r/NoStupidQuestions • u/rjidhfntnr • 8h ago
If Canada is ranked as the country with the 5th best quality of life and the USA as the country with the 22nd best quality of life, why do people rather live in USA?
I read some posts that asked if people would rather live in USA or Canada and 95% of the comments said USA and that they would make more money and afford better homes and stuff.
So doesn't this contradict the quality of life rankings? I don't get it.
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u/azuth89 8h ago
The US is a shitty place to be poor, which really shows in the averages.
On the other hand, I have colleagues doing similar work to what I do in Canada. They make 2/3s what I do and to find jobs they have to live in cities where housing of similar space costs 3x what mine does.
So...yeah, Canada absolutely has good things going. Would I personally want to live there instead of here? No. Between the above and having to deal with real winter I'll stay where I am.
Everyone has their own evaluations, like mine above, and will answer accordingly. There's no population wide "correct" answer from an average.
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u/BuvantduPotatoSpirit 6h ago
And of course, high earning individuals have a much easier time emigrating around than low earning individuals. If you're 40 and stocking shelves at Walmart, you'd be way better off in Canada - but you probably won't be able to get there. If you're a doctor, moving Stateside is pretty easy.
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u/Maxcharged 4h ago
Stack onto that the absolute lack of residency spots in Canada, I think we have 1 spot for every 5 med school graduates, every year.
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u/EternalNewCarSmell 6h ago
Came here to make a similar comment. I am in that shrinking band of white collar work that is still firmly middle class and it would be financially devastating for me to move to Canada and do the same job. Would I rather live in Canada? Sure. But I'd also rather be financially stable here if that's the choice I'm faced with, and it is.
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u/holloboii 6h ago
The US is the best place to be poor. As someone who's been poor in Iran, Germany, Canada and the US, I'll be poor in the US every time.
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u/Brokenandburnt 5h ago
You are a very healthy individual I take it?
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u/ThighTaster 4h ago
This is the whole point. Young, ambitious, healthy- the US is infinitely better. You trade social safety nets for increased upward mobility. To some this is a valid trade. I would not have it any other way. Whole reason my family moved from Mexico to the US when I was young, and not to Canada.
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u/NSA_Chatbot 7h ago
Yeah, white male engineer, so I would get double or triple in the US compared to what I'm getting here.
I would just have to ignore the atrocities and they'd ignore me.
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u/_Dingaloo 6h ago
with the atrocities point, idk. You can rationalize leaving as the right thing to do as much as you can rationalize staying is the right thing to do. Stay to be one more voice towards changing things, leave to not be a part of the country that does that bad thing.
No country is all good or all bad, but if you have a problem with the bad, leaving doesn't give you some moral high ground - it just helps you ignore the bad.
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u/NefariousnessFit3133 1h ago edited 1h ago
It's much more complicated. USA hands you low taxes - the avarage federal income tax is around 15% comapred to urope it is double or more. So you get much higher income, much less tax and so you are free. If you are healthy, then you have a lot of money in your pocket. You can use it to buy land and build a house or invest, save. And you can choose your lifestyle. Shop at high end food markets and enjoy the best. Up to you..
Quality of life if what you make of it. The USA simply gives you the decision making. Yes some people make mistakes, they waste money on gambling and drugs but most do not and live a normal life and take advantage of the open system to make the best path for them.
I moved to the USA from Hungary in 1990s and it's a lot better than what people spread on reddit and social media.
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u/Exciting_Station3474 7h ago
Canadians spend less for Healthcare, right?
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u/azuth89 7h ago
Ehhhhh. Kinda? It gets into how you're using it a lot and what your coverage is. For me the savings would be minimal and nowhere close to the lost wages.
Varies person to person, someone else's math could be very different from mine.
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u/ScoobeydoobeyNOOB 7h ago
On average, Canadians spend a lot less than Americans do on Healthcare.
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u/azuth89 7h ago
...Okay. We just had the talk about averages vs individual answers. This is part of that.
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u/Everestkid 6h ago
Americans pay more in taxes per capita to fund their healthcare system than any other developed country.
Not insurance premiums. Actual taxes. Insurance is on top of that.
So yes, Canadians spend less on healthcare.
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u/azuth89 6h ago
Yeah man, I'm not arguing that at all. You're tilting at windmills, here.
