The CoL is lower in America. It might be comparable if you try to buy a house in Manhattan or the bay area, but the suburbs are good options and the commutes are no worse than GTA to Downtown or GVA to Downtown Van. There is a 46% premium on housing between Canada and the USA, adjusted for exchange. Also every day life can be generally cheaper (groceries, gas which is about half the cost, cell phone and internet service etc.).
The big differentiator between Canada and the US is social. Our socialized healthcare is subpar to the type of healthcare you get through the private plans you'll get working at big tech companies. Wait time are long, and governments don't pay for the most up to date procedures. I'm speaking first hand. Schools are the other big thing. Where you live in the US really determines the quality of education your kids receive, but if you're getting paid FAANG salaries you're fine.
Anyway, again, as my note mentioned, I'm not here to discuss the merits of the Canadian tech market. I only posted this to dispel the notion that the US is worse. It's not, and the supposed benefits in Canada objectively are not there. Subjectively they might be. Everyone is welcome to their opinion.
Daycare in the big tech centers, in areas with good schools, costs MORE than Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal before converting. Since we've be here for a family our experiences with healthcare haven't been that different than Canada (normal checkups, 1 delivery in Canada 1 delivery in US), except that we've paid 5-10K per year in out of pocket + another 5K in premiums per year.
Finally - if you go gown on TN, if you have a partner that's coming with you they can't work. And it's a long and annoying slog going from TN -> H1B -> GC. Just food for thought.
Anyways, when you're talking about tier 2/3 companies (especially non-tech) you're not making 300USD+ in US either, especially in secondary markets.
As someone who moved to Bay area to 'tier 2'company, initially as in SWE but now in MLE, the big benefits are the depth of the job market: it's not hard to find a high(ish) TC gig around here, and you can easily shift to another US tech center (which doesn't seem to happen as much in Canada) and the increased savings rate of converted CAD dollars we'll use in Victoria when we return.
Also on the note of daycare, unless you manage to get into subsidized daycare (impossible essentially), you're paying 2k minimum a month.
And as for healthcare, the best deal is living in low or no income tax state. That is the ultimate goal long term. Even Cali vs. Ontario or Van, taxes overall a bit lower. At least the premiums you pay for get you high quality superior healthcare.
170k CAD in VAN/TORONTO isn't impossible to make for seniors.
In Vancouver it would have been in the 40s, CAD.
Check levels.FYI
Recently interviewed with a couple of startups from Toronto. 95-110k seems to be the offer range (6 yoe dev Java, node, react). I wasn't aware that anyone could make above 120k in Canada as a tech IC.
Levels.fyi