People in Toronto spend more of their monthly income on rent than anywhere else in Canada

If you live in Toronto and you feel like practically every dollar you earn gets spent on rent, you're not alone. 

According to a new poll by Forum Research, Toronto residents spend an average of 36 per cent of their income on rent, which is more than any other city in Canada. 

Canadians spend an average of 33 per cent of their income on rent according to the poll, and only two other cities besides Toronto spend more than that: Vancouver (35 per cent) and Mississauga (35 per cent).

The survey was taken using a random sampling of public opinion among 3572 Canadian voters, and it also asked Canadians if think their city is becoming unaffordable. 

The results show that Toronto was ranked the second most unffordable city in Canada, only behind Vancouver. 

A new poll from Forum Research shows a vast majority of Toronto residents consider the city to be unaffordable — and they report spending the highest proportion of their income on rent out of Canada’s major cities.https://t.co/PkOMMcXu2c

— TAEHomelessness (@TAEHomelessness) October 2, 2019

While 82 per cent of respondents said Toronto was unaffordable, only 18 per cent said it was still affordable. 

Respondents of the poll were also asked: “is the cost of living in your city making you consider leaving?”

And while 48 per cent of all Canadians polled said it is, 52 per cent of Toronto residents said they'd consider leaving because of unaffordability. 

In an interview with The Toronto Star, Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, said the fact that people in Toronto spend so much of their monthly income on rent is going to drive the unaffordability issue. 

"It’s going to result in a lot of people saying that they would consider leaving Toronto," he told The Star. "If you look across the country, it’s even higher than in Vancouver ... That’s a lot of disposable income and that’s now tied to people’s rent."

The poll was conducted on respondents in Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, and Montreal from August 22 to 25.