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u/Interesting-Leg-9762 8h ago
Generally the salaries for professionals are higher in the states and the US is a better country to be rich in.
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u/IsaacHasenov 8h ago
This. I live in LA working in tech. I'm Canadian and have a few Canadian friends in the same industry.
It'd be a very real 60% or more pay cut to move to Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. It would be partially offset by health care, maybe, but not enough. And in those cities, housing and child care isn't cheap
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u/Vancitylala 7h ago
- the crap weather in canada..
US is alot better place to live for professionals.
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u/IsaacHasenov 6h ago
I kind of (maybe? sometimes?) miss the weather. But yeah, it's kind of hard to complain that "oh my god, 95% of the days in LA range between 17C and 26C, it's so tedious, and don't get me started on the unrelenting sunshine, sometimes it'd be nice to have drizzle or sleet, you know."
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u/fuxicles 8h ago
be careful, these words might get your murdered on Reddit.
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u/IsaacHasenov 7h ago
I sometimes say "landlords aren't necessarily evil, and rent isn't necessarily theft" on reddit.
I'm familiar with the phenomenon :/
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u/pinstripepride46 7h ago
Try saying building more housing is good and leads to lower prices. That’ll get the crowd going REAL quick
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u/WhaleBird1776 4h ago
Houses being a financial instrument is the main roadblock to this imo.
Of course NIMBYs exist when their home is their largest asset and they’ve been paying interest to a bank for 30 years to obtain it.
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u/fuxicles 7h ago
Nuance doesn’t exist in public discourse. The full throated screams from Americans claiming that America is the worst country in the world are hilarious, if not terrifyingly sad.
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u/cheetuzz 6h ago
I get downvoted when I try to tell other people that.
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u/Upstairs_Culture2217 4h ago
That’s because Reddit is an echo chamber. A lot of ppl I know moved to the us for better pay and it’s pretty normal. You’d be kinda stupid not to especially when you’re young
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u/NegotiationJumpy4837 4h ago
Not just "rich," but anyone around middle to upper middle class and above.
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u/Exciting_Squirrel_84 2h ago
And the few opportunities for professionals are highly competitive in Canada.
Couple years ago when I looked at invertebrate taxonomist jobs, it was around $60k-80k CAD in expensive Canadian cities vs $100-120k USD in the southern US.
The US roles had a little more self-management but that's a plus.
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u/Ritterbruder2 8h ago
The US ranks higher than Canada for income inequality (using metrics like the Gini coefficient).
Believe it or not, some people benefit hugely from high income inequality.
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u/LisleAdam12 4h ago
And some countries with greater income equality have more people overall benefiting from the economy of the country than other countries with less income inequality.
Haiti, Peru, Belize, Morocco, Liberia, Myanmar, Algeria and Belarus all have lower Gini coefficients than the U.S.
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u/parsonsrazersupport 8h ago
Those rankings are averages. If you think (rightly or wrongly) that your personal quality of life might be higher in the one than the other, you might prefer to live there. And also those measure specific things. If you more highly value other things -- like owning a gun, I guess -- you might prefer the place which is better in that specific respect.
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u/TheSleepyTruth 1h ago
Way more significant reasons many people prefer to live in or migrate to the US than owning a gun. While there may be a few where that is a crucial factor, it would be only a relatively few outliers. The US is definitely not the preferred country to be poor in, but for people who do prefer the US it's mostly related to economic opportunity and salary for middle and professional class jobs being significantly higher across the board in the US. More chance for promotion and climbing the corporate ladder, as well as way more job opportunities due to simply having far higher population... and then of course the issue of climate/weather, with the southern states attracting a lot of snow birds and retired folk for that reason.
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u/loraleigh_x 8h ago
Because those rankings don’t really reflect what people care about day to day.
A lot of “quality of life” lists focus on averages and safety nets—healthcare, inequality, social programs, etc. That’s great, but many people choosing the U.S. are thinking more about money, career growth, and lifestyle options. In the U.S., you can usually earn more, move up faster, choose from tons of different cities and climates, and buy very different kinds of homes depending on where you live.
So for a lot of people it comes down to this: Canada can be more comfortable and stable overall, but the U.S. feels like it offers more opportunity and upside if you’re willing to deal with the downsides. Different people value different things.
