TORONTO – Living and working in Toronto is too expensive, according to 85% of Torontonians interviewed by “Canada Pulse Insights” for a poll on behalf of CityNews, as part of a survey on the cost of living in Canada’s biggest city.
According to the survey, the vast majority of Torontonians and GTA residents (85%) say that living and working here leads to excessive expenses and that it’s difficult to maintain a standard of living that would actually be quite ordinary were it not for the skyrocketing prices of everything from groceries to rent, from utilities to medical expenses.
Going into detail, 59% of Toronto residents and 65% of GTA residents say they are having more difficulty making ends meet. In particular, when asked which costs they struggle with most, Torontonians cite groceries (48%) and mortgage or rent (31%) at the top of the list, followed by utilities (23%), medical expenses (15%), transportation (10%), tuition or skills training (5%), childcare (5%), and other costs (12%).
Similarly, residents of the GTA point to groceries (48%), mortgage or rent (30%), and utilities (30%) as their biggest challenges, followed by medical (13%), transportation (8%), tuition or skills training (6%), childcare (5%), and other costs (12%).
Because of rising living costs over the past year, 72% of those across the region (71% in Toronto and 73% in the GTA) say they have cut back on personal spending.
Of the 71 percent in Toronto, personal spending has been cut on entertainment (45%), groceries/food (40%), travel (37%), gifts (33%), transportation (16%), and utilities (14%). This compares with 29% who have not reduced spending in any category.
Among the 73 percent in the GTA, residents report reducing spending in entertainment (45%), groceries/food (42%), travel (38%), gifts (28%), transportation (14%), and utilities (11%), while 27% say they have not cut back. A small, fortunate minority who evidently aren’t feeling the effects of the high cost of living and can continue as if nothing were happening.
The survey was conducted online from September 30 to October 6, 2025, by the experts at “Sago” (company that collaborates with “Canada Pulse Insights”) among 406 adult residents (aged 18 and over) of Toronto and 403 in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). All the data can be found in the “Canada Pulse Insights”, here.
In the pic above, a glimpse of Toronto: the image is the cover of the survey conducted by “Canada Pulse Insights” (www.canadapulseinsights.com)