Cost of Living in Montreal

I currently live in Fredericton NB. My question is.. Why are utilities a lot cheaper in Montreal than a little New Brunswick city?

My first 20 years were in China, then 5 years in Toronto, and now 5 years in Montreal. Do a good job, keep improving your skills and you'll be fine. For a decent salary, being bilingual (English + French) is very helpful. If you can't do it, then you don't get it. For me, this is a beautiful city.

Learn French FFS it's the ONLY official language in Quebec, show some respect.

Reading all comments below surprises me. It’s like moving to Italy but complaining that it’s unfair you have to speak Italian to earn a living. Yes, the province of Quebec is French speaking. Can you get by on English alone in Montreal? Unlike Italy or Greece or many other countries yes you can. There are neighborhoods in the city where you would never need to even know how to say Bonjour.
Nonetheless, You will love this city! From its old town to very modern neighborhoods like Griffintown. We have great restaurants, some where you can bring your own wine with no uncorking fees. Beautiful terrasses, parks, colours. Enjoy the entire island, not just the downtown core if you are only visiting. Go see the Plateau, Little Italy, Chinatown, walk along the Canal Lachine, Promenade Fleury, eat on a terrasse on the waterfront in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, shop underground in the winter or on Bernard in the summer. We have a beautiful city. Is it the BEST city in the world? Of course not. But Bienvenue if you want it to be home.

Great place to be a student, because it's affordable (by large-city standards), charming, and young people can overlook (or aren't forced to experience) the flaws.

It's definitely the most European city in North America. Although I think too often it mixes the negatives of Europe with the negatives of North America. Still, if you're longing for "european" life without leaving the continent, it's your best choice.

If you can tolerate horrible weather for 4-5 months a year, then it's a great place to experience while you have low standards (as another comment said).

High taxes on everything, low opportunities (especially for non-francophones), poor infrastructure and healthcare, and a small but sizable xenophobic portion of the population makes it a bad long term fit, for most people.

The whole country is a joke do you think Americans would put up with a curfew for like 5 months like they did here I don't think so

I’ve spent 30 years living in the Montréal area.
I speak fluent French, English and I’ve studied abba worked here. I’ve also lived in Ottawa and Japan.
If you’re an intellectual, minority or not, francophone or not, Montréal will END you.
You can be charmed with it’s mediocrity for a while, distracted by the sights and sounds. Don’t judge cities based on their “cultural scene”
Make your choice based on measurable quality of life.
The healthcare system is inconsistent and dysfunctional. This is a bad combination for a cold province. Living in this climate will lead to health problems sooner or later. It would be manageable if you could get prompt medical care, but if it takes you days and weeks to get a vaccination appointment. During covid. You’re going to have a bad time.
You need to understand that unlike Ontario and the United States, for the most part Quebec residents have abandoned the church. To each their own. The net result of this has been a catastrophic impact on the post colonial culture and civilization. Imagine living in a province where the local people have mostly shame, disdain, even hatred for their own past. This is real life here. You hear this in the demoralized way people speak to one another.
Things don’t change in Montreal. They don’t improve. You read about Montreal’s past and something went very wrong. The subversive, language driven separatist propaganda movement destroyed a generation for Montrealers. The only reason the locals haven’t revolted by now and torn down the statues of the corrupt politicians that stole the future from them is they lack perspective and knowledge of their own history. Inflation is out of control. Construction quality is abysmal. Salaries are among the lowest in similarly populated cities in North America.
Focus on ONE thing if you MUST live here:
Educate yourself, then move to a place with reasonable property values, lower taxes, and preferably respectable salt of the earth folks with love and respect for their own history and faith. Civilizations that respect themselves aren’t that insecure about outsiders. Be it ethnic or ideological or whatever. If you’re an intellectual, be somewhere where people are emotionally mature to work remotely comfortably. Quebec companies for the vast majority may never reach the level of organization, profitability and structure of firms in the states that are leading the state of the art in work from anywhere culture.
You need this if you want to live and work comfortably.
People here are inflexible, have a hard time coping with change, even when it’s progress. The suicide rate and death by drunk driving rate are the main demographic leading figures of Quebec. Quebec doesn’t really lead the world in any specifics metric.
The paradox is that rather than drive, desire and a commitment to transformation and making Quebec the #1 province in Canada, which, given the resources at their disposal, there is no rational excuse for it not to be, it absolutely has the potential to be, and yet it is still inexplicably a welfare state.
Quebec is a study in squander. You will find it difficult to comprehend that a province as wealthy in natural resources as Quebec, strategically located suffers a brain drain like few other places in North America. Some of the brightest french Quebecers leave for the states as soon as they are able to.
Don’t waste your time learning French, you’ll wind up like me speaking it better than the locals and mostly met with disdain, contempt.
All they know to say is if you don’t like it leave.
It’s not an analysis and evaluation of the condition of the society that’s based on prejudice, malice or hatred. It’s an accurate reading of history. In a time when societies with far leas strategic advantages have advanced far beyond Quebec, whose moral character is admirable and respectable, Quebec has instead degenerated into a dysfunctional province that perhaps is worst of all for unilingual Francophones.
If one day Quebec becomes a place with the wealthiest, most educated and sophisticated people in all of Canada, I would be pleased. It would be me joy to see the people here flourish.
Basically if you’re from a Muslim family and can afford to study here, you’ll find the local mosques are some of the few spiritual places still being developed in this state. Churches are closing, temples are few, far between and obscure. You’ll do alright in your community, don’t waste your time with the locals, the culture here is a disappointment given the potential these people had coming from a place like France.
Having said that, don’t bother getting involved in local affairs. Get your education and find greener pastures.

