Montreal is Canada’s second-largest city after Toronto and the second-largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris. It’s located in the province of Quebec where French is the official language. Although the knowledge of French is a must-have in most cases, IT positions often require proficiency in English as well. And most of the local people can speak English.
Montreal offers developed IT infrastructure and great entertainment. Compared to other large Canadian cities, it benefits from lower cost of living and greater safety. That’s why Montreal may become your happy middle ground.
IT salaries in Montreal
The average IT salary in Montreal is C$5,700 per month (C$68,200 per year, before taxes). It can vary from C$3,794 for web designers to C$7,228 per month for DevOps engineers.
The average IT salaries in Montreal (CAD per month):
- Software developer: 5,964
- Back-end developer: 5,822
- Front-end developer: 5,745
- Full-stack developer: 5,147
- DevOps engineer: 7,228
- Database administrator: 6,338
- Web designer: 3,794
- System administrator: 5,578
- Project manager: 5,953
- QA engineer: 6,219
- Technical writer: 4,986
- Security analyst: 5,429
Salaries also depend on the candidate’s experience (Junior, Middle or Senior specialists).
Junior .net/C# developer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$65,000, at C$73,000 for a Middle developer, and at C$97,000 for a Senior developer.
Junior Java developer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$62,000, at C$70,000 for a Middle developer, and at C$103,000 for a Senior developer.
Junior mobile application developer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$63,000, at C$78,000 for a Middle developer, and at C$93,000 for a Senior developer.
Junior front-end developer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$62,000, at C$71,000 for a Middle developer, and at C$81,500 for a Senior developer.
Junior full-stack developer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$64,000, at C$71,000 for a Middle developer, and at C$94,000 for a Senior developer.
Junior DevOps engineer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$81,500, at C$103,500 for a Middle engineer, and at C$120,000 for a Senior engineer.
Junior DevOps engineer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$81,500, at C$103,500 for a Middle engineer, and at C$120,000 for a Senior engineer.
Junior QA engineer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$75,500, at C$83,500 for a Middle engineer, and at C$93,000 for a Senior engineer.
Junior UI/UX designer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$59,000, at C$66,000 for a Middle designer, and at C$75,000 for a Senior designer.
Junior data analyst’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$50,000, at C$64,000 for a Middle analyst, and at c$81,000 for a Senior analyst.
Junior data scientist’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$73,000, at C$84,000 for a Middle analyst, and at C$98,000 for a Senior analyst.
Junior database administrator’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$64,000, at C$72,000 for a Middle analyst, and at C$84,000 for a Senior analyst.
Junior technical writer’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$56,000, at C$65,000 for a Middle analyst, and at C$76,000 for a Senior analyst.
Junior project manager’s annual salary in Montreal starts at C$57,000, at C$76,000 for a Middle analyst, and at C$90,000 for a Senior analyst.
Economy
The unemployment rate in Montreal is 6.0% — a little higher than the national average of 5.7%. However, IT specialists are in high demand on this city’s job market, as Montreal’s most important sectors include software engineering, AI research, video games production, and more.
Here are the most important economic sectors in Montreal:
- Aerospace
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) research
- Big Data
- Electronics
- Finance
- Petrochemicals
- Pharmaceuticals
- Robotics
- Software engineering
- Telecommunications
- Textile and apparel manufacturing
- Transportation
- Video games
There is also a great number of large technology companies present in Montreal including the following:
- Behaviour Interactive
- DeepMind
- Electronic Arts (EA)
- Eidos Interactive
- Facebook AI Research
- Gameloft
- Google Brain
- Microsoft Research
- Samsung Research
- Strategy First
- THQ
- Ubisoft
Cost of living
The cost of living in Montreal and the province of Quebec in general is lower than in other major cities including Toronto and Vancouver. Affordable housing and lower consumer prices in Montreal are especially attractive for newcomers.
The average prices in Montreal (CAD):
- Meal at McDonald’s: 8–13
- Meal at another inexpensive restaurant: 10–25
- Average food basket (milk, bread, eggs, cheese, chicken, apples, potatoes, water, beer): 50
- Monthly fee at a fitness club: 12–70
- Monthly pass: 75–90
- Monthly rent (1 bedroom): 600 – 1,500
- Monthly rent (3 bedrooms): 900 – 3,000
- Property prices per square meter: 2,000 – 8,100
- Utilities: 50–200 per month
Travel
Montreal has one international passenger airport — Montreal–Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport). It serves flights to many North American and European countries, as well as to China (Beijing, Shanghai), Cuba, Mexico, and other countries.
Entertainment
Canadians call Montreal the cultural capital of Canada. This city is a popular filming location and home to many music, comedy and film festivals including Just For Laughs, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, Osheaga, Pop Montreal, and many others. It has a great circus scene as Montreal is home to the famous Cirque du Soleil. Montreal also has a lively nightlife, many libraries, museums, and galleries.