For the full picture it's worth mentioning that weak CAD also means less expenses when converted to USD. Also basic health insurance is already paid with taxes. But it still doesn't compensate the difference.

> CAD also means less expenses when converted to USD

Many things are more expensive because of the weak dollar.

I don't think you understand how outrageously overpriced our medical system is in the United States.

I don't think you understand that Canadians pay out of pocket for many non-emergency medical services that are 100% covered by the gold-plated health plans offered by Google, Facebook, etc.

Dental, prescriptions, eye tests, rehabilitation and physical therapy, hell even an ambulance ride - all NOT covered by the Canadian "universal" medical system.

Don't employers in Canada give out some kind of supplemental insurance plans to cover these benefits?

Most do. But companies that are stingy with compensation are stingy with all forms of compensation. Supplemental medical benefits at low-paying Toronto tech jobs don't match the top companies in Silicon Valley, so a Toronto tech worker could easily spend more out of pocket for medical than one in San Francisco.

With accompanying payment structures and caps, yes.

As a tech worker straddling the border with non-gold-plated coverage in the states, Canada's medical services all-told are FAR cheaper.

I live in the US.

Taxes in California are comparable to taxes in Ontario.

Not at all.

At ~170k USD (220k CAD) in Ontario, you'll be hitting the combined top marginal rate of 54%.

It's true that California+Federal will be within a couple points of that at their top marginal rate, but that's 1m+ in California and 400k+ federally. So you won't even be within spitting distance until 400k+.

In California at ~170k USD you'll only be paying a combined marginal rate of ~37%, which is a huge difference. The brackets are lower all the way up, so you pay way less overall even if you do hit 1m+. And although payroll taxes are a bit more in the US AFAIK, Canada has higher sales taxes and lots of other hidden costs (e.g. much higher gas tax, more expensive consumer goods due to import duties, etc.).

you'd have better argument with effective tax rate.

The effective rate is much lower, and I indicated as much:

> The brackets are lower all the way up, so you pay way less overall even if you do hit 1m+.

I'm not going to do the math for a specific example though, people should do that themselves.

State/Provincial income tax appear to be similar, yes. But Canadian federal tax is higher, and Ontario sales tax (HST) is a gag-inducing 13%. If you think Ontarioans are ok with that sales tax, just check out any outlet mall in Buffalo on a Saturday.

A more useful comparison would be the 'effective tax rate', which of course varies by individual situation but can be done for some archetypes. This would allow you to consider additional deductions such as the mortgage interest deduction, which shouldn't be underestimated.

Interesting... Can you elaborate on said old school languages?

Ok here it goes... Perl. I am on my early 20s, but most of my co-workers are hardcore unix hackers in their 40s or 50s, so the pay is definitely good. And no I'm not working on hacky codebases from the 90s, I mostly work for companies that use "Modern Perl".

dude awesome! I love Perl. I use to do a lot of scripting in Perl for my old job. Good to know this information. Question, are you guys at Perl 6 or not yet?

Not yet!