Where do young professionals working in Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario) typically live?

[maverick_bigapple]

I’m contemplating a job offer in the Kitchener - Waterloo (KW) area, but, have apprehensions of it being more of a university/college town. I’m looking for recommendations to facilitate a probable move. A few points I’d want to factor in-

(i) Considering I’m moving from a large city (not inclined towards a suburban life), and, I’ll be new to Canada, I’d like to have access to a fairly active social life and a demographic that is widely younger working professionals

(ii) Is a daily commute from Toronto to KW even feasible?

Many thanks!

 

[scylla]

I’m contemplating a job offer in the Kitchener - Waterloo (KW) area, but, have apprehensions of it being more of a university/college town. I’m looking for recommendations to facilitate a probable move. A few points I’d want to factor in-

(i) Considering I’m moving from a large city (not inclined towards a suburban life), and, I’ll be new to Canada, I’d like to have access to a fairly active social life and a demographic that is widely younger working professionals

(ii) Is a daily commute from Toronto to KW even feasible?

Many thanks!

(i) Don't know. Hopefully someone else will comment.

(ii) It's feasible but pretty far. It means you'll end up spending a lot of time commuting each day. I'm thinking it's probably 3+ hours per day in travel.

 

[aquafinabb]

(i) Don't know. Hopefully someone else will comment.

(ii) It's feasible but pretty far. It means you'll end up spending a lot of time commuting each day. I'm thinking it's probably 3+ hours per day in travel.

Hi @maverick_bigapple
I moved from Chicago to Kitchener/ Waterloo area earlier this year. Waterloo is university town population approximately 125,000. Kitchener is little bigger about 400,000. Both cities have bars/ clubs - I guess it would depend on active social life.

My recommendation would be check meetup.com and see different groups that might interest you in K/W and Toronto area.

I agree with @scylla I do enjoy Toronto - it does remind me of Chicago - with lot of activities and summer festivals etc. but commuting 2+ hours each way for work is a non-starter for me.

 

[maverick_bigapple]

Many thanks for the responses @scylla and @aquafinabb!

@aquafinabb, did you move to the KW area, or, are you based out of some other town that is close by? I was told the KW area is hard to get around in the winter - any pointers on that?

 

[aquafinabb]

Hi @maverick_bigapple
I'm in Waterloo. So I moved towards the end of winter (February 2018) - we did have an ice storm (April I think) - the whole weekend the traffic was light. Authorities were requesting people to stay off the roads unless absolutely needed. But from my conversations - driving within the city limits should not be an issue - since they salt the roads. Of course travel times are increased a few fold.

 

[scylla]

Hi @maverick_bigapple
I'm in Waterloo. So I moved towards the end of winter (February 2018) - we did have an ice storm (April I think) - the whole weekend the traffic was light. Authorities were requesting people to stay off the roads unless absolutely needed. But from my conversations - driving within the city limits should not be an issue - since they salt the roads. Of course travel times are increased a few fold.

Good to mention that this isn't unique to Waterloo. Toronto can be hit by similar storms and the April ice storm was bad here as well with many people without power, many many car accidents, businesses closed, and flights halted out of Pearson. A few years ago there was a really bad ice storm in Toronto that knocked power out for extended periods of time in some areas (as much as three weeks).

OP - Don't make a decision between the two based on weather. The K/W vs. Toronto weather is effectively the same.