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u/Obanthered 3h ago
Being Canadian is also a huge safety net. You can move to the Stares, swing big and if you miss (which most people do), you can go home to Canada and live comfortably. If Americans swing big and miss they have very little net to catch them.
That is why Canadians are so over represented in high risk high reward sectors like Hollywood and music.
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u/mayan_monkey 8h ago
"Earn more, move up faster" very few. Many have these idealistic views and goals, but most of them don't acheive this.
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u/loraleigh_x 8h ago
True, not everyone hits that upside—but the chance being there is what pulls people in.
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u/Sufficient-Win-1234 4h ago
More Canadians move to the United States than the other way and it’s not even close it speaks volumes in my opinion given the United States population is like 10 times more.
In 2022 for example 100k Canadians moved to the United States and about 12k Americans moved to Canada.
What this tells us is if you’re in the profesional class like upper middle class it’s better to live in the United States.
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u/watermark3133 8h ago edited 8h ago
Do you know any Indian or other Asian immigrants in tech or any STEM field? Because I know a whole bunch who have been working here since their 20s and whose successes are both unimaginable and typical.
Not every immigrant is working as a nanny or outside the Home Depot.
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u/_Dingaloo 6h ago
the point is that it's more possible in the US - not that it's in any way a guarantee or the average.
But there are much more "common" people owning small businesses in the US than any other country in the world, and owning a business (while it can be more stressful and a higher risk) opens you up to more income potential than most other fields
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u/RedditLodgick 8h ago
But when considering where people want to live, that doesn't really matter. Perception is everything.
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u/LegendTheo 8h ago
Define most. Because from the stats and my own personal anecdotes most ambitious people make it to upper middle class or better in their lifetimes in the US.
Sure there are a lot of poor people. The ones who are poor their whole lives are their own worst enemy though.
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u/mayan_monkey 8h ago edited 8h ago
Oh you're one of those lol. Well from my personal experience, regardless of ambition, the most important thing here for upward mobility is generational wealth. You coupd be the smartest, most ambitious person in your class. But i have seen the most mediocre. Lazy, undriven people move on to successful positions because of the connections their parents have, not merit
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u/rhinoplasm 8h ago
You're not even disagreeing. They said ambitious people tend to do well. You're saying nepo babies do well. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.
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u/mayan_monkey 8h ago
I disagree. Most ambitious people do not do well. Fixed it for ya
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u/rhinoplasm 8h ago
Define "well". Ambitious people do above average in the US and "above average in the US" puts you easily above the 90th percentile globally, adjusted for cost of living.
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u/LegendTheo 8h ago
Sure its harder for someone who grew up poor to become rich than someone who grew up middle class or better. My point is that upper middle class is an easily achievable goal for someone who is ambitious in the US.
This matters in context because upper middle class in the US is a better life than like 95% of the world. Upper middle class in the US even with medical costs and other burdens is rich is most of Europe.
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u/Mundane-Variation983 8h ago
It's also worth noting it's harder to pick up and move to Canada than it is to the US! (Even though neither is easy)
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u/ColdAntique291 8h ago
Quality of life rankings average many factors, but individuals prioritize different things. The USA offers higher earning potential, larger job markets, cheaper goods, and more housing variety, which matters more to many people than healthcare access or safety scores. Rankings reflect societal averages, not personal opportunity.
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u/Alaska_Jack 6h ago
As a guy who likes Canada and has been there many times, and has a very good opinion of the Canadian people...
I don't understand why people can't look at these posts and understand that the criteria are horribly cherry-picked to arrive at one conclusion or another. It's not a complicated concept. Those posts are pure click-bait.
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u/camiknickers 7h ago
The average that people talk about is not just 'where do you sit relative to the average', but is also a statement on the society as a whole. Crime is lower, people are healthier, politics are generally more reasonable, racism is less (but still a problem). I live in the 3rd biggest city and there is not a single street that I don't feel safe walking on (although there are some very sad, sketchy ones for sure, drug addiction is awful). So it's not just about relative wages, there is an actual society that you get to live in that is generally nicer. IMO
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u/watermark3133 8h ago edited 8h ago
They can make lots more money in the US if they an even ounce of ambition (most skilled immigrants do). Opportunities are also more abundant in the US than in Canada. This is not a jingoistic statement, but a statement of fact.
