, 'ok, I got the fries, now what else was it you wanted?' And we could not get them to understand when we ordered a coke. I still haven't figured that one out. lol

It's the same when talking to 'foreigners.' I can always understand Canadians, though I'm not sure if I've ever run into any Newfies, but I'll be damned if I can understand a lot of Brits and Aussies. I have no idea what they're saying. Give me an 'English as a second language' foreigner over them any day, because I'm much more likely to be able to understand them. From what I've heard tell, I have a feeling that Newfies would fall into that same category, though.

One of the best calls was a little old lady fro Jackson Mississippi. In that southern twang, "I don't know if it's the computer so much as the ignoramus that is using it." Referring to herself. It was a good call, spent about 20 minutes with her, and her understanding of the computer was increased 3 fold. I'm good at what I do.

She sounds like a sweetie. Kind of fits the stereotype of the polite little elderly southern lady. And I'm sure she appreciated your patience as well as your knowledge.

[wyly]

Newfies unless they're from some backwater port aren't difficult to understand...

Welsh, that can be difficult...

had a friend from the slums of Glasgow took 6 months before I can understand more than a few words...

[GostHacked]

.....

She sounds like a sweetie. Kind of fits the stereotype of the polite little elderly southern lady. And I'm sure she appreciated your patience as well as your knowledge.

I don't have much of a problem with understanding Brits or Aussies for the most parts. The Brit Cockney accent is brutal sometimes. Worked with one of them in that same call center. I called him limey one day, the other people around me had the expression on their faces like 'oh noes this is gonna get ugly'. .. he just burst out laughing gave me a pat on the back and said I was alright.

He got me back one day. He end up being a supervisor on my crew and as soon as I found out he stood on the chair, pointed his ass to me and said' See this mate? Get used to it!!!!". He was a blast to work with.

[bloodyminded]

Hello everyone,

I’m considering a job opportunity in Calgary right now, and I’m an American so I really don’t know anything about that area. I have been searching for info on Calgary here and in other places but I still have some more in depth questions.

Just to give you some more background info, I am 29, not married, have no kids, and grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (a few hours from Sault St. Marie, Ontario) so LONG cold winters are something I’m used to. People say my accent sounds Canadian all the time so I might blend in a little better. The address of the company I’m applying for is: 3526 26th St. NE in Calgary. It looks to be close to the airport.

So on with my questions:

When does snowfall usually start and when does it completely thaw out? I've read about the Chinooks, do they keep the snow accumulation down?

How expensive is the cost of living in Calgary? I’m getting the impression that it’s almost “New York Expensive”. Is that true?

What is the average rent for a 1 bedroom?

What would you consider to be the minimum salary to live “comfortably” in Calgary?

By that I mean able to pay the bills, afford rent, go out to dinner or to the bars, etc. and vacation every once in awhile. I’m a Product Designer and my average salary range for my experience level would normally be around 45-55K in the Midwest. I'm not sure how high I would want to ask for yet. By comparison, in 2007 I was talking to a Toronto company and they offered 55-60K.

How bad are income and other taxes?

What is the price of gas currently?

How expensive is car insurance?

How are the road systems and public trans in Calgary?

Is there an active music scene there?

How is the culture and Arts in Calgary?

And of a much more trivial nature, what is the likelihood of me shortening my life expectancy by walking around with a Red Wings jersey?

Without baseball, the NFL, or the NBA being a serious part of the sports culture I'll have to refocus all my energy on Hockey!

I can't answer any of your questions, except:

1. Red Wings are no problem.

2. I have been to Calgary, and it's a very nice city full of very nice people.

So you'll be alright.

[Further North]

checked todays rental listing...3 bedroom house in Kensington recently renovated $1495, reasonable road access to your work in the NE...3 bedroom Townhouse with garage in Dalhousie 5-10 minute walk to C-Train another 15 to Kensington $1,300, road access to work(McKight Blvd) very good...then there is Brentwood, c-Train connection, popular with the university crowd....

my daughter a student at Acad tells me there are many private art gallerys, she visited 20 in one day for a school assignment...

Great! I've been doing quite a bit of oil painting over the last few years and I've gotten pretty serious about showing my art as well. I'd love to be able to continue that. Especially since my focus is landscape painting and I can imagine living that close to the mountains would give me endless subject matter!

