Toronto vs Orlando: which should you move to?
Toronto or Orlando? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
This choice comes down to what you are willing to pay for a house and what you expect the state to do for you. Toronto's benchmark home was $928,200 CAD in July 2026 and the mortgage on it runs $4,044 a month; Orlando's was $375,175 USD with a $1,931 payment, and Florida takes no income tax. Against that, Toronto gives you public health insurance, a subway that a quarter of commuters actually use, and a winter. Orlando gives you hurricanes, $310 a month in home insurance, and a job market weighted toward hospitality wages. Buy in Orlando if you earn well above the local median and can tolerate the storms. Stay in Toronto if you rely on transit or on OHIP, or if you simply cannot live with August in Central Florida.
Toronto prices are in CAD and Orlando prices are in USD. The tables leave them in their own currency and compare ratios and rates instead; a conversion would be stale by the time you read it.
| Measure | Toronto | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 2,794,356 (2021) | 333,888 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 6,202,225 (2021) | 2,957,672 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 2.3% (2016-2021) | 8.3% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Toronto | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $928,200 (July 2026) | $375,175 (June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Detached house benchmark Orlando publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $1,455,200 | $375,175 | Not directly comparable |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $551,900 | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $2,045/mo (average, October 2025) | $1,904/mo (median, June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,761/mo | $1,637/mo | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 29.2% of a year's income | 29.4% of a year's income | Toronto |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 25 years in Toronto against 30 in Orlando, each compounding the way its own country's lenders do. The rates are not a spread you can shop: they are what each market charges. | $4,044/mo at 4.34% | $1,931/mo at 6.67% | Not directly comparable |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 11.1× | 4.8× | Orlando |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $5,291/yr (0.57%, 2026) | $6,043/yr (1.611%, 2025) | Toronto |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | $30,078 (buyer pays) | $2,626 (seller pays) | Orlando |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | 2.1% guideline (2026) | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Toronto: About 0.57% of market value. Toronto levies 0.767311%, but against a Current Value Assessment frozen at 1 January 2016 values, because Ontario has deferred every reassessment since. MPAC's average Toronto assessment is $692,140 and the City's own worked example puts the bill on it at $5,311 for 2026, which on the $928,200 composite benchmark is 0.57%. That is the fourth-lowest rate on market value of the cities on this site, behind Vancouver, Kelowna and Victoria, and it produces almost exactly the same bill as Ottawa's 0.83%, because the home it is charged against costs 46% more. Orlando: About 1.61% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 18.0878 mills Orlando is taxed at, and the difference is the homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. Florida assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price, so there is no gap to correct for. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the Orange County school district, which levies 6.4490 of the 18.0878. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. So a homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is the school millage on the price less $25,000 plus everything else on the price less $50,000, about $6,043 a year on the $375,175 typical home value here. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy, and until you do the rate is the full 1.81%. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Toronto | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | 55.0 (2025) | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 Canada counts every violent Criminal Code incident; the FBI counts four offences. The Canadian figure is always the larger one for that reason alone. | 987 (2025) | 836 (2022) | Not directly comparable |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 2,566 (2025) | 4,036 (2022) | Not directly comparable |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 45 (2025) | 10 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
The Toronto CMA Crime Severity Index climbed from 45.91 in 2021 to 59.43 in 2024, driven largely by auto theft, then fell 7.5% to 54.99 in 2025 with violent CSI down 13.7%. Toronto Police recorded 12,610 auto thefts in 2023, 9,676 in 2024 and 7,402 in 2025, and 2025 homicides (45) were the fewest since the 1980s.
What the rates cover: Police-reported violent Criminal Code violations, Toronto CMA, 69,297 actual incidents, table 35-10-0177-01
Homicides: Toronto Police Service public safety data portal count for the city (85 in 2024, 73 in 2023). Statistics Canada counts 64 homicides for the wider Toronto CMA in 2025, a rate of 0.91 per 100,000, down from 133 (1.90) in 2024
Orlando PD reports overall crime down 18% in 2024 and another 19% in 2025, violent crime down 10% in 2024 and 9% in 2025, and shootings with victims down 41% from 2023 to 2025. Homicides fell from 31 in 2023 to 10 in 2025. The FBI's public feed has no usable Orlando data after 2022, so these are the department's own figures.