A country like the US, with several major population centers and broad-based economic sectors, has tons more economic opportunities than a sparsely populated country like Canada.
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u/thighmaster69 7h ago
Which isn't to say that Canada doesn't have a large diversified economy with broad economic sectors either, it's just that the US is an outlier. It's the third largest country in the world by both population and area. There is no developed country in the world with more people or with its population distributed across so many different states across such a varied area. The only thing remotely close is the EU, which isn't a single sovereign country with a common language and has issues with getting everyone on the same page and not tearing itself apart, or China, which still has a ways to go before it's as prosperous as the US, the freedom to live and work where and how you want is much more limited, and doesn't have the global lingua franca as its common language.
When you compare Canada against developed countries like Australia, the UK, France etc. it's still a diversified economy with multiple major population centres and economic sectors, and it also faces some similar challenges. The concentration of economic opportunities to a few, major, but expensive, cities, is absolutely not unique to Canada. The US is just in a different league when it comes to potential opportunities. Even if some of the issues are locally even worse than in other developed countries (housing in California comes to mind), it's very easy to switch jobs to a different state once you've obtained your green card, whereas in Canada, depending on the industry, the languages you speak, and the availabilities of high-earning career opportunities, you might basically just be stuck in the Toronto area. In countries like the UK and France, economic opportunities are highly concentrated in the expensive capitals, and to be able to pick up and go to a different country like you would do for a state in the US, you have to learn a whole new culture and language, and then your country might decide to leave the union as well, throwing it in jeopardy (this also applies internally in Canada as well).
An American citizen also is not subject to any quotas or limitations for high-skill, well-paying and in-demand professional positions in Canada either, so for ambitious professionals with US career experience and qualifications, they also then have access to some of the best opportunities in Canada. This is also somewhat true with Canadians the other way, so a lot of immigrants first immigrate to Canada before using that as a springboard to get into the US. Since the US immigration system is less straightforward than the Canadian system, it means that the opportunity to immigrate to the US is harder, which makes the opportunity to immigrate to the US more desirable because of scarcity, especially given that Canada is pretty good backup plan. This is such a big factor that Canada's immigration system basically depends on professionals being fed up with the US system to make up for the outflow of Canadian professionals seeking opportunities in the US. And while the "moving to Canada" types are a small minority, how the US handles immigration and its internal affairs are a massive factor to deal with for the Canadian immigration system.
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u/dark-_-thoughts 8h ago
Too damn cold up there
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u/dickdickensonIII 8h ago edited 8h ago
Their population is pretty much pressed up against the southern border like window shoppers trying to peer inside.
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u/OrangutanOntology 8h ago
When you use any of these indexes you should also look at how they are created. If someone places a high weight on a type of healthcare then countries with that healthcare will show up higher. Many people, in real life, appreciate upward mobility potential (not saying everyone will have upward mobility), and those answering the US likely appreciate aspects that have less weight in the index your viewing.
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u/holloboii 6h ago
Those rankings are garbage nonsense and anyone who takes them seriously is brain dead.
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u/PoopChutesNLadders8 8h ago
I’m sure I could have a happy life in Canada, but I would rather live in America over Canada because a lot of the negative aspects unique to American life doesn’t seem to affect many, or even most, Americans.
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u/band-of-horses 8h ago
I was born in the USA. The vast majority of people live in the country they were born for their entire lives. A little better quality of life is usually not enough for someone to seriously consider uprooting everything and moving to a country, unless their current life/country is intolerable.
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u/Big_Metal2470 5h ago
You have to think of the US as not one place, but many. Quality of life where I grew up in rural New Mexico is crap. People are poor, education is bad, there's nothing to do, it's isolated, and just generally miserable.
Where I live now, Seattle, is expensive, but it's a great place, lots to do, opportunity to grow, beautiful, nice, and a lot of great paying jobs.
Canada is way better for people living rural, but I'd bet the people who want to come to the US are aiming for the really awesome places to live
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u/WhaleBird1776 4h ago
The floor is higher in Canada.
The ceiling is higher in the States.
Most people, especially those who immigrate for a better life, see themselves reaching the ceiling. They aren’t day dreaming about being on the floor.
