Description
Living in the USA vs living in Canada: which country is better to live in? Ten rounds of real data: happiness, paychecks and jobs, taxes, home prices, health care, life expectancy, safety, schools, freedom and wildlife. Every number comes from a named source, shown on screen and listed below. The final score is a 5 to 5 dead heat, so we finish with who should pick which country.
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Chapters
0:00 Round 1: Happiness
0:41 Round 2: Paychecks & jobs
1:12 Round 3: Taxes
1:50 Round 4: Home prices
2:17 Round 5: Health care
2:59 Round 6: Life expectancy
3:23 Round 7: Safety
3:55 Round 8: Schools
4:21 Round 9: Freedom
4:49 Round 10: Wildlife
5:18 The verdict: which one should you pick?
5:55 Did you know? The longest land border
Sources
Round 1: World Happiness Report 2026, Gallup World Poll 2023-2025 (U.S. 6.816, 23rd of 147; Canada 6.741, 25th; Canada 6th in 2013; under-25 happiness change): https://worldhappiness.report/
Round 2: OECD, average annual wages, 2025, US dollars PPP (86,977 vs 67,901): https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/average-wages.html
Round 2: U.S. BLS, Employment Situation, September 2026 (4.2%): https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Round 2: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, September 2026 (6.5%): https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/261009/dq261009a-eng.htm
Round 3: OECD, Taxing Wages 2026, single worker at the average wage (U.S. 30.0%, Canada 32.1%, OECD 35.1%): https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/taxing-wages-2026_3a5169ef-en.html
Round 3: Canada Revenue Agency, GST/HST rates (5% GST): https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-which-rate.html
Round 4: Demographia International Housing Affordability, 2026 edition, Chapman University and Frontier Centre for Public Policy (U.S. 4.5, Canada 5.4, Vancouver 10.8)
Round 5: U.S. Census Bureau, Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024 (8% uninsured, about 27 million): https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-288.html
Round 5: OECD Health Statistics, health spending per person, 2024, US dollars PPP (14,823 vs 7,372)
Round 5: Commonwealth Fund, Mirror, Mirror 2024 (U.S. 10th, Canada 7th of 10): https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2024/sep/mirror-mirror-2024
Round 5: Fraser Institute, Waiting Your Turn 2025 (28.6 weeks): https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/waiting-your-turn-wait-times-for-health-care-in-canada-2025
Round 6: CDC NCHS, Data Brief 548, Mortality in the United States, 2024 (79.0; women 81.4, men 76.5): https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db548.htm
Round 6: Statistics Canada, The Daily, January 13, 2026 (82.16 years in 2024): https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260113/dq260113b-eng.htm
Round 7: FBI, Crime in the Nation 2024 and 2025 (about 5.0 and 4.1 per 100,000)
Round 7: Statistics Canada, Homicide in Canada, 2024 (1.91): https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251202/dq251202a-eng.htm
Round 8: OECD, PISA 2022 (math 465/497, science 499/515, reading 504/507): https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/pisa.html
Round 9: Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2026 (U.S. 81, Canada 97): https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2026
Round 9: Reporters Without Borders, World Press Freedom Index 2026 (U.S. 64th, Canada 20th of 180): https://rsf.org/en/index
Round 10: ASM Mammal Diversity Database (488 vs 225 living species): https://www.mammaldiversity.org/
Round 10: Canadian Space Agency (62% of the world's lakes, HydroLAKES data): https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/multimedia/search/image/17643
Border: International Boundary Commission (8,891 km / 5,525 miles): https://www.internationalboundarycommission.org/en/about/
Photo credits
Vancouver_dusk_pano.jpg: Mfield, CC BY-SA 3.0
Nine-banded_armadillo_(Dasypus_novemcinctus)_(29884473785).jpg: yakovlev.alexey, CC BY-SA 2.0
Manatee_swims_underwater.jpg: Keith Ramos, USFWS, public domain
Moraine_Lake_17092005.jpg: Gorgo, public domain
Moose_in_bog_near_Birch_Creek_Wild_and_Scenic_River_(23693507361).jpg: BLM Alaska, CC BY 2.0
Golden_Gate_Bridge_and_San_Francisco_skyline_from_Hawk_Hill_at_Blue_Hour_dllu.jpg: Daniel L. Lu, CC BY-SA 4.0
Grand_Canyon_South_Rim_at_Sunset.jpg: Mgimelfarb, CC0
Sunset_Toronto_Skyline_Panorama_from_Snake_Island.jpg: Jchmrt, CC BY-SA 4.0
Horseshoe_Falls_(Niagara_Falls).jpg: Maksim Sokolov, CC BY-SA 4.0
Manhattan_from_Weehawken,_NJ.jpg: Dmitry Avdeev, CC BY-SA 3.0
US_Capitol_west_side.JPG: Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0
Yellowstone_Park_bison_herd_grazing_at_Firehole_River_in_Fountain_Flats,_Wyoming,_US.jpg: Clyde Charles Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0
All numbers checked October 27, 2026.
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#Canada #USA