How Vancouver Tech Salaries Compare To the Rest of Canada

Vik Bogdanov
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There are some interesting points about Vancouver tech salaries that show how the region is the land of opportunities, for both employers and talented technology industry employees.

Here we look specifically at the workers who drive the software development business. These programmers and engineers represent what you can expect to earn compared to the rest of Canada and what software companies can expect to pay to fill the roles of the software development profession in this city.

Software Developer Salaries Compared

Tech salaries cover much ground but indicate a particular level of employment, which is not the pay of hourly workers or the profit taking of business owners. It is the professional level incomes of University graduates in computer science and engineering fields related to designing and producing software applications.

Software developers in Vancouver earn about 70 percent above the national average. So, workers in any of the variations of this skill set can afford a middle-class lifestyle on one income.

 

software developer salaries in Vancouver vs national average

 

The Cost of Living Factor

If you need smart people to fill coder positions in your development team you can hire in Vancouver and get quality assured results. The advantage is that you do it with a smaller budget than for other tech hubs around the world. Compared to San Jose, California and the surrounding Silicon Valley region it is much cheaper to place your team north of the border.

Workers find that the cost of living in the Vancouver area is much less than San Jose. While Silicon Valley may make up for high costs with higher salaries, it means that employers can offer a reasonable package. For example, the San Jose cost of living including rents is 82.78 percent higher than Vancouver but the purchasing power is 68.8 percent higher, a net advantage to Canadian residents.

Conclusion: Where Ever You Go…

Wherever you go, as they say, there you are, which means that it is up to you to make the best of your location and situation. 

Vancouver is a pretty impressive city and region in which to live. From the perspective of the employer, there is a pool of ready talent that costs less than Silicon Valley located workers. 

The labour pool is large and well trained, so workers compete more aggressively for available opportunities. Companies in the provinces and cities with fewer IT pros from which to choose, pay a premium to staff their teams with the right talent. The value of locating your development operations in Vancouver is the competitive market for candidates for your projects, near-shoring, and start-up teams.