Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Vancouver's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Vancouver?
Your $100,000 in Vancouver has the same purchasing power as $89,103 in the average US city. You'd need $10,897 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Vancouver's cost index of 112, sorted by closest match.
If you're weighing a move to Vancouver, the short answer is that the city has a few genuine arguments going for it — most obviously no state income tax and you can walk to most of what you need, plus 3 more things worth knowing. Here's the longer version.
Washington is one of the handful of US states with no state income tax on wages, so the only income-tax bite on a paycheck in Vancouver is federal. For a household earning $100k, that's a tangible four-figure difference every year compared to a comparable salary in California or New York. (Washington taxes some long-term capital gains over a high threshold, but ordinary wages and salaries are not taxed.)
Vancouver earns a Walk Score of 65/100 — above the US median, with denser neighborhoods scoring higher than the citywide aggregate suggests. A car is still useful for longer trips, but everyday life works on foot for a lot of residents.
Vancouver's Bike Score is 66/100 — the kind of number you only get when a city has built real bike infrastructure (protected lanes, connected routes, drivers who expect cyclists). For commuting or just for getting around, the bike is a serious option here, not a hobby.
Vancouver's air quality index averages about 43 — comfortably in the EPA's "good" range. No daily ritual of checking the AQI before going for a run, no smoky-day plans, no surprise asthma flare-ups for the kids. The kind of background condition you notice mostly by its absence.
The average one-way commute in Vancouver is about 24 minutes — short by US standards (the national average is closer to 27). Over a year of working days, that's hundreds of hours that don't get spent in traffic, which is the kind of thing you notice in the weekend rather than the weekday.
Reasons are pulled from Vancouver's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Now and then. Vancouver's winters are cool rather than truly cold — about 36°F on average — so most of the precipitation falls as rain. A snowy morning happens a few times a season; sustained accumulation is rare.
Mild on the cold side. Vancouver's winter average of about 36°F is the kind of weather where you want a jacket but the heating bill is manageable. Snow is rare, frost is occasional, and the lawn never really browns out.
Pleasantly warm. Vancouver's summer averages around 80°F — comfortable for outdoor evenings, hot enough on peak days to warrant AC but mild compared to the Sun Belt.
Approximately USDA Hardiness Zone 9. That's the band gardeners use to pick plants — anything rated for Zone 9 or colder should survive a typical winter in Vancouver. (The estimate is derived from our winter-temperature data; the official USDA map uses station-level annual minimums and may differ by half a zone.)
Vancouver sits at about 184 feet (56 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
The citywide numbers are concerning — about 6,419 per 100,000 residents, well above the US average of around 3,500. As with all crime stats, the city aggregate hides huge variation between neighborhoods, but the overall picture is worse than most US cities.
Yes, noticeably. Vancouver's cost-of-living index runs 112, about 12% above the US baseline. Housing usually accounts for most of the markup; groceries and services run higher too but with less drama.
Somewhat. Vancouver earns a Walk Score of 65/100 — many daily errands are doable on foot, especially in the denser neighborhoods, but a car still helps for longer trips. Transit Score is 41 out of 100.
Roughly $78,561 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Vancouver runs about $1,525/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.