Toronto, the unofficial Capital of Canada (sorry Ottawa), is a progressive and friendly city full of healthy, well-educated and conscientious people. And no, it’s not a cliché – our expats have been there and will tell you, enthusiastically, for themselves.

Toronto was ranked 3rd in PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Cities of Opportunity study in 2012, and it’s not hard to see why. If Toronto were a person she’d be a true polymath, excellent across the field in all manner of disciplines. And whatever sector your work falls into, it’s likely that Toronto’s a good place to be doing your thing. Here are a few reasons to move to Toronto:

  • Toronto has headquarters of five of Canada’s largest banks and is in the top ten global financial centres.
  • The city employs over 36,000 people in environmental innovation sectors such as energy efficiency, green building and electric vehicles.Eight of Canada’s ten fastest growing IT companies are in Toronto – there are LinkedIn, Facebook and Google office here now, and this is also home to one of the world’s biggest clusters of app development companies.
  • Social Media Week is hosted annually in Toronto
  • Toronto has the second largest number of biotechnology companies in the world. Research here is world-class, and the city invests serious cash into medical research.
  • The design and fashion industry is booming in Toronto, and the city hosts the second largest Fashion Week in North America. That’s after New York, obviously…

Civilised

Put simply, Toronto’s just a damn nice place to live – and the city has all sorts of accolades to prove it. The city has been named the most ‘civil and civilised’ city in the world by the powers that be at National Geographic, and it’s also thought to be the second best city for quality of living in North America. It’s also an incredibly safe city to live in, with the second lowest crime rates in the world compared to cities of the same size. Want more excuses to move out here? Toronto’s GDP is bigger than that of Hong Kong, Ireland and Finland – separately. Jermain Defoe even left Spurs for Toronto FC for (among other things, like the pay check) the quality of life Toronto living would afford his family.

 

Navigable

Toronto may be big but it was sure planned out well. The city lies across a simple grid and block system, and the tube network is one of the simplest to master in the world with just two (well serviced) primary lines. And if you do find yourself lost in the city, just look for the iconic CN Tower – it’s a pretty useful point of reference, wherever you find yourself!

Educated

Toronto is definitively progressive in all sorts of ways, and is one of the most educated cities in the world. Education is one of the major employment industries here, accounting for almost a tenth of the city’s total workforce. Toronto has four universities and four colleges – all publicly funded – as well as 140 private vocational colleges for diploma courses. Whatever brings you to Toronto, you’ll be living and working in a city with a deeply held respect for academia and academics. Over half of all Toronto’s employees have university degrees, too.

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