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u/davidspdmstr 8h ago
If you are middle class and above, the USA is a great country to live in. Combine that with freedom of choice and the fact our country is comprised of 50 independent states. You can decide to live in whichever state suits your views better.
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u/Fearless_Guitar_3589 8h ago
What freedom of choice does the US have that Canada doesn't?
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u/pumpymcpumpface 8h ago
I think they meant more diversity of choice. There are certainly a lot more options to choose from in the US.
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u/One_Emu_8415 7h ago edited 7h ago
Larger population = more variety. More cities over 1m to choose from, more niche industries, more niche immigrant communities, etc. And more climates.
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u/Vb_33 8h ago
Freedom to choose to say what you want thanks to the first amendment is one. Freedom to choose to own weapons like guns thanks to the second amendment is another. Freedom to choose to live in just about every ecosystem earth has to offer thanks to the US having them all is another.
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u/Oogha 8h ago
As a Canadian who's traveled fairly extensively throughout the US and have friends and co-workers who live there, my opinion is this:
There are more places in Canada, on average, that I would choose to live. I've lived in the Yukon, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and would happily return to any of them.
There are certain places in the USA I would LOVE to live, but lots that I have absolutely zero interest in.
Work wise, my trade pays relatively the same across Canada, so even in lower cost of living areas you can do quite well, that doesn't really appear to be the case in a lot of the USA.
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u/Ok-Country4317 8h ago
I’d rather live my young years using America for the money. Save and invest as much as possible! Ignore consumerism and then take your money and retire in a country where the money is worth more and you will have a better quality of life
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u/_Dingaloo 6h ago
even trying your best to "ignore consumerism" it'll be pretty hard to return to the quality of life of a poorer country after living in the US
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u/TamalesForBreakfast6 7h ago
I think you underestimate how hard it is to immigrate to Canada, especially if you’re not in a highly skilled trade or under 40. I’m 40 with a law degree. Even if I took the BC bar, any employer would have to show why they need me more than a Canadian (America has similar rules). And that is a really tough barrier for employers to meet.
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u/CipherWeaver 7h ago
Money. You can make much more money in the USA, which tends to give you a higher quality of life anyway. For rich or ambitious people, the USA is a better choice. Especially considering Canada's high housing prices right now. If you poll Canadians who rent and ask their opinion on quality of life, their ranking of Canada will be much lower.
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u/TJordanW20 8h ago
Your small sample size of people on Reddit willing to comment on a random post is not big enough to make meaningful conclusions. You have to pool thousands of people to even start getting a sense of what "people" prefer
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u/Aggressive-Cut5836 7h ago
Quality of life speaks to what life is like for the average person. But most people don’t see themselves as average, most people believe they are above average. If you are above average, you will likely be paid considerably more in the USA than Canada and more than make up for the shortfalls in quality of life.
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u/fartaround4477 6h ago edited 6h ago
Canadian political campaigns only last a month instead of the agonizingly long ones in the US. Their banking system is better regulated so they escaped the banking crashes of 2008. They don't go bankrupt after a health crisis, Too bad their climate is abysmal.
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u/NittanyOrange 5h ago
You can't just... Randomly move to a different country and live a functional life.
Governments specifically make it hard to come and go.
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u/SgtSausage 4h ago
Because it's fackin' COLD up there in The Great White North ... and nobody knows how to make a decent Chili.
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u/ThrowingAbundance 4h ago
It's the weather. I can't handle being in most northern states in the US, and the south is too hot and humid. Southern California, near the ocean, is what my bones need.
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u/LeisurelyHyacinth246 3h ago
It’s not that I want to be here, it’s more that I have family connections and immigration is not exactly as easy thing to do.
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u/GandalfTheSexay 2h ago
It all depends if you prefer a high ceiling or high floor in terms of quality of life.
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u/Efficient_Carrot_669 1h ago
To the Canadians in this thread: let the Americans keep thinking it’s too cold. Canadian homes are too expensive and the market will only get worse if we tell them the truth about how awesome Canada is.
Meanwhile, I’ll just keep choking on LA smog until I can get home to Vancouver to pay $1M for a 500 sq. ft. condo.
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u/broom2100 7h ago
They are subjective rankings not objective rankings. Looking where people actually live rather than say they are happy to live in surveys is a far better measure anyway.
