Close Reading

America will be segregated, but in places like public schools and things it isn’t. There’s also many towns and cities where it’s not segregated. But there’s also many places that are.

05:42 YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES! I'm from the states, NJ to be exact. Before starting nursing school I visited Canada during the summer. I stayed in Montreal and visited Quebec (I had a bit of culture shock being in Montreal because of how CLEAN the city was. Compared to places like Philadelphia and NY). Without a doubt the quality of food is different in Canada vs. the states. For the first time I ate Nox for breakfast in Montreal (Salmon with cream cheese on a bagel) and was like wow this is good! When I ate it back home, the taste, texture was different. \n\nMontreal Nox tastes like and had the texture of salmon. Where as in the US it's like mushy and a bit jellish.

To me its crazy to see how different living in the city is from a rural or even Suburban area. Like cost of living in most burbs is no where near either countries city.\n\nIve been to a few places, several different parts of the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico and what they all taught me is i dont want to live in a city.

The real food is in the rural cities my boys, stop going to major cities

I live by lake Michigan about 40 minutes North of Chicago and 40 minutes South of Milwaukee with every type of social biome around me in between as well as airports and I didn't realize how different it made me from people who live hours or more from a different type of demographic or city until I started going to Summer Camp back in the day and talking to people who hadn't left their hometown, ever because they don't have easy access to airports, translations and if their going to pay extensive money for a family trip it's probably to go hunting or go to the one resort thing their state is known for. I've been to several other states between the East and West Coast and it's interesting to see how much of a mixing pot we are of stuff and I do wish travel was more prevalent between everything for the sake of letting people see the rest of the country.

couple notes from an American perspective: canadians aren’t as polite and nice as the stereotypes. folks in montreal really think they in europe and not canada. canadian cities are diverse but there’s a “dryness” in the culture and atmosphere. canada is safer but also boring compared to the states

New Orleans is my favorite city

I can't do big cities. I don't want super rural, but Pensacola is too big of a city for me, I like living in the outer suburban areas like Navarre and Gulf Breeze between Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach. Everything I need is within 20-40 minutes. Most within 5-10

I know damn well yall ain't talking about expensive COL when Vancouver is likely more expensive than New York. Also the US has many other cities to choose from while Canada has like 5. \nAnd the food here is likely far better, yall ain't got no Cajun or creole food up there.

Canada big ups. Definitely, when I have been to the states, the racial segregation was one of the biggest surprises. Being from Toronto, you'll legit have every culture within 1 floor of 1 apartment building. Then go to like Jersey, and not see a single black person in an entire neighborhood. I REALLY like the diversity of Canada, at least in the big cities. Happy to be raising our daughter here, we actually went out of our way to ensure the daycare we put her in was pretty diverse. \nNow, in our small towns, shit gets a little.... I don't wanna say RACIST per se, but definitely a lack of cultural diversity. Annnnd maybe a bit racist lol. \n\nBesides that, our Universal healthcare is definitely one of the reasons I am proud to be Canadian. It's not perfect, but Canadians don't even understand the idea of medical bankruptcy. Like, how could anyone be against the idea of having a system that gets rid of that? Because taxes go up? Like, we all get old and sick at some point. You DO get that money back with the healthcare you receive eventually, and in the long run, pay less per capita than places with private healthcare. It's like being against your pension. Makes no damn sense to me. \n\nLastly, I gotta throw a little shade on the overly patriotic nature of Americans. Like, the US makes great entertainment. They are a world leader in making entertaining shit. But besides that... y'all ain't so great. Your good, y'know, top tier in terms of countries. But not better in most ways than other first world countries. Worse in a few. Canada isn't perfect, but you don't see Canadians constantly claiming to be better than everyone else. It's such a weird flex, like, everyone who isn't from there knows it's not true. It's like showing up to a car meet in a Honda Civic, claiming to be faster than everyone else, laughing and driving off. It's just weird

