The sourced starting points
Use these as a starting range, not as a single true price. Rent methods differ, and that difference matters more than any single average.
| Item | Chicago | Toronto | Source and caveat |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-bedroom rent, per month | $1,745 median, new leases | C$1,969 to C$2,250, about $1,398 to $1,598 at $0.71 | Chicago: Apartment List October 2026 Rent Index, September 2026 estimates, one-bedroom median $1,745, all sizes $1,882. Toronto: liv.rent October 2026 Ontario rent report, City of Toronto unfurnished one-bedroom average $1,969; Rentals.ca October 2026 National Rent Report, September 2026 average asking rent for purpose-built and condo one-bedrooms $2,228; Moving2Canada October 2026 Toronto snapshot, median asking rent $2,250, average asking rent $2,262. Asking rents are what landlords list, not what sitting tenants pay, and unfurnished averages differ from furnished ones. |
| Canada income tax, 2026, Toronto is in Ontario | Federal: 14% to $58,523, 20.5% to $117,045, 26% to $181,440, 29% to $258,482, 33% above. Ontario: 5.05% to $53,891, 9.15% to $107,785, 11.16% to $150,000, 12.16% to $220,000, 13.16% above. All amounts in Canadian dollars, marginal rates only. | Multiple 2026 summaries of Canada Revenue Agency and Ontario brackets checked 24 October 2026, agreeing on these thresholds and rates. Ontario surtax, CPP and EI contributions, and credits also affect the final result, so enter your own effective rate in the calculator. Do not use a headline marginal rate as if it were your total tax. | |
| US tax, Chicago | No single rate is used here. Federal tax plus Illinois flat income tax of 4.95% apply, and your effective rate depends on income, filing status, and deductions. Chicago and Cook County sales and property taxes are separate and are not in this calculator. | Enter your own effective tax rate in the calculator. Illinois 4.95% flat rate from 2026 tax summaries checked 24 October 2026. | |
| Healthcare, in one line | Mainly employer or private insurance in the US, with premiums, deductibles, and copays on top of tax. | OHIP, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, covers medically necessary doctor and hospital services for eligible Ontario residents, generally not prescription drugs outside hospital, dental, or routine vision care. | This is a system difference, not a price. Visitors are not OHIP eligible, and eligibility depends on immigration status and Ontario residence, so check the official Ontario page before you assume coverage. |
Why the Toronto range is wide: an unfurnished city average, an asking-rent average for purpose-built and condo units, and a median asking rent measure different slices of the market. Pick the unit type and neighbourhood that matches your move, then replace the range with listings you have actually seen.
Try it: match your life, not just your salary
Toronto rent is entered in Canadian dollars and converted at the editable exchange rate, so you can see the conversion instead of guessing it. Other Toronto costs are an example only, replace them with your own.
Formula, in plain words: take-home needed in Toronto equals Toronto monthly costs in dollars plus your current monthly cushion, divided by one minus your Toronto tax rate. This is illustrative maths, not a tax calculation. The bands above are the check, not a substitute for a personal calculation.
Worked example, checked: $95,000 salary, 24% tax now, $1,745 rent now, $2,000 other costs now, C$2,228 Toronto rent, C$1,800 other Toronto costs, C$1 = $0.71, 26% Toronto tax gives about $83,214 equivalent gross salary in Toronto, about $2,860 monthly Toronto costs in dollars, and about $885 per month lower costs than Chicago on these inputs.
Your result
Equivalent gross salary needed in Toronto
Savings difference is Chicago monthly costs minus Toronto monthly costs in dollars. Positive means Toronto costs less on these inputs. It is not a savings forecast, because tax, healthcare, transport, and lifestyle are only partly in these fields.
Saved comparisons stay in this browser only, on this device. No account, no email, no data sent anywhere in this draft.
Official links to check, not search results
Use official government pages, not the first ad that looks official. No verified Canada Revenue Agency tax-rates page link was returned in the search results for this draft, so no CRA link is given here: go to the Canada Revenue Agency site directly and look for its 2026 individual tax rates page, rather than trusting a search ad.
- Ontario: Registration of Ontario Health Insurance coverage (OHIP) - Ontario government page, verified by opening it on 24 October 2026, covering OHIP eligibility, the 153-day presence rules, and that visitors are not eligible. Note it is written for physicians, so it is technical, but it is the verified official source used here.
If a site charges for OHIP registration help, or its address is not ontario.ca or canada.ca for these services, treat it as a copycat and go back to an official link.
There is no matching US passport to Canada visa page in this cluster, so this page does not link to a companion visa page. A short visit is not a move: get immigration advice for work or residence permission.
What this page still does not do
- Family size: one-bedroom rent and a single-person budget do not scale cleanly to a family. A family version needs bedroom count, schooling, and childcare as separate fields.
- Housing ownership: buying, mortgage, property tax, and condo fees are not in this calculator. Renters only, for now.
- Pension and remote income: salary mode only in this template. Pension mode and remote-income mode are not yet built.
- Visa and residence: a short visit is not a move. See the note above: there is no companion visa page for this pair in this cluster.
Sources, checked 24 October 2026
- Apartment List October 2026 Rent Index: Chicago one-bedroom median $1,745, all sizes $1,882, September 2026 estimates.
- liv.rent October 2026 Ontario rent report: City of Toronto unfurnished one-bedroom average $1,969, October 2026, down from $2,044 a year earlier.
- Rentals.ca October 2026 National Rent Report, September 2026 data: Toronto average asking rent, purpose-built and condo one-bedrooms $2,228.
- Moving2Canada October 2026 Toronto rent snapshot: median asking rent one-bedroom $2,250, average asking rent $2,262.
- Canada 2026 federal brackets 14% to 33% and Ontario brackets 5.05% to 13.16%, from multiple 2026 summaries of Canada Revenue Agency and Ontario material checked that day. No Canada Revenue Agency page link was verified for this draft, so none is linked above.
- Illinois flat individual income tax rate 4.95% for 2026, from 2026 tax summaries checked that day.
- Exchange rate: C$1 = about $0.71 on 24 October 2026, from multiple market summaries checked that day (C$100 = $71.39 to $71.42). Rounded to $0.71 in this page, editable in the calculator.
- Ontario OHIP registration page, opened directly 24 October 2026: eligibility, 153-day presence rules, visitors not eligible.
If any figure above has moved since 24 October 2026, the page is out of date until it is rechecked. That is the point of the last-checked stamp.