The average Canadian household is worth about $40,000 more than their American counterparts
While Americans might enjoy throwing politically-charged barbs at their neighbors to the north, Canadians now have at least one reason to be smug.
For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American, according to a report cited in Toronto’s Globe and Mail.
And not just by a little. Currently, the average Canadian household is more than $40,000 richer than the average American household. The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, compared to around $320,000 for Americans.
If you’re thinking the Canadian advantage must be due to exchange rates, think again. The Canadian dollar has actually caught up to the U.S. dollar in recent years.
“These are not 60-cent dollars, but Canadian dollars more or less at par with the U.S. greenback,” Globe and Mail’s Michael Adams writes.
To add insult to injury, not only are Canadians comparatively better-off than Americans, they’re also more likely to be employed. The unemployment rate is 7.2 percent—and dropping—in Canada, while the U.S. is stuck with a stubbornly high rate of 8.2 percent
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By: tornado64 - 22nd July 2012 at 11:46
to be fair in a few years (if not now !!) the chinese are richer than americans
china is now the biggest customer for rolls royce and bentley cars
By: ppp - 22nd July 2012 at 11:33
The US living standard stats are artificially high due to the Dollar.
On a related note Dave Cameron and the other UK leaders still have their heads deep in the sand on the topic of Eurozone vs Commonwealth growth rates, and the so the UK economy continues to suffer from being in the useless European customs union with it’s excessive regulation and poor growth.
On a related track, seems we here is Aus overtook the US in terms of house/apartment sizes a few years ago (2009):
“We are bigger than the US for the first time. Our newly built homes are 7 per cent bigger than those in the US, double the size of those in Europe, and triple the size of those in the UK.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-11-30/australians-live-in-worlds-biggest-houses/1162630
Making a house larger in the UK is much more expensive due to planning restrictions and the ridiculous price of land.
By: Tribes - 22nd July 2012 at 09:34
On a related track, seems we here is Aus overtook the US in terms of house/apartment sizes a few years ago (2009):
“We are bigger than the US for the first time. Our newly built homes are 7 per cent bigger than those in the US, double the size of those in Europe, and triple the size of those in the UK.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-11-30/australians-live-in-worlds-biggest-houses/1162630
By: J Boyle - 22nd July 2012 at 04:42
Good for them!
It has to do with home values and the recession.
They have a better employment picture than the US does…something Obama fans don’t like to discuss.
Also, if you’re talking averages…some homes are much more expensive in Canada. I’ve heard that houses in Vancouver BC are worth more, per square foot, than Manhatten…”downtown” New York City (fueled in large part by Asian immigrants).
But you also have to consider everything is more expensive in Canada..which is why there are so many Canadians shopping in my part of the world.
By: Tribes - 22nd July 2012 at 02:20
I suspect its simply because Canadian housing prices have held reasonably steady while those in the US have crash landed due to the recession. Not sure $ “wealth” is really a good measure of standards of living.
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July 21, 2012 at 11:03 pm