Montréal

Prepare a French-first start

Montréal's municipal newcomer advice directs you to community services for housing, jobs, school and French learning, plus the 211 information line and public libraries. Preparing in French is practical: draft a short self-introduction, practise the local address and letter formats, and carry a translation of any lease term you cannot yet read. That is practical preparation, not a guarantee that every service exists in one language, and not an employment rule.

Ville de Montréal: conseils et ressources pour nouveaux arrivants

Compare the borough plus the real journey

The island is a patchwork of boroughs, and an equal distance behaves very differently depending on how many transfers it adds. Use the Société de transport de Montréal for lines and the regional transport authority for fares and trip planning, then ride your candidate journeys on an ordinary weekday. Compare door-to-door time and the number of changes rather than straight-line distance.

STM (English pages)

ARTM: regional fares and planning (English pages)

Read the lease before the rent

• Ask for the lease and any mandated form in writing before transferring money.
• List inclusions explicitly: heating, hot water, appliances, storage and parking.
• Keep proof of payment and ask for written receipts each month.
• For payment questions in Québec, rely on the tribunal's own guidance rather than another province's rules.

Tribunal administratif du logement: paying the rent

A workable first week

• Confirm your address and keep written tenancy details.
• Open a bank account with identification your institution accepts; institutions set their own procedures and in-person attendance is sometimes required.
• If you do not already have a Social Insurance Number, check the official eligibility rules and document checker, then apply through Service Canada and protect it.
• Book a single appointment with a settlement organisation near you.
• Check your own registration route for Québec health insurance coverage.

FCAC: opening a bank account

IRCC: settle in Canada

Service Canada: apply for a SIN

Read the family benchmark correctly

Statistics Canada's 2025 Market Basket Measure reports a modest basic-needs threshold for a reference family of two adults and two children. Geography is the metropolitan area, not the municipal boundary, and the values sit on a 2023 base in current dollars. It assesses need; it is never an advertised rent, a 2026 newcomer quote or a comfortable-living target.

Shelter in that framework already bundles rent, utilities, appliances and basic tenant insurance. That is why the imported calculator shows separate utilities at zero: included, not free. Replace every reference value with your own quotes and check that you are not paying twice for the same cost.

Statistics Canada: Market Basket Measure table (2025)

Build your own totals

Published components are annual amounts divided by twelve, so rounding can make your calculated sum differ slightly from the official threshold, and nothing here is extrapolated to a single person or a couple. Arrival travel, deposits, childcare and personal health needs are separate estimates. Start from your own income and expenses, then revisit every figure after your first full set of bills.

FCAC: make a budget

Next steps

Cost-of-living calculator

Compare with Toronto

First 30 days checklist

Photo credits