The socioeconomic flaws are much difficult to compare considering the very foundations that birthed America as well as its intricate and dense population. There are variety of implications that comes to accommodating a diverse population of 380 million which is 10 times the population of Canada (these can also be structural). The rent in Montreal is not as high relative to major urban cities in America simply because of the demand. People simply do not want to live in Montreal at the same rate that they do for places like San Francisco and New York. Moreover, places like New York and San Francisco, (this can also include Toronto/Vancouver), have rigorous rent controls as well as zone restriction laws that limits the capacity for home builders to produce affordable housing, (especially when compared to Quebec). I live in Canada, but I even I must admit that economic success and freedom is much higher in the U.S. Name me another Western country with more african Billionaires/Millionaires than America? Canada is immensely reliant on Government to regulate trade and commerce and due to our lack of entrepreneurial spirit, I expect that we will remain a commodity-based economy for decades. This is especially a sad reality if interest rates continue to rise, as it will negatively impact the purchasing power of our dollar which is indexed to commodities . \n \nCheers,

The best transit metro areas with good walkability either have too much crime or cost too much or BOTH. The best area for healthy living statistically is arlington VA but that place cost wayyy to damn much in a lot of neighborhoods. Philly is affordable comparitively but got way too much crime. We are so close to fixing that stuff, that if we do we covered, but mosy city governments are totally SCREWED IN THE HEAD!

LA is like that cause of the Redlining in it's development. The city was super segregated and then you add how institutionalized it is to and thats why it's like that.

I guess this kind of goes with the whole everything being incredibly spread out, but public transit in most major cities in Canada is far more reliable than in the US.

NYC has clean tap water. Problem is the pipes in your building might be from the 1800s. But the segregation is dead right. I remember being a kid (20+ years ago) walking through Queens and I'm in a neighborhood that's lauded for being the biggest melting pot. But these MFs were racist towards black people. Hell every neighborhood that wasn't predominantly black, didn't want blacks in it. I traveled all over the city and had to deal with that. Even in the Heights where most Dominicans are my complexion. Let them find out I'm not Dominican too...\n\nI found this to be true in most places I've been to in America. Hell in Florida, Jacksonville area I've seen people driving around with nooses hanging from their rear view mirrors.

It's honestly pretty odd hearing these people's stories about these huge major American cities, while I live in town of 50 thousand people, but people live very far away from each other in Northern Indiana.

Los Ángeles is a weird place. People are segregated when it come to low income communities. The reason Los Angeles and Los Angeles county are like this is due to the gangs. In Los Angeles county, there are a lot of divisions of cities. City within a city. Each city has a main gang. For example, my city of La Puente. The main gang is La Puente 13. Within The city of La Puente there are subunits of gangs according to the different streets around the city. There are like 7 to 8 different gangs within La Puente. The neighboring cities are like this to, so things can get pretty violent. This is why Los Angeles is very segregated. In low income communities people just stay with their own people. \n\n Things are different in College towns and upper middle class communities are a lot more diverse. That is what you see in the movies.

The north east is the only place in America where it really has true cities..every other major cities are just a bunch neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area 40 minutes away

USA has whole neighborhoods that are crappy, Canada has pockets. Edmonton, Alberta, around 2006-2008 was nicknamed Deadmonton, not only cause winter is terrible, but because it had the highest murder rate per capita in all of North America. That said, it is a great city.

Your remarks about FL are completely true! I live in Tampa now - and each major city is at least two hours away from each other. Tampa to Daytona? 2.5 hours. Tampa to Miami? five hours. Miami to Daytona? Five hours. Daytona to Jax? Two hours. Jax to Tally? several hours. Tally to Tampa? 1/2 a day (it feels like). Orlando to Tampa? Depends on rush hour!

It’s funny that you guys clowns in Columbus Ohio for not having a big city, but we have more people in the city of Columbus that you do in Vancouver

i was living in a city where the tap water was so bad cause it had so much fluoride and other shit in it that it bound me up cause it dried out my insides.

As native of Mobile, Al. (thanks for the shoutout preach). Y'all are pretty spot on with your list, but it really does depend on what part of the country you're talking about. America is big. I've been to all the major cities and even I wonder how people survive on low paying jobs, what some people pay for a Studio in a major city could afford a house elsewhere. It also seems the bigger the city, the more segregated it is, I mean you have a Chinatown in almost every metropolis I've been to. NYC Public Transportation was disgusting...Tokyo was immaculate. America is a car country, and most city planning was done with the car in mind. Roll Tide.

