When she packed up her coats and kissed her cold homeland of Canada goodbye, Alexandra Materski knew there’d be some differences in Miami, Florida. More sunshine, lots of sandy beaches, and maybe even a few alligator encounters. What she didn’t anticipate was just how random some of the cultural differences would be.
From the number of men who drive pick-up trucks to realizing that Americans aren’t half as rude as she’d been led to believe, Materski has detailed the things that surprised her the most since relocating to the United States. Her TikTok video has received mixed reactions... You can check it out below.
This online fitness coach packed up everything and moved from Canada to Miami, Florida
Image credits: alexxandra.fitt
These are the biggest differences between Americans and Canadians, according to her
Image credits: alexx.fitt
Image credits: EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: EyeEm/Freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Wavebreak Media/Freepik (not the actual photo)
You can watch the full video here:
Why have more and more Canadians been flocking to the United States in recent years?
The number of Canadians choosing to make the United States their home has skyrocketed in recent years.
According to the American Community Survey (ACS), which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 126,340 people left Canada to live in America in 2022. That's almost 70% more than ten years earlier, when 75,752 Canadians made the move.
"Of the 126,000 people who moved to the U.S. in 2022, 53,000 were born in Canada, 46,000 were Americans returning home, and 30,000 had immigrated to Canada from outside North America and chose to leave," notes Canada's CTV News site.
United Nations data compiled by Statistics Canada shows that the U.S. is the most common destination for Canadian emigrants. “There were about 800,000 Canadians living in the U.S. as of 2020, eight times more than the 100,000 who live in the U.K.,” reports CBS News.
Some of the most common reasons for emigrating are love, work, warmer weather, more affordable living, and politics. Many are buying property in Florida.
Image credits: wirestock/Freepik (not the actual photo)
"This last year, I got fifty times more calls than in the past decade. And most, almost all of those callers are saying politics is why they want to leave," said Marco Terminesi, a Florida-based real estate agent, in 2024. "I don't pry, I just respond, 'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it gets better.'"
“It is so much cheaper to buy a house, not in the big towns like Los Angeles, California, San Francisco, New York, but (in) 'Small Town U.S.A.,'” immigration lawyer Len Saunders told CTV News.
He says this is a big drawcard for young Canadians wanting to get into the housing market. “Young people realize they can’t get into the (Canadian) housing market. Or if they are able to, they’re buying a condo, whereas in the U.S., they can buy a beautiful house,” explains Saunders.
But it's not only the younger ones packing up and leaving Canada. Older Canadians are choosing to spend their later years in the south. “They’re cashing out," says Saunders. "They're taking their equity in their house, and they’re using that equity to buy clear titles so that they have no mortgage and using some of that for their retirement income.”
According to CBS News, when compared to Canada, the cost of living can be cheaper in some U.S. states. “Wages are often a lot higher in the U.S. for in-demand professions in fields like information technology and health care,” reveals the media outlet, adding that the tax burden is less onerous in many states, and that “there's no state income tax in Florida.”
Some U.S. states also have lower so-called "sin" taxes on alcohol and tobacco, another perk for any Canadian who likes to indulge.
"Florida is a downgrade": Materski's TikTok video received mixed reactions
