Philadelphia vs Toronto for couples
Philadelphia, in the United States, and Toronto, in Canada, are about 545 km apart. Every figure below comes from the data behind our city pages: an estimated monthly cost for a couple, tax tier, annual climate, safety, healthcare, internet speed, language and residency rules. Philadelphia leads on tax and internet speed; Toronto on cost, safety and residency rules.
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Side by side
Source: the datasets behind our city pages. Cost is our model estimate (a country-level cost index scaled for city size); tax tiers are assigned by hand from each country's top marginal income tax rate and overall tax reputation; temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages); rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals); safety and healthcare are our own country-level estimates; internet from the Ookla Speedtest Global Index; English from the EF English Proficiency Index; residency from our hand-reviewed residency dataset (not legal advice); short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset.
Factor by factor
Cost of living
Toronto is cheaper: we estimate about €3,991 a month for a couple living centrally, against €4,245 in Philadelphia. That is €254 a month, or 6%, less.
Taxes
Philadelphia has the lighter tax load: the United States is in our low to medium tax tier, Canada in our high tax tier.
Climate
Philadelphia is 5°C warmer on average over the year: 14°C against 9°C in Toronto. Toronto is drier, with about 827 mm of rain a year against 1,112 mm in Philadelphia (26% less).
Safety
Toronto is the safer pick: Canada scores 60 out of 100 on safety, 8 points above the United States (52).
Healthcare
Close: the United States scores 70 out of 100 on healthcare and Canada 72.
Internet
Philadelphia has faster home internet: about 220 Mbps median fixed download against about 170 Mbps in Toronto.
Language
Main languages: English in Philadelphia; English, French in Toronto. English proficiency is rated the same in both: English everywhere.
Residency and visas
Long-term residency is easier to obtain in Canada (comparatively open) than in the United States (possible, with conditions). For short visits, 4 of 198 passports can enter the United States visa-free and 1 can enter Canada.
Which one fits a couple
If one of you puts tax (low to medium tax against high tax) and internet speed (220 Mbps against 170 Mbps) first, Philadelphia comes out ahead. If the other cares more about cost (€3,991 against €4,245 a month), safety (60 against 52 out of 100) and residency rules (comparatively open against possible, with conditions), Toronto does.
Climate can pull the two of you apart too: a partner who wants warmth leans toward Philadelphia (14°C on average), while one who minds the heat leans toward Toronto (9°C), and whoever minds rain will prefer Toronto (827 mm a year against 1,112 mm).
Both are large cities, but Philadelphia is coastal and Toronto is inland.
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