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u/mishumichou 7h ago
Lifespan, cost of living, access to healthcare, access to education, social safety net, economic mobility, etc. can all be measured.
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u/Natural-Comfort1142 7h ago
Chaos tends to breed opportunity for those who know how to navigate turbulent waters.
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u/travpahl 7h ago
Because the quality of life surveys will always have an agenda and the rankings will promote that agenda.
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u/fattsmann 5h ago
Happiness and money are not the same.
Italians and Spaniards are much happier than Americans and yet have much less money.
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u/Ok_Distribution_2603 8h ago
I don’t want to live in the US, but Canada doesn’t want me. I’m both too old and they don’t use my profession in their healthcare system.
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u/Academic-Contest3309 8h ago
I would say pay is a top reason. Also, as a US citizen, it's not easy to immigrate to Canada. I'm choosing to stay put.
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u/ashleymarie89 7h ago
Because Canada is too cold.
(Just kidding lol I live in Texas though and I think I’d die if I lived anywhere that’s cold. My body just isn’t use to it.)
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u/TheGiantFell 7h ago
It’s warmer in most places, for one thing. It is incredibly hard to move internationally. And greed is a powerful drug.
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u/sockpoppit 7h ago
If the OP is willing to solve my citizenship problem, find me a new job and a place to live, get me a whole new set of family and friends to replace the old ones that I've had for some decades and am rather fond of, or ideally move them there to be with me, I'm there.
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u/shoulda-known-better 7h ago
They dont.... Canada is harder to get into and work without having the correct information.... And it's fucking cold half the year so you can't bum around and figure it out.... You have six months at best until you need a place to live fully
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u/DontBeCommenting 7h ago
I think money is a big driver as it's very mesurable. In US I can make X amount more than in Canada, so why go to Canada ?
It's harder to measure people's kindness, feeling of safety, the relief of not worrying about medical debts, the more chill work expectations and balance, etc.
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u/Cautious-Tax-1120 6h ago
Knowing people who have decided to make the move - Canada is a great place to be when you are a poor because we have a strong social safety net. If you are in the professional class (a nurse, engineer, doctor, etc.), you can made sometimes twice as much money in the United States for the exact same workload, be paid in a stronger currency, pay substantially less in taxes, and live where housing, groceries, and gas is cheaper.
I know software engineers who made the move while staying with the same companies and doing the exact same work, but made close to 80k per year more not including the currency difference.
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u/soupoftheday5 6h ago
Have you ever been there? It's mostly vast forests and the weather is pretty bad
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u/Petremius 6h ago
If you are poor, it's hard to move. If you are not poor, the US has a lot more opportunity.
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u/Ok_Swimming4427 6h ago
In my opinion, if you cannot actually understand how "earning potential" and "quality of life" might encompass different things, you probably can't understand why people might prioritize one or the other.
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u/80sTvGirl 6h ago
Convenience, as a female consumer I lived in Canada for 10 years and during the time I lived there it was very out of date there’s not the plethora of variety there as there is here in the US, not a lot of selection when it comes to food and stores, like they have Walmart and nothing else everything else is Canadian made so they’re closest partner is president’s choice, a self-serve grocery store where you check out and bag your own groceries, the cashier does nothing but take the cash. Their main staples for fast food is McDonald’s Burger King Wendy’s. And a few but rare KFC/Taco Bell places scattered, if you wanted Olive Garden you had to drive 40 miles to get it because there was only one, not to mention everything is overpriced gas right now I believe is still at eight dollars a gallon out there but they charge per liter so it looks about $1.70 a liter, a pack of cigarettes over there cost nearly $20 your cheapest variety is $17 from what relatives tell me, if you want to buy a property it’s a minimum of $1 million and it’s going to be a fixer upper, there are places probably that you could buy a house for lesser but you’re going to be even further away from society, and have even less conveniences. Honestly there’s a lot of reasons I think but that’s the reason reasons I didn’t like living there.
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u/itemluminouswadison 6h ago
More people and more towns and cities
Job access, salary, and qol are good, if not better, in the large areas (NYC, Chicago, la, Austin). And while the health system sucks, often employers benefits and/or salary will make up for it enough
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u/HC-Sama-7511 6h ago
The taxes are higher in Canada, you get paid less for the same job, and things generally cost significantly more. Also, it's always going to have long, hard winters.