Columbus Ohio is a great city!!! How dare you!

Yea most of the New York women are few and far in between as far as beauty goes. When you travel, you’ll see just how the women in your city y’all consider 8’s, 9’s and 10’s are really 4’s, 5s and 6s. I promise…

Aba imma need you to come to Memphis Ten and drink our city punch

I can't deal with city folk in both US and Canada. The moment that uptalk hits my ear cannal, I might as well throw my coffee away, because my blood pressure gets-a-pumpin'

I feel attacked, kinda. Public transport and tap water, you’re 150% correct. If you’ve really only experienced the cities in the US though that’s definitely gonna be a super different experience. Also, California is… too much of a microcosm to represent the US in any way and LA is even more of an outlier. I need to hear preach expound on our east coast women more because what he laid out is too vague and subjective. Definitely not sure that our politics being “entertaining” is a good thing, in fact I’m almost positive that it’s to our detriment as a society but that’s just my take. I live in central Pennsylvania for what it’s worth

I have family in Miami and that city is such a contradiction. Florida has one of the lowest per hour wages in America, yet Miami is one of their most expensive cities to live in. My sister works a salaried Florida State government job as a supervisor which would pay 6-figures in Canada, yet is only $40,000 there. That is considered a good wage there. Beyond the glitzy beaches, the poverty is nuts. But yes, America has us beat on flights! I can fly round trip to Miami, from Toronto, cheaper than to Montreal.

The unites states is very dangerous place to live, all big cities are dangerous, everyone definitely has a gun, and they should. Everyone hates each other, you cannot trust anyone, everyone is going want something from you. Stay out!, people very aggressive, people are very suspicious of one another, it’s a total mental illness.

Toronto is 3rd most expensive city in North America. Vancouver is also in the top 10. Your talking about Montreal, which is dirt cheap.

Aba I'm in Houston Texas 2 largest state 4th largest city our rent for two bedroom apartment is around 790$ house in the fancy parts yes an actual house with 5 bedroom and 2.5 rest rooms is around 2200$ not all major cities are insanely high with rent

Yall should come to alberta its like Texas Lite. Edmonton and Calgary are extremely autocentric cities, the transit and train is trash. I went to montreal in sept and it was so much better it was insane. Everyone seems to forget about Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

honestly, 99% of this is just because of the size of the city. Montreal is #20 in metro area population in North America, and there are 15 US cities which are higher population than Montreal. If you were to go to more comparable cities in the US, you'd find them much more comparable.

I lived in Canada for 20 years now and recently I went to NY city to explore and watch a ball game. The biggest difference I noticed is how huge the food portions are! Like a small pop drink in NY is equivalent to a large pop drink in Canada lol. Also I remember trying to get a medium sized pizza, and then finding out there’s only 1 size and it’s enormous, by far bigger than any sized pizza I’ve seen ?

On the subject water, it varies from city to city. I live in a city called Quincy, just south of Boston. Friends and family who live in the same area, but in different towns like Randolph or Brockton, always say how good the tap water is here when they visit.

Mobile Alabama is a big city

Tap water and New Orleans.... back in the 80s or so they did some kind of test/survey on tap water in major cities in the US. New Orleans' tap water was rated best tasting, but most likely to kill you the quickest. The tap water came from the Mississippi River, and with all those chemical plants up stream......

As a New Yorker who frequents MTL. women in Montreal are way hotter on average. \nNew York women are constantly looking to finesse a situation and operate from a struggle mindset.\n\nIn Canada you'll have solid 10s working barely above minimum wage, you'll feel like you're tripping over baddies.\nTake one of their average looking girls, dump her in NYC and she'll be worshiped as a queen.\nCanadian women are also much easier/nicer to talk to and a lot less materialistic.\n\nAlso, (alleged fat shaming segment ahead) black women can't tell me shit about them being naturally fatter because Canadian black girls aren't big like that. Of all my cousin's friends, maybe 2 are out of shape and neither would be considered that big by American standards. It definitely shifts city-to-city, region-to-region. People in Western New Yorker are fatter than people in NYC

Sounds like life in major cities might indeed be better in Canada, and I wouldn't be surprised. I think major cities in the US blow. I like to avoid them when possible. \n\nI don't know if I agree on the food though. You can find spots pretty easy in most places, and I have been to some serious backwaters.