[wyly]

I don't have much of a problem with understanding Brits or Aussies for the most parts. The Brit Cockney accent is brutal sometimes. Worked with one of them in that same call center. I called him limey one day, the other people around me had the expression on their faces like 'oh noes this is gonna get ugly'. .. he just burst out laughing gave me a pat on the back and said I was alright.

He got me back one day. He end up being a supervisor on my crew and as soon as I found out he stood on the chair, pointed his ass to me and said' See this mate? Get used to it!!!!". He was a blast to work with.

one of my daughters is in northern England at a summer uni session of all the international students there the only one she difficulty understanding is a girl from Mississippi....the locals she has met are perplexed by my daughter being from Canada and not having a french accent...

Edited June 29, 2010 by wyly

[Further North]

one of daughters is in northern England at a summer uni session of all the international students there the only one she difficulty understanding is a girl from Mississippi....the locals she has met are perplexed by my daughter being from Canada and not having a french accent...

One of the funniest experiences I've had with my accent was when I was in Italy. I was talking to a group of German students, and one of them said to me, "Your accent sounds different then the rest of the group." Accused of being Canadian again!

No offense to you guys BTW. It's just that people look at the Upper Peninsula as a whole as being some kind of strange remote backwoods wilderness and sounding Canadian is part of their perception and a reason they poke fun at us. Granted it is a very small population compared to other parts of the US, but I don't see how it should be perceived as being any more isolated then Northern MN, N. Dakota, Maine, etc.

I also met a German girl on that trip that actually had an accent that sounded slightly Southern when she spoke in English! So much so that I wouldn't have guessed she was German if she had only spoke English.

[wyly]

One of the funniest experiences I've had with my accent was when I was in Italy. I was talking to a group of German students, and one of them said to me, "Your accent sounds different then the rest of the group." Accused of being Canadian again!

No offense to you guys BTW. It's just that people look at the Upper Peninsula as a whole as being some kind of strange remote backwoods wilderness and sounding Canadian is part of their perception and a reason they poke fun at us. Granted it is a very small population compared to other parts of the US, but I don't see how it should be perceived as being any more isolated then Northern MN, N. Dakota, Maine, etc.

I also met a German girl on that trip that actually had an accent that sounded slightly Southern when she spoke in English! So much so that I wouldn't have guessed she was German if she had only spoke English.

I have trouble telling canadian accents from american accents unless they're from the eastern or southern states or there are certian word clues(words we don't normally use, soda instead of pop)...it might have to do with LA based television spreading a common accent...but then maybe I'm wrong and canadians have an accent i can't detect obviously...

I recall on seeing on tv and american telling a Brit he had an English accent, to which the Brit answered, "actually I don't have an accent"...it took me a second to realize he was right, it's everyone else....

[Natchuck]

[quote name='Bonam' date='18 June 2010 - 01:25

From my experience people don't get quite as worked up about sports as they do in some places in the US... you'll be fine wearing whatever jersey you want.

I dunno about baseball, but a lot of people still follow football and basketball.

Except an Edmonton Oilers (hockey) or Edmonton Eskimos (football)jersey. The rivalry between the two cities is extreme.

[Mr.Canada]

I lived in Calgary for four years. I owned a house in Kensington and in Airdrie which is about 20 mins north of Calgary and it was a great experience. It's a really great neighborhood. Stay out of the NE as someone said, it's full of turbans and other asians the SE is full of Arabs. The west side of the city is much better, safer and cleaner. I had no problems anywhere I went but I am a bigger guy so.

Plus the east side is where all the homeless shelters are for the most part as it's the older part of the city.

When I was there the population was ~800k and it's grown since then so...but I'm sure the areas remain the same for the most part.

If you want to be right in the city I'd look at Kensington. It's a nice area clean, lots of shops, restaurants, it's safe, far away from the scum and it doesn't feel like your even in the city sometimes. It's hard to explain but that street feels like it's own little town as many of the houses face the Bow river which has a park lining it. So it's very pretty.

If you don't mind commuting look at some of the outlying areas they're really nice. Even in rush hour the traffic was nothing like Toronto which is what I was used to, very easy to get around. Get used to seeing lots of cracked windshields though because in Calgary they use, or at they used to use, little pebbles in the winter on the Deerfoot and when the snow is gone they get kicked up by trucks and crack windshields. If they still use them you'll see tons of people driving around with a cracked windshield.