What the rates cover: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department (ORI FL0480400), 2022: 2,597 violent offenses, 835.8 per 100k. 2022 is the last year with twelve complete months in the FBI feed; 2023 through 2025 show zeros for this agency, so no FBI rate exists for those years. Orlando PD's own count of violent crime incidents (a broader in-house definition) was 6,754 in 2023 and 5,928 in 2025, which would be about 1,775 per 100k on the 2025 population.
Homicides: Orlando Police Department: 10 homicides in 2025, the lowest since 1971, down from 23 in 2024 and 31 in 2023 (OPD's 2023 figure was reported as 38 in a January 2025 release and 31 in the February 2026 release). About 3.0 per 100k on the 2025 city population. FBI CDE 2022: 32 homicides, 10.3 per 100k.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Toronto | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | -5.0 °C | 15.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 22.1 °C | 28.1 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 807 mm | 1,307 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 115 cm | 0 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 2,066 hours | Not published | Not directly comparable |
Environment and Climate Change Canada 1991-2020 normals at Toronto Pearson International Airport (climate ID 6158731): annual mean 8.6 C. The 1991-2020 normals do not publish sunshine; 2,066.3 hours is the 1981-2010 normal at the Toronto (City) station, climate ID 6158350.
Hazards: Humid summer heat warnings and winter cold snaps with lake-effect snow squalls; flash flooding from intense summer storms (July 2013 and July 2024 downpours flooded roads and the Don Valley); wildfire smoke advisories in some summers since 2023; occasional severe thunderstorms and hail, rare tornadoes.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals at Orlando International Airport (USW00012815): January mean 60.6F, July mean 82.6F, annual precipitation 51.45 in, annual snowfall 0.0 in, annual mean 73.0F. June through September each average 6.4 to 8.1 in of rain. Sunshine hours are not part of the NOAA normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes are the main hazard: Charley (2004), Irma (2017), Ian (2022, 14 in of rain and 74 mph gusts at MCO) and Milton (2024, over 15 in of rain in parts of Central Florida plus a record one-day tornado outbreak) all damaged the area. The city sits about 100 ft above sea level and 42 mi inland, so storm surge is not a concern but inland flooding, wind damage and long power outages are. Summer heat and daily thunderstorms with lightning are routine.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Toronto | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $84,000 CAD (2020) | $77,597 USD (2024) | Not directly comparable |
| Unemployment rate Statistics Canada and the Bureau of Labor Statistics define unemployment slightly differently; the Canadian measure runs about a point higher on the same labour market. | 6.7% (July 2026) | 4.6% (June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Sales tax | 13% | 6.5% | Orlando |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 53.53% | 37% | Orlando |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method. | $21,200 CAD | $13,449 USD | Not directly comparable |
Toronto's unemployment rate ran above the national rate through 2025 as population growth outpaced hiring, and TD Economics (October 2025) found trade-war exposed sectors such as transportation and warehousing and manufacturing shedding jobs and youth unemployment near one in five. The rate eased to 6.7% by July 2026.
Main sectors: Financial services and banking, Technology and software, Health care and life sciences, Professional services and education, Film, media and the arts.
No municipal income tax. Toronto levies a Municipal Land Transfer Tax on top of the provincial land transfer tax, and a Vacant Home Tax.
Leisure and hospitality employed 305,500 of 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in June 2026 (BLS CES, not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), about 20%, roughly double the national share, and those jobs pay below the private-sector average, which is why household income trails the US median despite fast job growth. Disney is the largest employer at about 77,000 in the region; AdventHealth employs about 37,700 and Lockheed Martin more than 14,000.