American isolation in cities is laterally because of racism and it's called redlining. There's more to it but that's the most obvious one.

I feel like this is a bit more of big american city vs big canadian city. But good insights!

If you've only been to large cities, you haven't seen it all. Living in a town versus a city is so much calmer, safer, and personable. That being said, I would LOVE to move back to Germany. Loved my families time there and so many other places around the world.

I moved from the U.S. to Canada. Some observations:\n1. It's unbelievably safe in Canada. The most dangerous places in Canada are still very safe compared to much of the U.S.\n2. Outside of DC and New York and I guess Chicago and L.A. in the U.S. and Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada, you need a car. I disagree that city planning is that much better in Canada.\n3. The maternity leave in Canada is great \n4. The unemployment insurance in Canada is great too\n5. I prefer the Canadian health care system. I never experienced any long wait times. My wife had literal brain surgery and it was free whereas it would've been hundreds of thousands of dollars in the U.S.\n6. Canada is further to the left and is much more woke than the U.S. Everything here is about equity, diversity and inclusion. Even many Canadian conservatives would be moderates in the U.S. but most people know this already.\n7. There is a better work life balance in Canada. I worked a lot more when living in the U.S.\n8. Most Canadians live by the U.S. border  so the weather is not that different than most northern American states. But once you go to northern Canada, it is as cold as they say it is.\n9. The U.S. is better for making money.\n10. It is much more racially segregated in the U.S. \n11. Outside cities like Montreal and Toronto, Canada is very white.\n12. Things are much more spread out in Canada. When I lived in the U.S. driving for 1 hour to go somewhere was a long drive. In Canada, that is normal.\n13. Canada is pretty great if you like the outdoors. There's only 36 million people here and outside the major cities, you find small towns and the wilderness. \n14. Canadians are quite friendly. I know my neighbors in the country. I never knew my neighbors in the U.S.\n15. Canadian politics is boring and I like this. However, in the rural areas, it seems that people really hate Justin Trudeau.\n16. Since Canada is so similar to the U.S. it is very easy to adjust to life here.\n17. Outside of Quebec, you really don't need to speak French. \n18. The nationalism of the Quebecois is very surprising. There is no group in the U.S. this nationalistic.

I like to point out another thing from that point about there being 40 countries in the US. Even different parts of the same “country” separate themselves from others. As a Baltimore citizen I can say for example that we do not consider ourselves a part of the DMV. We are just Baltimore. Even inside of Baltimore the west side and east side are so different that you forget it’s all in the same city/ county? It’s amazing how much Americans like to separate themselves from each other

You guys hit every topic perfectly. I am from the islands, and I live in the US, Texas yall ?I agree with everything especially the food part. I try to support local businesses and I was able to find some awesome 'whole in the wall' spots that I frequent. Even traditional island food. Don't get me started on the tap water. I live in a small city and the tap water is bleh. My one goal is to visit Canada on day. I have friends who have family that live there and I always hear good things.

As someone who lived across America and in Montreal and Vancouver, the cost of living there isn’t worth the pay disparity compared to other major cities. I’ve had the same company send me an offer $30k less to work the same job in Montreal instead of Vancouver because of the cheaper cost of living. I did the math and still would make more net profit in Van than MTL

I worked in Vancouver a lot, which was really nice and pretty, but I don't recall the tap water hitting me hard lol. I grew up on the northwest chicago burbs and spent much of my life there and think it is one of the great areas to grow up and live in. The city itself has pros and cons for areas, like all cities, although crime seems up in even the better parts these days. Y'all are super on point with airlines - because of the competition across all the major airlines here, as well as competition across banks and co-branded credit cards, US citizens can take advantage of some pretty great deals and options uniquely available only here because of this competition.

I live in a very rural place in canada (almost. 3.5 hours from the nearest city. 4 hours even in winter from having to be more careful driving) and im more northern than most of the country by far. We have a nice mexican restaurant (which ive been to mexico more than once so i can confirm its mostly to par lol) and a nice vietnamese cafe and some other stuff. Town is probably about 12 000 people.

Canadian cities have worse public transit than America, by far. Only Toronto and Vanouver are exceptions. Data is clear.