Do Americans make more money than Canadians?

[meowchi]

If you are living in Canada, university educated, and moved to America, do you think you would be making more money?

My points:

* I know the average income in Canada is higher than in America.

* In California you can end up making piles and piles of money. You can also spend piles and piles of money too. There are obvious opportunities. Yet if you work on the internet or some other investments it doesn't matter where you are.
Except for the taxes. Though the U.S. may have some specific advantages to
in being self employed. But you have crime, pollution and maybe a severe water shortage. Real big problems that money cannot fix.

[Asmodai]

Americans make more money than Canadians - this becomes especially true at higher income levels.

Canadian levels of taxation are far higher than American taxes. If you make $100,000, you'll be far further ahead living in the US (by about $20,000 per year) and those jobs usually include all the benefits anyway.

Canada also hides taxes. For example, our corporate and payroll taxes are much higher than in the US. As a result, everything on store shelves costs more than it does in the US.

Hence the 'brain drain' - a problem in Canada where many of our best educated people (especially computer specialists and doctors) go to the States.

Generally, if you're uneducated and making a poor wage, you're better off in Canada. If you're educated and making $60,000+, you'll be better off in the US. The more you make, the more reason to move to the US. Since you said university educated, then yeah, you'd be better off in the States. Many States don't have water shortages, or any worse crime or pollution than Canada (pollution is generally worse in the parts of Canada where people actually live). For example, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Oregon all have low crime, good schools, plenty of water and you'd make more money there than if you worked in Canada.

The reasons I'm staying are more mundane. I have friends here, it would be a pain in the ass to qualify for the bar in most American states and job prospects for young lawyers are even worse in the US than in Canada. If I had an M.D. though, I'd move in a millisecond. It's hard to argue with making double (as American surgeons and cardiologists do compared with their Canadian counterparts).

[JFC]

^
Asmo speaks teh truth.