Main sectors: Tourism and hospitality (Disney, Universal, convention centre), Health care (AdventHealth, Orlando Health), Aerospace, defence and simulation (Lockheed Martin, Central Florida Research Park), Construction and real estate, Professional and business services.
No state or city income tax. Property tax runs around 1% of assessed value with a homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% cap for owner-occupiers; not verified here.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Toronto | Orlando | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | Toronto Transit Commission (subway, streetcar, bus, Wheel-Trans); GO Transit and UP Express (Metrolinx) for regional rail and bus | LYNX (bus, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties), SunRail (commuter rail, 16 stations DeLand to Poinciana), Brightline (intercity rail from MCO to South Florida) | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 26.2% (2021) | 1.5% (2024) | Toronto |
| Walk or cycle to work | 9.6% (2021) | 1.7% (2024) | Toronto |
| Airport | Toronto Pearson International Airport, YYZ, 47.3 million passengers in 2025 (up 1.1% from 46.8 million in 2024), per GTAA 2025 annual results. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) serves short-haul flights from the waterfront. | Orlando International Airport (MCO), 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, up 0.8% on 2024, seventh busiest in the US (GOAA press release, July 28, 2026). | Not directly comparable |
TTC carried 420 million trips in 2024 (204 million bus, 181 million subway, 35 million streetcar). The TTC's year-end projection for 2025 was 414 million rides, about 78% of 2019 levels, with 426.4 million forecast for 2026; a final audited 2025 total was not found.
LYNX carried 21,476,203 passenger trips in FY2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), more than 67,000 per weekday, on 62 routes (LYNX Facts at a Glance). SunRail passed 1.2 million riders in calendar 2024, up 12% on 2023 (SunRail press release, January 2025); APTA puts 2025 at about 1.32 million. SunRail runs weekdays only.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is publicly funded through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), which covers physician and hospital services for residents with no premiums beyond the income-tested Ontario Health Premium collected through income tax; new residents wait up to three months for coverage, and prescription drugs, dental and vision are mostly private or employer insured. Toronto is home to the University Health Network (Toronto General, Toronto Western, Princess Margaret), Sunnybrook, St. Michael's, Mount Sinai and SickKids, but family-doctor shortages and long emergency-department and specialist waits are common.
Education
The University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University and York University are in the city, with U of T consistently ranked in the global top 25. Publicly funded schools are run by four boards, the Toronto District School Board (the largest in Canada), the Toronto Catholic District School Board and two French-language boards, with specialized and alternative programs rather than US-style charters.
Living there
Toronto is a dense, fast-growing city of high-rise condos along the subway lines and low-rise neighbourhoods of brick semis in between, with more than half of residents born outside Canada. Housing costs are the central fact of life, and commutes by TTC, GO train or the 401 are long. Winters are grey and cold rather than extreme, summers humid, and the lakefront, ravines and Toronto Islands are where the city goes outside.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid; Florida did not expand Medicaid under the ACA, so a larger share of working adults is uninsured than in most states, and hospitality jobs often come with thin coverage. Two large non-profit systems dominate: AdventHealth Orlando (one of the biggest hospitals in the country) and Orlando Health with Orlando Regional Medical Center, the region's Level I trauma centre, plus Nemours Children's Hospital at Lake Nona and the UCF Lake Nona Hospital.
Education
The University of Central Florida enrols about 70,000 students, among the largest campuses in the US, and anchors the Central Florida Research Park; Rollins College in Winter Park and Valencia College (a two-year college with a national Aspen Prize) are the other main institutions. Orange County Public Schools is the eighth largest district in the US with roughly 200,000 students, and Florida's universal school-choice vouchers, charter schools and magnet programmes mean many families do not attend their zoned school.
