What do you guys think of california?

@Jambo001 ---- Remember if you plan on moving to California on a TN you need to show NON-IMMIGRANT intent by maintaining a residence or address in Canada, or keeping a bank account open (Bank statements). They will ask for those things at the border and if you cannot provide it to them, they will turn you right around.

This is not correct. While TN is indeed a non-immigrant status, all that is required is acknowledgement that you will leave US when your status is up. There is absolutely no requirement to maintain any residential ties outside US on most of these work-related statuses (TN/TD, H1/H4, etc).

@agnelson... Yes while this is true, having the proof will be handy if he encounters the 'right' customs officer.

@agnelson... Yes while this is true, having the proof will be handy if he encounters the 'right' customs officer.

If this is one's first foray into the US on TN, then surely one will still be living in Canada at the time of application, so proof of current ties should be simple. However there is no need to provide any assurance that one will keep those ties active once TN is secured -- regardless of the mood of the POE officer. This is a major differnce between work statuses and, say, 'B' tourist or 'F' student entry, which require on-going and continuous foreign ties.

So the words "need to" and "maintaining" or "keeping" really don't apply here, as you've acknowledged.

We don't want to give the wrong impression.

2) To get a similar standard of living say to Toronto, say if you make CAD $100K, what should you be making in calif.?
>It's hard to say. You live in the 'burbs. If you lived in the 'burbs in Cali you'd have to deal with a LOT of traffic, it's probably not worth it. But, if you can deal with it I'd say you maybe $200K. I doubt you'd get such an offer though as these days salaries are very low. Maybe consider San Diego, but San Francisco and LA are not worth it and cold.

So I recently decided to see what kind of offers I can get in California. However I found the above comment an extreme .. really do you need $200K in California (say bay area) to have a similar lifestyle of 100K in GTA (Mississauga/Brampton)? Apart from housing (a typical CDN $500K house would cost a mil. in Calif.). I know the taxes are higher (28 Fed + 10 State) and property taxes are likely higher.
I don't think anything else would be that costly. So is a 100K more/annum required?