@jimmy berry. No C is for canadian dollars. Yes we have our own currancy. Right now 1CAD is 0.79USD so 850C$ is 670USD

My daughter is going to McGill University in Montreal now. We are from Los Angeles but have family there. She loves it. Does not speak French and gets by. (She speaks Spanish). She was worried about the weather, but has adapted. Loves the diversity and culture. Rents an apartment in the Plateau for $1766 a month and has roomates One year lease. To me, the one paying the bills, it is very cheap compared to UCLA in LA or Berkeley. She chose Montreal because charming city, culture and costs was half other choices. BUT she has said she would not live there after graduating because of limited opportunities for English speakers and ethnic discrimination in favor of native French Canadians. Wife and I however, are thinking of retirement summers in country outside of Montreal and winters here in LA. SO -- over all, decent place to live and study, but you will catch some bad vibes on occasion for not being a native quebecois.

Montrealer is right to say the city is a joke and I would not recommend anyone who has lived in Europe to move here. Infrastructures are poor, life is expensive (taxes on goods and services are up to 15%, and in most services you need to add tips--even taxi drivers ask you for tips-another 15%, which equals to 30% more than the prices advertised, especially in restaurant), rents are expensive considering the bad quality of new and old buildings, poor (nonexistent) noise insulation (you can hear your neighbours peeing and all the flushing pipes) and food and alcohol are also super expensive--but this is for all Canada. Montreal is indeed highly impacted by corruption, it is very sad, but it is also destroying this city.

Construction seems to be the main industry, here. It was a nice city in the 1970s, but it has been on a downhill since the 1980-90s and now that inequalities are higher than ever, it is a strange place to inhabit-there are a lot of begging and poverty in the city centre, many are First Nations people who have been abandoned by the provincial and federal governments. Because of its small economy organised around services and construction, it is a rather trivial city in North America, many people talk about the art, but it is difficult to see how a place like this can generate any artistic life, especially since rents are now too high for artists to stick around and it is, at the exception of some wealthy neighbourhood, plainly ugly.

It is a city for those who have little ambition and who are happy with doing the same thing and having a small family, watch ice hockey and eating mediocre food like the so-called 'poutine', which is gravy on chips with fake cheese--discussing and utterly disgraceful. It is really for people who have no other options: 1-born here and stuck with a Canadian passport without much education or 2-fleeing difficult conditions from abroad. The weather is very unstable-miserable, most of the sun comes in the late afternoon, the winters can be difficult if you never experienced sub-zero temperatures and the maintenance of roads and pavements is pretty poor, so you can fall on ice and no one will take responsibility. My opinion is to go somewhere else than Montreal if you can. I haven't talked about the little culture war that is at the centre of why this place is so strange. If you have travelled a bit, this place resembles to Asunción in Paraguay, but in the global North. Look at the picture of the city and geographical setting (river, poor infrastructure--the metro is from 1967 and never been updated). It is a city that is stuck in its past and cannot move on.

Now, where I am not agreeing with Montrealer is on the CEGEP, as many programs are meant to train young people to jobs that do not require a university degree and the education is of good quality and free. University education is almost free, 3k a year for citizens from Quebec, and the level is ok, some universities such as McGill and University of Montreal are in the top 100 in the world with a range of programs, but as you can imagine, it is not here that you will get a cutting edge programme, but good enough for local needs, however if you interest is to go abroad, please do your MSc and PhD outside this province and city. In conclusion I would not recommend Montreal, Quebec nor Canada an immigration place if you are full of ambitions and ideas, you would gain more to go to the USA (a place with no identity problem unlike Canada and Quebec) or Australia, otherwise Scandinavia if you want to learn a Nordic language. There are other options in Canada as well, I would avoid Quebec as a Province (they will find all sort of ways to get rid of non-Francophone immigrants) and I would REALLY avoir Montreal, this place is over and post-covid is just going to turn things even worse.