Living there
Orlando is a sprawling, car-first region of master-planned subdivisions, toll roads and strip centres, with a small walkable core around Lake Eola, Thornton Park, Mills 50 and College Park, and the theme parks 15 miles southwest in a separate world of their own. Summers are long, humid and stormy, winters mild, and the population skews young and Latino, with the largest Puerto Rican community in Florida. Housing and insurance costs have risen faster than the tourism-weighted wages, and hurricane season shapes the calendar every year.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
The housing gap is the first thing to understand, and the currencies differ, so compare the ratios rather than the dollars. Toronto's composite benchmark price was $928,200 CAD in July 2026, with a detached house at $1,455,200 and an apartment at $551,900. Orlando's typical home was $375,175 USD in June 2026. The monthly mortgage on the benchmark with 20% down is $4,044 in Toronto at 4.34% and $1,931 in Orlando at 6.67%, so the higher American rate closes only part of the gap. Rents are closer than prices: a two-bedroom averaged $2,045 in Toronto in October 2025 against a $1,904 median in Orlando in June 2026. Orlando owners pay more in carrying costs, about $6,043 a year in property tax after the homestead exemption and roughly $310 a month for insurance, against $5,291 and $150 in Toronto. Toronto's buyer also pays $30,078 in land transfer tax; in Orlando the seller pays the stamp.
Crime figures do not cross the border cleanly. Statistics Canada counts every violent Criminal Code violation, including common assault and uttering threats, so Toronto's 2025 rate of 986.71 violent incidents per 100,000 looks alarming beside Orlando's FBI figure of 835.8 per 100,000, but the FBI rate covers only murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and it dates from 2022 because the FBI feed has no usable Orlando data since then. Homicide is the one comparable number. Toronto recorded 45 homicides in the city in 2025, the fewest since the 1980s, and the wider CMA rate was 0.91 per 100,000. Orlando's 10 homicides in 2025 were its lowest since 1971, still about 3.0 per 100,000 on a much smaller city population. Toronto's Crime Severity Index fell 7.5% to 54.99 in 2025 after an auto-theft surge; Orlando PD reports crime down 19% in 2025, on its own count.
Toronto's climate is cold and grey but rarely dangerous to a house. Pearson's 1991-2020 normals give a January mean of minus 5.0 C, a July mean of 22.1 C and 114.5 cm of snow, with flash floods in the Don Valley in 2013 and 2024 and wildfire smoke advisories in some summers since 2023. Orlando's January mean is 15.9 C and July 28.1 C, with 1,307 mm of rain, most of it in summer thunderstorms, and no snow at all. The hazard is hurricanes: Charley, Irma, Ian and Milton all did damage, and Ian dropped 14 inches of rain at the airport in 2022. Orlando sits 42 miles inland and about 100 feet up, so storm surge is not the worry; wind, inland flooding and long power outages are. That risk shows up in the $310 a month insurance estimate, about double Toronto's.
Orlando's economy is bigger in jobs and thinner in pay. The metro had 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in June 2026 and unemployment of 4.6%, against 6.7% in the Toronto CMA in July 2026, down from 9.0% a year earlier. But 305,500 of Orlando's jobs are in leisure and hospitality, about a fifth, and those pay below the private-sector average, which is why the city's median household income was $77,597 USD in 2024. Toronto's city median was $84,000 CAD in 2020, with the CMA at $97,000. The tax difference is large: income tax on $100,000 is about $21,200 in Ontario against $13,449 federal-only in Florida, and sales tax is 13% HST against 6.5%. What the Ontario tax buys is OHIP. The Florida saving has to cover health insurance premiums, deductibles and the $310 a month on the house.
A car is optional in Toronto and mandatory in Orlando. The TTC carried 420 million trips in 2024 across subway, streetcar and bus, GO Transit reaches the suburbs, and 26.2% of city commuters used transit in the 2021 Census, a figure depressed by pandemic remote work from about 37% in 2016. Orlando's LYNX buses carried 21.5 million trips in fiscal 2025 and SunRail, which runs weekdays only, about 1.2 million in 2024. Transit share in the city was 1.5% in 2024, and walking and cycling together 1.7%. The region is built on toll roads and master-planned subdivisions, and the theme parks are 15 miles from downtown. Toronto's long commutes on the 401 are real, but a household can drop to one car or none. In Orlando every working adult needs one.
