1-bedrooms in Toronto?

You will definitely be able to find something, but it'll take time. And you'll see a LOT of basement apartments come up for rent. Craigslist is one of the most common places for rental postings, but be sure to check Facebook Marketplace - Toronto's network is massive.

Negotiate! How long will you be staying? Landlords are often more willing to give a month of rent for free than to lower rate, presumably because of rent control. You definitely want to negotiate rent if you are staying for 3-5 years, but if for two years a fixed discount is good enough. Just last year a friend got the entire main floor of a house at Christie Pitts for little more than $1100/month.

I saw a lot of basements while I was looking in November, but I managed to find a very nice ground floor one bedroom on Dundas just above Roncesvalles for $990 inclusive. It's a little compact, but I just pretend I'm at sea. It may take some persistence, but there are decent places available, and landlords are definitely willing to toss in extras (washer & drier) to attract good tennants.

You are going to have a hard time if you don't want to live in a basement, and if you aren't willing to do some fixer-upper-ing. The farther west you go, the easier it'll be. (I lived at Bloor and Landsdowne a few years ago in a great place for a very good price, but I also had to walk past hookers and really scary looking people doing drug deals every time i wanted to walk home from the subway station at night. If you're willing to put up with that kind of neighbourhood - i wasn't - then there are plenty of bargains to be had.)

I used to live in a totally fabulous 3rd floor walkup on Roncy. $1200, 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, sunroom, washer & dryer IN THE APARTMENT (!!!!!!!!), steps from everything. Not sure if it's available right now. So yeah, it's easily findable in the area. But you know what they say about birds, hands, and bushes..

I recommend Viewit.ca. I found a (small, admittedly) place for $700 at Avenue and Davenport. It's not fancy, but it is fine for one. But I think I was lucky. I don't think $1100 is that unreasonable, but also $1200 isn't that massive if it's flash. You can certainly get cheaper, though, but quality and convenience can drop massively. I'd say you were at the middle to high end of what you can get, but the availability lower than that is much smaller - it may depend on how much time you have to find somewhere.

If you love the apartment and you can afford $1100, I would suggest you take it. Apartments under $1000 that aren't basements and aren't roach-infested hovels in that area are less and less common all the time. They seem common until you actually start going to see apartments... then you start to see it's not going to be easy. (I lived in the area from 2003-2007 and had I not been leaving the city I doubt I'd have been able to afford to live above ground alone.)

there are some oldish, low-rise (like 5 storey walkup) buildings right on the east side of roncy, like a block or two south of the loblaws.. a one-bedroom in one of those is $850. they're not palatial or anything, but they're pretty cute- there's a small bay window in the living room of each unit, for instance. i forget the addy, sorry- but i've seen them come up on craigslist once in a while.

Yes, you can find a nice 1 bdrm in all the areas you listed for less than $1100. It just requires some patience and persistence. Keep in mind that craigslist is being scoured by like-minded individuals regularly (myself included) so the key is to jump on promising listings immediately. A couple of sites that I regularly check are http://myhood.ca/ and http://viewit.ca/ (caveat, I have never actually rented any listings from these sites -- YMMV). Best of luck.