Don't underestimate the impact of social norms. If I were looking for work in the USA, I'd expect a salary which I would feel very uncomfortable asking for in Canada.
That’s one of my plans in the future if I decide to go back to Canada, work for a us startup or something and get us salary, Canadian salaries are terrible
> All US companies hire in Canada for roughly equal pay (after tax) if not more.
It couldn't be more wrong. Even without considering the ~3/4 exchange rate or the lower income tax, the dollar value is a good 10-50% higher in the states.
Source: I live in Vancouver and have many friends working 200 km to the South in Seattle.
Good point. Perhaps Americans are better negotiators, and haggling over price/salary "isn't done" in Canada (I know nothing about Canadian culture, but fascinated about the possible effects of culture on an economy).
Salaries with Canadian companies pale in comparison to U.S. salaries, with perhaps a few exceptions.
When the market was piping hot in early 2022 I was fielding a few offers and the highest a Canadian company got me (as someone with 8-9 YoE at the time) was 95K (USD). U.S. companies were offering in the range of 120K-150K.
Although I made a huge mistake and took a counteroffer at a lower salary from the company I already worked with, which came with a significant retention bonus (and verbal promise of stock + additional bonuses which never materialized). Now I'm making about 70K USD as a lead.
Which is probably more than I'd get from a Canada-based company right now to be fair.
20 years ago I worked in the US branch of a Canadian company - we weren’t paid richly but they were paid much less. As a new grad I made 20% more than a 5 year SWE as a Unix SA.
I hate to bang on about it, but as a Canadian who has worked in the U.S. and who is now in the U.K., I've tried hard to land a good position in Canada. Very few opportunities seem to exist, and the ones that do pay a pittance. In my experience, it is not 30% higher in the U.S. as the link indicates, but more like 100-200%. A couple of years ago, I was offered a highly technical position with a salary below what I had been paid 15 years prior. It was not really even going to cover the basic cost of living for my family.
All I can say is, if you own a company in Canada, you need to work on interesting problems and pay well. Then, you will have your pick of top quality talent. If you are having trouble getting staff, you probably need to about double your salaries.
You don't hear about senior-level jobs for $80,000 in major US markets though. In Canada they are quite common (and realistically only worth about 60,000 USD). I work remotely and I've been priced out of my own country. I occasionally take a Canadian gig and it is always about 50 percent of what I would make in USD and the client complains on and on about the cost (if they only knew).
What's funny is Canadians often lament their lousy salaries compared to their US counterparts. But I've found that by "US", they really mean "Silicon Valley". It's not a fair comparison.
Also, quality of life matters and should be factored in.
Canadian tech worker here. Base salary is 120k CAD in Calgary which is far above market rate but I am educated, experienced etc. That is 93k USD.
I am looking to move to the USA because of higher salaries, but I am not 22 years old anymore and moving a family (with 2 earners) is no easy task.
It falls on deaf ears though, 120k CAD is a good income, I can afford a house, cars, no debts etc so there is very little understanding from others how I could not be satisfied with pay.
I think the impact of these things is overstated. Salaries in Canada are pretty low compared to the US and cost of living is pretty similar. When you factor in the climate, it’s hard to see how Canada comes out ahead. I’d think Canada would need a streamlined visa process just to be in the race.
Also from what I’ve seen, people often use Canada as a springboard to get to the US.
I always maintain that most of the time whatever is good for Canada is also good for the US. I have a team in Canada so will be good for hiring.
I experienced this myself as a dual citizen that considered working in Canada. I received an offer in the US that was $60k higher than offers I received from Canadian startups.
Does anyone know what factors (cultural, political or other) contribute to Canadian companies paying so much less than the American ones? You'd think competitive businesses would notice this affect and adjust?
> The two countries are still nowhere near the sort of economic equilibrium-state where Canadian companies are paying the prevailing US salary exchanged into Canadian dollars.
You may be surprised to learn that this is quickly changing.
> Take-home pay may be converging, but the cost to the company of hiring a salaried US employee — or even a US contractor, as long as you care about being equitable / not building resentment when your employees talk amongst themselves about relative total compensation — is still higher than the cost to the company of hiring elsewhere.
This is not true in my experience. It's slightly cheaper to hire in the US than other markets, if you do not yet have any presence in those markets. It's a wash long term. Some firms offset the extra costs for US workers benefits by simply paying others more.
> To hire these people, you can't just offer "the going rate"; you have to offer FAANG money.
In the ballpark, but yes. The gap is rapidly closing. Plenty of seed or series As are paying near FAANG rates.
But I don't think anyone is willing to go to Canada considering the huge salary gap. I got Canadian developer friends who is making half of what I am making in US by sheer number besides the currency exchange rate.
Salaries are a different story in Canada compared to the USA.
They are far less in Canada, a $200K CAD ($150K USD) tech job is rare, actually, $150K CAD ($112K USD) are also uncommon.
Best job opportunities are in high COL locations (Vancouver, Toronto), followed by Montreal. But unlike the USA the compensation (for MOST employees) in those markets is only moderately higher than lower COL locations. (Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg...etc).
Working in Canada as a full-time employee usually accompanied by being low-balled on your salary from many angles.
If you negotiate higher salary - hold you enthusiasm - you'll be the first on a list to be fired if things go soar (which pretty much is a fact of life for most Canadian startups).
High paid people in Canada are working as a consultants mostly for US-based entities or at an enterprises with a strong international exposure or as an entrepreneurs with US- or international exposure themselves.
Being pure Canadian employee in Canada sucks and always sucked.
Degree matters in large companies due to regulations and they tends to hire some extremely dinosauric skill verification firm to cause you major hassles to verify your background.
Smaller companies just need to make sure your skill match your resume and hence they'll bore you to death on their interviews with coding questions.
If you are hired, expect to become the one asking coding questions the very next day :)
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