Health care is the sharpest difference in daily life. OHIP covers physician and hospital care with no premium beyond the income-tested health levy, but Toronto has a family-doctor shortage and long emergency and specialist waits, and drugs, dental and vision are mostly private. Orlando has AdventHealth, one of the largest hospitals in the country, and Orlando Health's Level I trauma centre, but Florida did not expand Medicaid and hospitality jobs often come with thin coverage, so access depends on the plan you hold. Schools differ in structure: Toronto runs four public boards with specialized programs and no charters; Orange County Public Schools has about 200,000 students and Florida's universal vouchers and charters mean many families leave their zoned school. The University of Toronto is in the global top 25; UCF enrols about 70,000.
People underestimate how much of Orlando's affordability is eaten by carrying costs. The $1,931 mortgage payment looks like half of Toronto's, but add $6,043 in property tax and about $3,720 a year in insurance and the owner is paying over $2,700 a month before utilities, with the insurance bill subject to repricing after every storm. They also underestimate Toronto's rent protection: units first occupied before November 2018 are capped at 2.1% increases in 2026, while Florida forbids its cities from controlling rents at all. Neither city is cheap for a household near the local median, but the risks sit in different places: Toronto's is the price of entry, Orlando's is what happens after you are in.
Better here
- Transit carries 26.2% of Toronto commuters and the TTC logged 420 million trips in 2024, so a household can manage with one car or none.
- Home insurance runs about $150 a month against $310 in Orlando, and there is no hurricane season to reprice it.
- OHIP covers physician and hospital care with no premium beyond the income-tested health levy.
- The city recorded 45 homicides in 2025, the fewest since the 1980s, and the CMA rate was 0.91 per 100,000.
- Ontario caps rent increases at 2.1% in 2026 for units first occupied before November 2018; Florida has no cap at all.
- Pearson handled 47.3 million passengers in 2025 and the University of Toronto ranks in the global top 25.
Worse here
- The benchmark home cost $928,200 CAD in July 2026 and a detached house $1,455,200, with a $4,044 monthly payment on the benchmark.
- A buyer pays $30,078 in land transfer tax on the benchmark; in Orlando the seller pays $2,626.
- Income tax on $100,000 is about $21,200 against $13,449 federal-only in Florida, and HST is 13% against 6.5%.
- Unemployment in the CMA was 6.7% in July 2026, after peaking at 9.0% a year earlier, against 4.6% in Orlando.
- January averages minus 5.0 C with 114.5 cm of snow a year, and wildfire smoke has reached the city in some summers since 2023.
Choose Toronto if
- you earn in Canadian dollars and your household cannot self-insure against a serious illness
- you want to live without a car and use the subway or GO train to get to work
- you are renting and want a legal cap on annual increases in an older building
- you prefer a cold, snowy winter to a hurricane season and $310 a month in home insurance
The Toronto guide · Neighbourhoods · Toronto rent vs buy · Toronto mortgage calculator
Better here
- The typical home cost $375,175 USD in June 2026 with a $1,931 monthly payment at 20% down, less than half Toronto's in nominal terms.
- Florida has no state income tax, so tax on $100,000 is the federal $13,449, and sales tax is 6.5%.
- Metro unemployment was 4.6% in June 2026 and the region added jobs fast enough to grow the MSA 10.3% from 2020 to 2025.
- January averages 15.9 C and there is no snow; the airport handled 57.7 million passengers in 2025, seventh in the US.
- Homicides fell to 10 in 2025, the lowest since 1971, and Orlando PD reports crime down 18% in 2024 and 19% in 2025.
Worse here
- Home insurance is about $310 a month and property tax about $6,043 a year on the benchmark, both higher than Toronto's despite the lower price.
