Rent in this GTA city is $700 lower than in downtown Toronto as prices keep surging

With so many people in Toronto struggling to make ends meet as cost of living in the city keeps rising, leaving for greener (read: cheaper) pastures somewhere else is a very real, perhaps even everyday consideration for some residents.

Housing is, naturally, the most exorbitant monthly bill of all, with rents continuing to spike to new levels of unaffordability and not some, but most people are somehow spending their entire paycheque on a place to live based on average rent costs and average income levels.

A new report from liv.rent shows that the price of the typical Toronto apartment indeed just keeps on going up, in part thanks to many-times-increased lending rates that are forcing landlords to up their prices to cover their mortgage, or pushing even more people away from home ownership.

As of July, your standard one-bedroom furnished apartment in the GTA at large is now going for $2,268 a month, and $2,455 a month in downtown Toronto specifically.

For those looking for the cheapest place to rent in the region, you'll be able to snag the same type of unit for $719 cheaper each month, though you'll have to sacrifice your T.O. postal code and some other things to get it

For $1,736 a month, you could relocate to storied Oshawa, about an hour drive away and the cheapest place to live in the GTA right now.

While many might rightfully argue that the price is ridiculous for the Dirty Shwa, as some call it, it just goes to show how brutal the Ontario market — and how costly life in Ontario in general — has become.

If you just can't bear the thought of that move, you can always opt for Brampton, the second-cheapest city for a one-bedroom, where you'll still have to fork out $1,747 each month (and that's a lower price than in June), plus your groceries, tips, going out and other expenses that have skyrocketed.