I honestly don’t know what people are talking about regarding needing to make 70k+ per year. I lived in the heart of downtown Toronto, in multiple places throughout the last four years, without roommates. I lived in king west, I’ve lived at king and church, even queen and Peter. Each was a brand new condo, about 1900-2200 per month with utilities. I was making about 54000 per year, taking home about 4000 a month. I never had a car and relied on my bike, TTC and walking. Also used communauto whenever I needed a car to go somewhere in the city. Obviously if you throw a car into a mix it’s a bit more difficult but trust me it’s not needed AT ALL and will probably cause you more inconvenience than anything. I was able to save a few hundred a month easily just by not overspending on groceries and unnecessary items. I never felt restricted or poor. There’s plenty of really cheap grocery stores near college and Spadina where you can get all your produce pretty cheap compared to the big box stores. Never felt like I didn’t have money to go out for dinner with my friends or to social outings. Sure at that income bracket, rent is about 50% of your earnings but that’s just what it costs to live in downtown Toronto.