- Hurricanes Charley, Irma, Ian and Milton all damaged the area, and Ian dropped 14 inches of rain at the airport in 2022.
- Transit share was 1.5% in 2024 and SunRail runs weekdays only, so every working adult needs a car.
- About a fifth of metro jobs are in leisure and hospitality, and the city's median household income was $77,597 in 2024.
- Florida did not expand Medicaid, and coverage depends entirely on your employer's plan.
- The FBI has no usable Orlando crime data after 2022, so recent rates rest on the police department's own counts.
Choose Orlando if
- you earn in US dollars well above the local median and want a detached house under $400,000
- you carry good employer health insurance and would rather keep the income tax than fund OHIP
- you can budget for storm insurance and a week without power every few years
- you want warm winters and do not mind a humid summer with daily thunderstorms
The Orlando guide · Neighborhoods · Orlando rent vs buy · Orlando mortgage calculator
Toronto or Orlando, in short
Is Toronto or Orlando cheaper to live in?
Orlando, on housing, and the margin is wide. The benchmark home was $375,175 USD in June 2026 against $928,200 CAD in Toronto in July 2026, and the monthly payment with 20% down was $1,931 against $4,044. Rents are closer: a two-bedroom median of $1,904 in Orlando versus an average of $2,045 in Toronto. Orlando's carrying costs are heavier, with $6,043 a year in property tax and about $310 a month in insurance against $5,291 and $150, and its income tax on $100,000 is $13,449 against about $21,200. The currencies differ, so these are ratios, not a conversion.
Is Toronto or Orlando safer?
On homicide, Toronto. The city recorded 45 homicides in 2025 and the CMA rate was 0.91 per 100,000; Orlando's 10 homicides were a 54-year low but still about 3.0 per 100,000. Other rates do not compare: Toronto's 986.71 violent incidents per 100,000 includes common assault and threats under Canadian counting, while Orlando's 835.8 is the FBI's narrower definition and dates from 2022, the last year with complete data. Both cities are trending down, Toronto's Crime Severity Index by 7.5% in 2025 and Orlando's police-reported crime by 19%.
Which has the better climate, Toronto or Orlando?
Depends on what you mind more. Orlando's January mean is 15.9 C with no snow; Toronto's is minus 5.0 C with 114.5 cm a year. Orlando's July mean of 28.1 C comes with 1,307 mm of annual rain, most of it in summer storms with lightning, and a hurricane season that has brought Charley, Irma, Ian and Milton. Toronto's July averages 22.1 C and the hazards are flash floods and occasional wildfire smoke. The Orlando climate costs money: about $310 a month in home insurance against $150.
Does moving from Toronto to Orlando mean giving up public health care?
Yes. OHIP covers physician and hospital services for Ontario residents, with drugs, dental and vision mostly private. In Orlando care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and Florida did not expand Medicaid, so working adults without a good employer plan are often thinly covered. The income tax difference, about $21,200 on $100,000 in Ontario against $13,449 in Florida, is the money that has to pay for premiums and deductibles. Orlando's hospitals are strong, with AdventHealth and the Level I trauma centre at Orlando Regional Medical Center, but access runs through your plan.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Population and dwelling counts: Census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations and census subdivisions (table 98-10-0003-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population, Toronto, City (CSD), Ontario (98-401-X2021005 CSV) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Household income statistics by dwelling and household characteristics, census metropolitan areas (table 98-10-0061-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Median household income
- Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0148-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas (table 35-10-0026-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
- Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in Ontario (table 35-10-0177-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides
- The Daily: Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2025 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
- Homicides Open Data (ArcGIS feature service, Public Safety Data Portal) · Toronto Police Service · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Auto Theft Open Data (ArcGIS feature service, Public Safety Data Portal) · Toronto Police Service · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Murders dropped sharply in several major Canadian cities last year, data show · The Globe and Mail · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020, Toronto Pearson (Airport) · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010, Toronto (City) · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours
