Living in the city vs. the ‘burbs: What’s better?
Posted February 7, 2012 8:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – When it comes to the cost of living, Vancouver can be a very tough place to make ends meet. But is it really cheaper to ditch the downtown lifestyle and live in the suburbs?
“What we did is we looked at two different families, one that lives in the city and one that lives about 45 minutes out of the city, both of whom work downtown,” explains acting MoneySense Editor Dan Bortolotti. “We tried to compare their different lifestyles and the different financial implications of those decisions.”
As it turns out, it’s not such a simple comparison.
“We found that most people frame the decision in terms of a bigger home but you have to deal with a longer commute [and] they see it as a trade off. What we found when we looked at the bigger picture is that trade off is not always the best way to frame the idea in that a lot of times people who move to the suburbs do so for reasons other than simply wanting a bigger home,” says Bortolotti.
MoneySense found some people are attracted to the suburban lifestyle, something that not all people who stay in the city understand.
“They kind of think people who move to the ‘burbs do so reluctantly but, in fact, a lot of people are embracing that lifestyle. There are more and more opportunities for people to find employment in the suburbs too. Therefore the city becomes a less important part of their lives than people might think.”
The publication also crunched the numbers and found living in the suburbs is generally cheaper, especially when you focus on housing costs, but it is not as much of an advantage as some may think.
“That’s why we always seem to come back to this idea of lifestyle choice rather than strictly a matter of dollars and cents,” says Bortolotti. “It really comes down to personal preference. Some people, you’ll never get them out of the city and that’s perfectly legitimate; other people find they really don’t miss it once they’ve left.”
You can find all the details in this month’s MoneySense on newstands now.
