Toronto vs Vancouver Corporate Law Salaries

[Spinnaker]

I'm hoping any practicing lawyers, articling students, or 2L summer students who are willing to share their knowledge of the job market in either Toronto or Vancouver may be able to help. I've read the ZSA salary guide, and while it shows about a 20% difference between salaries the two cities, with Toronto being higher, I have no real idea of what one could expect if they were to land a position at a medium or large firm in terms of total compensation. I've also read on this forum that the salary guide for Vancouver is out of date, so I was hoping to see if there were any insights from anyone with knowledge on this matter. I understand that the salaries are fairly consistent if not identical across the board for all firms.

What would be the approximate total compensation (base salary + average bonus) for a junior associate working in a large firm in Vancouver?

What would be the approximate total compensation (base salary + average bonus) for a junior associate working in a large firm in Toronto?

I'm currently undecided about whether it would be worth it or not to move to Toronto with the goal of pursuing a career there. I am having a hard time deciding between attending school in BC vs Ontario, as from everything I've read on this forum, your school's location more or less determines where you will work barring exceptional cases.

Thanks in advance for any information anyone can provide!

[Ohshmagoda]

Salary data is available here:

Bonus data is not readily shared and varies based on many factors. You can assume that Toronto bonuses are higher, but in comparable circumstances the variance is probably not material on an after-tax basis.

More importantly: you may not want to make a decision about where to attend school based on big firm associate salaries. The difference in compensation (at the associate level) will not be meaningful and is somewhat offset by the higher tuition costs in Ontario. Vancouver and Toronto are very different and the big firm landscape in each city is very different. It’s also entirely possible to go to school in BC and work in Toronto, and vice versa.

[Dinsdale]

We (BigLaw Toronto) routinely hired students from UBC if they wanted to come east.  Bit more of a flight risk, mind you, but that is factored in.