- The Daily: Labour Force Survey, July 2026 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Hogtown Blues: Toronto's Lagging Jobs Market · TD Economics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- 2025 and 2026 Combined Federal and Ontario Tax Rates Including Surtaxes · TaxTips.ca · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Ontario sales tax: 13% HST rates, registration, and compliance guide · Xero · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 34 billion rides and counting: the TTC reaches new service milestone · Toronto Transit Commission · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TTC ridership declined this past fall, despite stricter return-to-office policies for workers · CP24 · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- GTAA Reports 2025 Annual Results · Greater Toronto Airports Authority (via Newswire) · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Florida: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, crime.homicides rate
- Annual Resident Population Estimates for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department summarized offenses (violent crime, property crime, homicide), 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, crime.homicides 2022
- Proactive policing in Orlando yields significant crime reductions · WFTV · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend, crime notes
- Police say crimes, including homicides, declining in Orlando · Spectrum News 13 · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Orlando Police: 2025 violent crime down 9 percent in the City Beautiful · Headline Surfer · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, crime.homicides 2024
- Orlando Police Department releases 2024 crime statistics · WFTV via Yahoo News · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012815 (Orlando International Airport), monthly and annual · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Orlando, Florida (climate and hurricane history) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, character
- Hurricane Milton · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year, tables B19013 and B08301, Orlando city and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA · US Census Bureau via Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, series LAUMT123674000000003 (Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA unemployment rate) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, series SMU12367400000000001 and SMU12367407000000001 (Orlando MSA total nonfarm and leisure and hospitality) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Top employers and talent report search results (Disney, AdventHealth, Lockheed Martin employment) · Orlando Economic Partnership · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Orange County, Florida sales tax rate 2026 · Avalara · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Facts at a Glance · LYNX (Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority) · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- SunRail Ridership Grows to 1.2 Million Riders in 2024 · SunRail · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Orlando International Moves Up In 2025 National Rankings for Busiest Airport · Greater Orlando Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Market Watch, July 2026 · Toronto Regional Real Estate Board · retrieved Supports: A City of Toronto MLS® HPI composite benchmark of $928,200 in July 2026, down 3.83% year over year, City of Toronto benchmarks of $1,455,200 single-family detached (down 4.40%), $1,146,300 single-family attached (down 4.00%), $725,300 townhouse (down 5.75%) and $551,900 apartment (down 7.09%), An All TRREB Areas composite benchmark of $934,600, down 4.63%, covering the region rather than the City, A GTA average selling price of $1,003,956 in July 2026, down 4.5% year over year, 5,995 sales, 14,484 new listings (down 17.8%) and 26,098 active listings (down 12.1%) in July 2026, District benchmarks for Toronto C02 ($1,302,900 composite, detached down 2.15%, apartment down 14.65%), C14 ($888,100), E07 ($735,600) and W06 ($814,300)
- Rental Market Survey: Toronto, average rent by bedroom type, October 2025 · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Toronto CMA average purpose-built rents of $1,491 bachelor, $1,761 one-bedroom, $2,045 two-bedroom and $2,294 three-bedroom-plus, An overall purpose-built average of $1,917, A Toronto CMA purpose-built vacancy rate of 3.0%, the highest since 2021
- Property tax rates and fees, 2026 · City of Toronto · retrieved Supports: A 2026 total residential rate of 0.767311%: 0.605295% city, 0.153% education and 0.009016% City Building Fund, The City's own worked example of $692,140 of assessment at 0.767311%, which is $5,311, Education rates set by the province and city rates set by council
- City of Toronto's 2026 Budget now final · City of Toronto · retrieved Supports: A combined 2026 residential property tax and City Building Fund increase of 2.2%, MPAC's average Toronto current value assessment of $692,140, An increase of $91.53 a year, or $7.63 a month, on that average assessment
- Municipal Land Transfer Tax rates and fees · City of Toronto · retrieved Supports: A municipal land transfer tax charged on top of the provincial one, on Toronto purchases only, Brackets of 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% and 4.4%, with further bands above $3,000,000, A first-time buyer rebate of up to $4,475 of the municipal tax