Corruption in this city is rampant. As evident in the extremely poor quality of the roads due to the local government choosing the contractors with the lowest bid and thus the worse materials to maintain the streets, roads, etc.

If you want to remain sane in this city compare the quality of life to provincial cities of corrupt post-Soviet countries instead of Europe and you will be much happier. Education is a joke, especially when there is a clear divide between publicly-funded high school and private expensive high school where 40% of the city's students are (mostly coming from affluent families or middle-income family who have to sacrifice a big part of their income so that their children don't become drug addicts because of horrible public school system).

This problem is mitigated once you reach higher education, but the CEGEP system is simply a pathetic waste of time, there's a reason it's only used in the province of QC. CEGEP certification is only useful to get admitted to university, so you essentially wasted a year of your life when in every other places you enter university after 12th grade instead of 2 years of CEGEP.

As for discrimination, mastering French is crucial if you want to get any sort of job that pays a livable wage. Otherwise, you can do what most other low-income 1st generation immigrants are doing and have a lot of kids to reap that generous social benefits and welfare and not have to work a day in your life while enjoying services payed by hard-working taxpayers like free healthcare and decent public transport.

In conclusion, this city will be hell for a hard-working middle income family while it is a welfare utopia for low income families who have a lot of children.

Just responding to COSMOPOLITAN, the "international traveler" who is completely biased in his comment.
Treat people well and you will be treated well in this city.

1. If you don't speak French, you'll be fine. Though government services may be harder to navigate.
2. If you are not quebecois, don't worry about it. Learning a bit of french goes A LONG way though.
3. Yes... the roads are not so good...
4. Yes, the health system is hard to navigate, outdated, and congested.
5. Social life IS excellent.
6. I don't understand this comment.
7. The weather is SUBJECTIVE. Honestly, it's not so bad. HOT summers and often quite cold winters.
8. I consider Montreal to be a GORGEOUS city. The people are wonderful, the accent is charming and the French grows on you.

Hi all.
I'm from Iran. I want know more about Montreal. one of my most important questions is this: is it possible to work in Montreal with low French level and just with gaining a good level in English? I really need help about it.

Because no html can be put here....
This is spaced out...just put it together without the spaces:

https: //www.livingin-canada.com/. living-in-montreal. html

I erroneously answered a question re Electricity,Heating,Garbage disposal,Water tax as $900. which has been corrected to $85.00/month for a 1 bedroom/400 sq ft apartment.

Note that Private French schools considerably cost lower than English schools. The cost I submitted (whether primary or secondary, is the same): $5000/yr.
This should be noted in your index, as we are a bilingual province and only if both parents attended their education in English in Quebec, will enable them to enroll in an English school otherwise it's mandatory that the child attends French schools.

I think I've had one of the worst times of my life since I moved to Montreal in 2017. I moved into a neighbourhood in CDN/NDG. I had a great little apartment with lovely small garden....the problems...neighbours. I was harassed relentlessly, stalked, had my power turned off, was threatened on many occasions... had beer cans thrown at my windows....etc. A nightmare of any single woman...I definitely did not feel safe at all where I was living, but it was due to a couple of male neighbours wanting to control my moves and my life....awful. I had to go with the landlady to the Regie to get this neighbor evicted....way too much stress.
I was hit by a car as a pedestrian crossing the road at a 3 way stop sign. The driver simply drove straight through the intersection while looking in the opposite direction and talking on his cell phone. Fortunately, he wasn't going to fast. I did end up on the tarmac with the front tires up against my chest though.
I was witness to a man walking right past my home (incidently, the area is not generally considered rough) with a gun drawn, swinging it by his side. I looked the other way so as not to make eye contact.
There was a stabbing just down the road at a local shopping centre.
I was completely flooded out of my suite by a mid winter watermain rupture. I came home to 5 feet of frigid water in my suite, everything floating in contaminated, muddy water. It was -25C outside. I was left with the clothes on my back and what I was carrying in my purse. The attitude of the fire department and the city was terrible. It took the city 5 hours to respond and show up to turn the water off. The attitude of emergency responders is so laissez-faire that I couldn't help but think that I was a major inconvenience in their day-to-day work.
So, I moved into the heart of NDG in mid winter with little time to research for another place to live. Shortly after I moved in, I was being harassed again by neighbours....I came home one evening to a neighbour next door beating up his girlfriend in the hallway. Another evening to a neighbour immediately below me fighting with his girlfriend and hanging over the balcony railing naked and threatening to jump off if she didn't do what he wanted her to do.
I have been stalked in the grocery stores. I was physically grabbed in a local mall by a man who came up behind me. I have almost been hit by other cars in the middle of a traffic light controlled crosswalk. The drivers are so aggressive that they will not stop until they are right in the crosswalks....that's if they decide to stop at all.
In the spring time, it is almost impossible to go to any cafe without being approached by older men.
All this has happened in just 24 months.
I can't even volunteer here because I am not fluent enough in French for them to want my time....that is unless I perform volunteer work as a workload replacement in a geriatric facility.
Terrible experience so far.
They are benefits to living in this city, but the drawbacks so far have cost me my health and well-being. I will be moving out of Quebec next year after I get through the litigation with the City of Montreal.
I urge anyone considering a move to Montreal to think again. The city is falling apart, is patriarchal to the core, and no-one really gives a hoot.