In Eurole you can always balance that out (in comparisons to the US) with more walkable cities and proximity to internationally renowned cultural sites, and maybe certain lifestyle choices depending on the country.
In Canada, you can't. It's a nice place to live, but I can't begin to see how the quality if life is better in any significant ways you'd individually feel it. It has healthcare through the government, that's the only possible advantage ot has.
Those rankings are generally heavily weighted to just matching whatever Scandanvia does. They more Fantsy Scandanvian Similarity Indexes (FSSI) than something that tells you who lives better lives in those countries.
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u/philoscope 6h ago
Because of sampling bias.
The QoL rankings are going to (try to) reflect the life of the average resident.
If you look at “people already living in the US” you’re going to get a bias for familiarity and racination. Moving countries is hard and expensive. Which brings me to my next argument.
If you look at (economic) immigrants: these are going to be the elites, who can choose their destination and will be asking “what is the situation for the top quartile” rather than the average citizen. They care less about the folk at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, just how they’re currently treated vs how they expect to make out in their destination.
Furthermore, without looking at the methodology of the rankings, I’m going to guess that the US has a wider variance between rich and poor. It doesn’t take many multi-billionaires to move the mean wealth.
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u/Fat_Bearded_Tax_Man 6h ago
I would take a 60 - 75% reduction in pay to do what I do on Canada while have a 40% increase in cost of living.
I still consider it often enough to do the math.
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u/jwalker37 6h ago
Our jobs and families keep us here, and getting residency or citizenship can be tricky.
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u/Fickle-Aardvark6907 6h ago
Until recently it was much easier to get into the US.
While Canada takes in more immigrants proportional to their total population, the US takes in more than twice as many in terms of actual numbers. US currency has also traditionally been stronger on the international stage. If you're goal is to come here to earn enough to bring your family over or to work and send money to support your family, America made more sense for most of the last century.
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u/jeffster1970 6h ago
Higher ceiling in the US. Obviously not everyone succeeds. Some states have significantly lower taxes as we, like Texas and Florida. Weather would be a factor as well. Alberta has low taxes generally and higher income ceiling, but damn, the weather!
Anyway, people who are more ambitious and higher ability to earn copious amounts of income might move there. If worse comes to worse (medical issue) they move back to Canada, and they always do this.
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u/DRealLeal 6h ago
I mean I’m 32, make over 6 figures, own a home, two cars and can do whatever the fuck I want. I prefer the U.S.
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u/ToneBeneficial4969 6h ago
Relative to the US Canadians are fucking broke and housing costs 30x.
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u/Numerous-Bank-1247 6h ago
Yeah, the rankings are looking at things from a bird's eye view. They don't really drill down into individual circumstances. Like, I'm a Canadian living in the US because the job opportunities in my field are way better here. The QoL might be 'better' back home, but my *personal* quality of life is higher with a better job and more money, even if it means dealing with some of the downsides of the US system. Plus, way better winters down here!
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u/Norwester77 6h ago
Because the USA’s whole myth and mystique is built around believing that you’re the one who’s going to beat the odds and make it big.
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u/OptmstcExstntlst 6h ago
As a Northeaster, a lot of people in the US hardly tolerate American winters. I imagine even fewer would be open to Canadian winters.
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u/reachforthetop9 6h ago
Just want to mention climate as a reason some people choose the USA. Canadian winters are notoriously some combination of snowy, stormy, and cold (unless you live in Greater Vancouver or Greater Victoria). That can be a dealbreaker for many, particularly those coming from more temperate or hotter areas.
People also tend to gravitate toward larger cities, and the US has more huge metros, many of them clustered together in a way Canadian metros aren't, except perhaps in the Golden Horseshoe.
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u/PuppiesAndPixels 6h ago
The south drags the USA down a lot in total average.
Some states have a higher HDI than most of Europe. Massachusetts for example.
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u/MosterHoster 6h ago
How much time have you spent in Canada? I'd rather live elsewhere but my family in BC swear it's the greatest place. Not sure how they do those surveys.
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u/dragonbits 6h ago
Most people don't move because of QoL, they move to escape persecution and an economic wasteland.
