We recently did a poll of a Facebook-based Digital Nomads group.  We wanted to know the 3 most important factors for these people in deciding where their next living destination would be on their nomadic journey.  Their top 5 choices were (in order): 

1) Local Climate & Weather
2) Cost Of Living & Overall Affordability
3) Internet Access
4) Local People & Social Life
5) Food

Having lived in the Toronto area all our lives we at Sociable Living thought we’d give an honest and straightforward account of how Toronto fares with each of these top 5 factors our polled Digital Nomads want.  So read on and judge for yourself how suitable Toronto is for you and your lifestyle wants and needs.

Toronto’s Climate & Weather

Toronto definitely has 4 distinct seasons each year.  Spring starts after the final snow melts usually in early April and no later than the beginning of May.  Oftentimes spring is relatively short in duration.  Some years it seems like we skip spring and go right from Winter to Summer in a matter of weeks!  

Toronto’s summers are glorious!  Temperatures typically range from 10-26 degrees Celcius (or 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit).  Our summers are warm but seldom humid or dry, thanks in part to the cooling effect of the large Lake Ontario Toronto sits beside.  Toronto’s precipitation is overall moderate year-round since (unlike Vancouver) Toronto is not anywhere near any ocean or sea.  Fall’s cooling yet mild weather usually starts in early October and almost always lasts well into late October and even into mid-late November some years.  

Winter cold starts in early December and snow usually starts falling then.  Toronto’s coldest months are definitely January-March and we do get a fair bit of snow in those months. While temperatures begin to climb from the lows in January and February, March still offers cold winter weather in Toronto. Daily highs reach an average of 4˚C (39˚F) and drop to average lows of -2˚C (28˚F). March’s overall average temperature is 1˚C (34˚F).  The coldest it ever gets in Toronto is in January-February when temperatures can drop to around -15 Celcius (5 Fahrenheit).

Toronto’s Affordability

Overall Toronto is still surprisingly affordable compared to other major international cities.  If you’ve visited the United States then in most respects Toronto is quite similar to America in affordability generally speaking.  Our college and university system across Canada is highly subsidized by the Canadian government, making our tuition dramatically less expensive than the Ivy League colleges in the United States.  Toronto’s public Transit System is highly robust and an all-inclusive TTC transit pass costs as low as $138 per month Canadian (that’s roughly $100 US).  Our current Toronto Junction Triangle CoLiving properties all have a 100% transit score on Walkscore.com.

However, over the past 6 years Toronto’s property values and rents have increased substantially due to several factors.  This is due to the 100,000+ people who immigrate to Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) every year and restrictive government policy holding back construction of new homes for fully meeting that demand.  That’s why Sociable Living’s CoLiving model makes so much sense for Digital Nomads, making living here considerably more affordable overall vs. renting your own condo or townhome all by yourself.

Internet Accessibility In Toronto

Toronto’s internet infrastructure is absolutely world-class.  Canada ranks number one out of 75 countries when it comes to the cost of Internet access relative to income and the amount of competition in the marketplace, according to a report by The Economist.  Toronto’s two largest, fastest and most reliable internet and cell phone providers are Bell Canada and Rogers, Canada’s two largest internet, TV and cell phone providers.  All of Sociable Living’s Toronto CoLiving townhouses offer Rogers’ Ignite Gigabit Internet Connections included with your rent with unlimited Direct Connect & Wifi Bandwidth for all your devices.  

Free Wifi is standard in many popular retail shops such as Starbucks and Tim Hortons coffee shops and even in the subway in Toronto’s public transit system. For those into gaming Toronto offers lots of internet cafes.

Toronto’s Food

Toronto is actually the world’s most multicultural city, even more so than New York City.  51% of Toronto’s people are born outside of Canada and the city is home to 230 different nationalities.  Therefore, there’s an endless supply of different types of cuisine in Toronto’s restaurants, many of which are simply not available in most other cities.  For example, several authentic Tibetan Restaurants can be found in Toronto’s West end in Parkdale not far from the Junction Triangle where our current Coliving townhouses are available. If you like to cook then large ethnic grocery stores are also common here as well.

Toronto’s People & Social Life

Toronto is Canada’s most populated city.  In 2017 Metro Toronto’s population was 2.93 million and the Toronto/Greater Toronto Area’s combined population was around 6 million.  

As the old saying goes “birds of a feather flock together”.  For generations, people immigrating to Canada have commonly chosen neighbourhoods with people from their home country already living there who speak the same first language as them.  Consequently, Toronto has many neighbourhoods where 1-2 ethnicities predominate.

Sociable Living definitely does a lot for bettering Digital Nomads’ socially.  From social mixers at our various CoLiving spaces across the city to sunset yoga, our CoLiving tenants become part of our CoLiving community with Sociable Living’s regular social events held exclusively for our residents and their friends.  We also help you keep informed of the various events happening in the Junction Triangle neighbourhood plus the adjacent Junction and Roncesvalles neighbourhoods.

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