[bloodyminded]

I lived in Calgary for four years. I owned a house in Kensington and in Airdrie which is about 20 mins north of Calgary and it was a great experience. It's a really great neighborhood. Stay out of the NE as someone said, it's full of turbans and other asians the SE is full of Arabs. The west side of the city is much better, safer and cleaner. I had no problems anywhere I went but I am a bigger guy so.

Turbans, Asians, and Arabs?

How awful! I'm glad you survived the ordeal.

[wyly]

Turbans, Asians, and Arabs?

How awful! I'm glad you survived the ordeal.

problem with those areas have large areas of older entry level housing and multi-family housing, trailer trash types, it's generally higher crime/drug, gang violence...little to do with ethnic origin...the gangs are multi-ethnic...it does have some higher end areas but for someone coming in to rent it's not the best option...

my neighbourhood in the NW is more affluent 50%+ asian and it would be difficult to find a more peaceful place to live...

[bloodyminded]

problem with those areas have large areas of older entry level housing and multi-family housing, trailer trash types, it's generally higher crime/drug, gang violence...little to do with ethnic origin..

But not according to the post to which I was responding.....

[Further North]

Just curious, how big of a deal is Canada Day as far as celebrations and work stoppage goes? I'm sure it's not like Chinese New Year where we assume everyone there is trying to communicate with their dead anncestors and partying for a week, but does it usually cause a big slowdown in work around that holiday? The reason I ask is I haven't heard back from the company since before the 1st and I'm wondering if they are open or just getting back to business. Three years ago I approached a company from Toronto in similar fashion and I think they had shut down for the 1st 2 weeks of July!

[Guest American Woman]

The celebration of Canada Day is equivalent to our Fourth of July celebration, so you could expect what you would expect from companies in the States. Have you tried contacting the company again or have you just been waiting to hear back? Might not be a bad idea to try contacting them.

[Smallc]

This year, many places would have been shut down for Thursday and Friday, because the holiday was so close to the weekend. If this company is related to manufacturing in some way (I doubt it being that it's in Calgary), the company may arrange their shutdown to take place in July. Many manufacturing companies do not have enough in the way of orders to run for 52 weeks a year.

[wyly]

Just curious, how big of a deal is Canada Day as far as celebrations and work stoppage goes? I'm sure it's not like Chinese New Year where we assume everyone there is trying to communicate with their dead anncestors and partying for a week, but does it usually cause a big slowdown in work around that holiday? The reason I ask is I haven't heard back from the company since before the 1st and I'm wondering if they are open or just getting back to business. Three years ago I approached a company from Toronto in similar fashion and I think they had shut down for the 1st 2 weeks of July!

july 1st most companys are shut down for the day...a small firm may decide to shut down for a week because of staff shortage due to vacations but no company that I've ever dealt with...it's possible they're just too short staffed to respond, factor in the Stampede is in full swing as well until the 18th (mid-day drunkeness and party time) it's a big event so depending on the particular business a lot of work doesn't get done.... Edited July 17, 2010 by wyly

[Further North]

Ugh, still no reply from them. I'm probably going to try again tomorrow. I'm bordering on that point where I'm going to start ticking them off soon. I was really hoping this could have worked out.

[Further North]

Ugh, still no reply from them. I'm probably going to try again tomorrow. I'm bordering on that point where I'm going to start ticking them off soon. I was really hoping this could have worked out.

LOL, so apparently I'm setting a trend here. I complain about something, and then something positive related to it happens! The company president called me just now! He said he's been on the road, etc. They're going to be sitting down and planning on their next round of new product development soon too.

[wyly]

LOL, so apparently I'm setting a trend here. I complain about something, and then something positive related to it happens! The company president called me just now! He said he's been on the road, etc. They're going to be sitting down and planning on their next round of new product development soon too.

have solved that DUI issue yet?

[Further North]

have solved that DUI issue yet?

I don't have a DUI actually. It's my Dad and my brother who do and my concern was whether or not they would be able to visit me in Canada. I love them both but honestly that isn't going to be a deal breaker in my mind if they can't visit me in Calgary. I'm the one that makes the effort to visit them, not the other way around. Even since I've moved 4 hours closer and only 3 hours away, my Dad still hasn't made any additional effort to visit ME. If it means I take a week off around the holidays to come home then so be it.