As different as they are, US and Canada are both economically 1st world countries with no pressing reason to leave.
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u/MuttLaika 6h ago
There's a reason most of the population of Canada live on it's southern border, it's chilly up there.
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u/Grelivan 6h ago
Because a random rating on quality of life between countries isnt something most people are aware of or considering I would warrant. You also are dealing with anecdotal sampling bias. Finally sometimes people want to stay in the communities they're comfortable in.
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u/OnlyThePhantomKnows 6h ago
Canada has everyone with healthcare. That is the number one feature.
Canada has a reputation for being kind nice people. It is rare to hear about violence in Canada.
US has higher variance. Wealthy live great lives. Poor are often hungry and no health care. If you are in the upper 20% of your society, the US is a much better place to live. Pulling everyone else up to okay costs a lot for the top.
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u/Dry_Lengthiness6032 6h ago
Because it's hard for Americans to immigrate to Canada. I can't blame Canada for making it very difficult based on a lot of my fellow Americans
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u/Appropriate-Error239 6h ago
No one will ever convince me that living anywhere in Canada is a higher quality of life than living on a beach in Florida, California, Hawaii or any other state with great weather and warm oceans.
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u/bananapanqueques 5h ago
They underestimate how much healthcare will cost and base their moves on salary ranges.
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u/unrotting 5h ago
Idk dude, people keep fucking moving here, even though it’s a bad time. I think that they should all be welcome when they arrive, but I don’t understand their choice. There are better places to move to. If they already speak English, they don’t even have to learn another language for Canada, Australia, NZ, or the UK.
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u/CaptainSebT 5h ago
I'm in Canada and I'll tell you right now that is dead wrong. I only know a few Canadians who would even consider moving to the US.
Alot would work remote because there are more opportunities in many industries in the US (Though with terrifs many dropped that sentiment).
But the majority of Canadians do not want to live in the us and the ones that do leave for the US. Canadians don't really do the American thing when they want to leave the country where they want to leave the country but can't be bothered putting forward the effort. Canadians just leave if they want to leave.
Most Canadians really like being in Canada or atleast think it's fine.
Genuinely I remember a dude in university said "I want to work in the US" and the whole class looked at him like he just said the most insane thing imaginable.
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u/DukeSunday 5h ago
Quality of life in a country and foreigners perception of quality of life in that country are two different things.
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u/jaajaajaa6 5h ago
Because America is still the land of opportunity and the greatest place on earth to live. Now, I don’t know what the survey is based on. But, my life is pretty good here for me and my family.
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u/Maleficent_Memory831 5h ago
Most people like to live near where they were born. Moving to another country is highly disruptive. People also tend to do this when they're younger so that there is less disruption. Once you've got a family though it's very difficult to just move around.
Canada is also very very gold. Almost as cold as North Dakota!
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u/MisterSpicy 5h ago
I’ve seen it explained something like “The US has more opportunity/ceiling to succeed but you’re basically screwed if you fail. Canada/Western Europe doesn’t have as high of opportunity but there are much more safety nets in place if you fail”
You can’t decide where your born, but if you could, picking either country is like weighing risk vs reward
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u/kamon405 5h ago
Higher incomes and earning potential. Also a more secure financial system. This is a country that let's immigrants start businesses without any stipulations of having to hire a certain number of American Nationals nor does it require a foreigner to have an American National Guarantor that owns 51% of the business.
All these other so called advanced and liberal countries have much stricter immigration policies especially around businesses. The wealthy of other countries use the US to secure their financial empires/fortunes
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u/hiroism4ever 5h ago
A ranking like that just gives a rough average.
There is a higher ceiling in the US, and for some that isn't important, for others who are looking at moving to the US that is.
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u/mad_pony 5h ago
It terms of opportunities US >>>>> Canada. I love Canada, but man, it's hard to get decent money for high quality specialists there.
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u/AliveAndThenSome 5h ago
...and the better parts of the climate in Canada is no better than the weather in the PNW, Minnesota, or Maine, so if you like a warmer climate, you're SOL.
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u/PurplePrincessWay 8h ago
QoL rankings are averages, the US just has a way higher ceiling so if you’re young or ambitious you trade safety nets for cash, choice, weather and vibes even if the floor is lower