Canada

It’s not great.

The median mortgage payment is over 50% of the median income, which historically should be 30%. Houses are over 60%. But the numbers are getting better than their 2023 records highs.

Our biggest grocers were fixing bread prices for over a decade and were only given a slap in the wrist. People can ask for a $20 rebate.

Almost all of our grocery stores are owned by 3 companies (Loblaws, Metro, and Sobeys (made up of former Loblaws employees)). 3 companies own almost all our phone providers, so they gouge prices too.

You can really see a trend — we seem to concentrate all our industries into 3 or so companies and the competition bureau thinks that’s fine. Historically I think that’s because we were a colony and got too used to being exploited and having our wealth shipped off.

Bread is distressingly expensive because of price fixing.

I wrote out a longer response but decided to summarise it as: it's bad. Groceries are unaffordable, rent and mortgages in the cities are unaffordable and we don't have the public transport infrastructure to support everyone's commutes, utilities are overpriced. It's pretty rough rn even as someone who's household admittedly makes above average

it's expensive here. Groceries are a crap shoot and if you have the ability to shop mom and pop then that's your best bet. Thankfully I live in Toronto near an area known as "little china" so I do all my grocery shopping there and I save an absolute ton. better quality food imo too.

Rent is a crap shoot pretty much every where in the country. you're not going to find US prices here at all. And if the place you do live is connected via a transit system to a major city then rent is going to be about the same as if you were actually living in said major city. so you're looking at paying well over $1200 a month for just about everything. anything below that? you're one lucky bastard.

Everything else is expensive because in Canada there's very little, if any, competition and that's by design. like 3 grocery chains, maybe 3 telecom providers that all provide phone, internet, and tv service so they all work together and adjusting their prices. The Canadian government is essentially in the pocket of these companies so you won't get competition at all as the government basically won't allow it.

It's been like this for a very long time. Canada is expensive, has always been expensive, and will continue to be expensive because the powers that be want it that way.