for those who are thinking about moving to Montreal:

I've been living here for 25 years so I will try to give you a view from my perspective.

- You will need on average 5k a month (after tax) to support a family. You can get by with 2k by yourself.

-Rent: Varies, but for a 2BR $1100-$1500. More expensive downtown. The apartments here are in bad shape and old. You are obliged to sign a lease for 1 year and provide good references.

-Groceries: $250-$800 per month. A family of 4 will easily hit $800. Super C and Maxi are usually are the cheapest with Metro, IGA and Loblaws being the most expensive groceries stores.

-Hydro (which means electricity): $50-$400 per month, depends on whether you heat your home with electricity or is included in the apartment rental. Winter months are very cold and summers extremely hot and humid.

- Taxes: Very, very high. almost half your annual salary will disappear, adding to this 17% taxes on almost everything you purchase. Quebec is the highest taxed place in North-America. Do not underestimate that statement. The more you make, the more you pay, as simple as that.

- Job market: Very selective, yes you read that right. It doesn't matter you speak french well or not. It doesn't matter if you have all the diplomas in the world or you won the Nobel price. If your name is not a Quebecker one you will not get a good paying job. If you manage to find a job it will either be something below your actual competencies or not well paid or both. Expect to send many resumes and not get a single answer. If you manage to get an interview they will most of the time say you lack experience (which is another way of telling you that you don't look Quebecker enough). Finding a job here will be very, very frustrating.

- Transportation: The public transit system is OK. The buses and subways are super loaded at rush hour and there are very frequent interruptions. Like almost every day. Waiting for a bus at -25 degrees celsius only to find out that it's full is extremely frustrating.

- Roads: Extremely poor shape. There are more potholes than in Baghdad. Bridges are crumbling to the point where they can potentially fall at any given moment. Construction work is everywhere creating very heavy congested traffic at all time of the day. It is not a pleasant experience to drive in the streets of Montreal. Tight, congested streets (especially in winter with the snow on the sides). Traffic lights are at every corner and not synched, creating lots of frustration, traffic and wasting your gas. People drive bikes in the middle of the street not caring so you're in constant fear of hitting one. Police cars are everywhere hiding just ready to give you a ticket for any reason like a U turn in the middle of the night.

- Healthcare: Very slow and bloated. Expect long waits at the emergencies, like 12 hours. If you want better and faster service you have to go to a private clinic and pay. You can forget about family doctors. The good doctors leave this province for a better life and pay elsewhere.

- Schooling: French is mandatory for all kids. College and universities can be attended at the language of choice. Education here is very good and cheaper than anywhere else.

- Weather: Not pleasant unless you enjoy winter. Extreme temperatures ranging from -30 Celsius in winter to +35 in summer. The weather is so unpredictable that not even the weather station can get it right. People discuss the weather everyday that's how bizarre it is.

- Social life / entertainment: From all the negative aspects of this city, this is the only one that stands out as positive. There are so many restaurants and ethnic food to chose from. There's many festivals and concerts for free during summer and winter time. The clubbing scene is amazing. There's lots of attractions and museums for all ages. If you enjoy nature, an hour drive will usually get you to the country side where you can hike mountains, camp, fish or hunt. If you like hockey you will love this place.

As a final word of advice, if you come from a foreign land you have a way better chance in Ontario. Quebeckers are extremely closed-minded individuals. Their colonial history has shaped their society into a closed protectionist of their own identity and values. If you remotely sound or look or think different than them then you will never fit in here. Even if you speak perfect french, their french is not the same and you will have a hard time understanding their slangs. Many people in recent years have picked-up and left for either Alberta or Ontario because the job market there is much stronger and growing. Businesses in Quebec have also moved because of the government's stubborn stance on the french language, heavy bureaucracy and high taxes. Also, Quebec has the highest level of corruption in Canada. The mafia is deeply rooted in the Montreal municipal government which costs the city a lot of taxes so they can allocate construction contracts to their mafia friends. Montreal is good only for students, not to raise a family.