you better know what the fuck you're in for

Packing up to find a better life should take more consideration than reading a short string of words? How insightful. I bet nobody has ever had that thought before.

It's not, it's relative to the market.

Everyone understands that. It's not the $30k that's appealing, it's that there is actually work and that there is actual profit to be made. Toronto homes are not relative to the market. I've been reminded here in r/canada on many occasions that Torontonians are having to take on debt in order to live there. At best, every last cent that someone earns manages to cover housing.

Income doesn't matter. Profit matters. Income minus expenses. The expenses on a $30k home are, compared to Toronto, cheap. You can afford to have a significantly lower income and still be further ahead.

And a comparative standard of living to what they are expecting is still going to be half a million bucks for a real house in a real city or town.

In Swift Current? While the massive influx of people moving here from Toronto has closed the gap a bit, where I live we had just 3.0% unemployment a few months ago. I live in a real town, with all of the amenities you could hope for, and my house isn't worth much more than $150k on a good day. I'm not sure why it would take half a million.

Besides, Swift Current-Moosejaw doesn't even have the lowest unemployment rate in the country. What are your feelings about the region that does?