- Premium information for homeowner and small rental loans · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Mortgage default insurance premium rates by loan-to-value
- Regulations amending the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations (SOR/2025-55) · Canada Gazette, Part II · retrieved Supports: The $1.5 million insured price cap, 30-year amortization for first-time buyers and new builds
- Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages · Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions · retrieved Supports: The qualifying rate of the contract rate plus two points, or 5.25%
- Interest rates charged for new and existing lending by chartered banks · Bank of Canada · retrieved Supports: The default mortgage rate of 4.34%, uninsured five-year-plus fixed, funds advanced May 2026
- Calculating Land Transfer Tax · Ontario Ministry of Finance · retrieved Supports: Provincial transfer tax brackets, The conditional 2.5% band
- Residential rent increases · Government of Ontario · retrieved Supports: 2026 rent increase guideline of 2.1%, The 2018 occupancy exemption
- Retail Sales Tax · Government of Ontario · retrieved Supports: 8% retail sales tax on insurance premiums
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted: city file, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value for the 35th to 65th percentile of each municipality's market, computed on one method across all twenty-four, Year-over-year change to June 2026, which is negative in twenty-two of the twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte metro pages use, so the two American metros can be read against each other
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Orange County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Orange County general at 4.4347 mills, the library district at 0.3748 and the St Johns River Water Management District at 0.1793, School state and local levies totalling 6.449 mills, Municipal rates from Windermere's 3.7425 to Eatonville's 7.2938, A published total against every mill code, including Winter Park's 15.3615 on codes 2, 4 and 6, Maitland's 16.3055 on code 6, and Windermere's 15.2311 on code 35 and 15.4839 on code 75, A blank library column on every Winter Park and Maitland code, which is what puts both municipalities outside the district
- Special taxing district information: the Orange County Library District's boundary · Orange County Library System · retrieved Supports: The district's boundary is Orange County exclusive of Winter Park and Maitland, each of which operates its own library, Laws of Florida chapter 99-486 as the enabling act behind it
- Final 2025 Millage Rates, fiscal year 2025-26 · Seminole County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage by taxing authority for every Seminole municipality, from Lake Mary's 14.3929 to Casselberry's 18.1808, School required local and discretionary levies totalling 5.2490 mills, The county fire and road MSTUs, which apply in the unincorporated area and in some cities but not others
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Osceola County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Kissimmee at 17.4114 mills and Saint Cloud at 17.8989, School levies totalling 5.3060 mills across required local, discretionary and capital, Dozens of separate municipal service taxing units in the unincorporated county, from 0.13 to 12.42 mills, which is why an unincorporated Osceola address cannot be given one rate
- 2025 Final Millage Rates by district, and the 2025 Final Millage Rates and Values Comparison Sheet · Lake County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage for every Lake municipality, from Leesburg's 15.9477 to Eustis's 19.8623, Leesburg's own adopted rate of 3.4752 mills, on the district sheet and again as the 2025 adopted rate on the comparison sheet, School board state and local levies totalling 6.0850 mills, The county fire, ambulance and stormwater MSTUs and which municipalities are subject to them, including that an incorporated city pays neither the fire nor the stormwater MSTU
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 population estimates for each municipality, Leesburg's growth from 27,011 to 37,815, the fastest in the metro in percentage terms, Orlando at 334,854, which is twelve percent of its own metropolitan area
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Average cost of homeowners insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved Supports: A Florida average of about $3,815 a year against a national average of about $2,543, Orange County premiums in the $3,200 to $4,500 range, at the cheaper end of the state because the metro is inland
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026 · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which applies in every county in this metro
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents per $100 on a deed, in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents plus a 45-cent surtax, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note or other written obligation to pay money
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
- Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
- Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency