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moneysense.ca, 20/03/12
Canada’s Best Places to Live 2012
Check out how your community stacks up.
Top ten cities
- Ottawa
- Burlington
- Kingston
- Halifax
- Regina
- Brandon
- Fredericton
- Edmonton
- Red Deer
- Winnipeg
Previous Lists
When we speak of Canada’s diversity we refer to the geography of the land and the ethnic background of our people. Yet when you crunch the economic data, as we have for Canada’s Best Places to Live 2012, it becomes clear that how we live defines us as much as where we live. Not only is our urban experience varied depending on whether we live in downtown Montreal or in small-town Saskatchewan, but our ability to access health care or find a job or afford a home is as diverse as our land and our climate.
What is more, the economic factors that determine how we live are always evolving. Thirty years ago, the place to be for jobs would have been southern Ontario. Today, as the manufacturing sector falters, we find good jobs are becoming scarce but social services left behind from good economic times are abundant. Similarly, Alberta and Saskatchewan are being transformed by the boom in oil, gas and other commodities. This puts a strain on urban communities as services try and stay ahead of the feverish growth of resource towns, and housing prices skyrocket—witness the average cost of a home in Fort McMurray (Wood Buffalo) is now a half a million dollars.
This year, for the third year in a row, Ottawa takes top honours with a score of 74 points out of a possible 105. Perhaps most notable however, are the number of Western cities that shot up this year’s list thanks to strong economic growth and low unemployment. Regina and Halifax catapulted up more than 15 spots each to rank 4th and 5th respectively. Similarly, Red Deer, jumped from 96th to 9th on our list.
Take a close look at the data and you’ll find the top-rated cities aren’t perfect or even close to it any category. They are however above average in most categories, resulting in an overall high standard of living.
This year’s list has been expanded from previous years to include 190 cities and towns with populations over 10,000. To compile our list we have taken municipal data and ranked the cities in 22 categories and then given all the cities an overall ranking. For a full explanation on how we crunched the numbers, check out our methodology.
Also new this year are three additional lists, Best Places to Retire, Best Places to Raise Kids and Best Places for Jobs.
We’ve highlighted what we think are the most interesting facts and figures to come out of this year’s data in a series of maps, articles, galleries and interactives for you but the possibilities for the curious mind are endless. Don’t let us stop you from diving right in.
Canada’s Ideal City
Wondering what our ideal city would look like? Then take a gander at this interactive utopia, which lets you mouse over various structures and visual cues to see just what the most livable city in Canada might look like.
Galleries
Canada’s 35 Best Places to Live
We’ve crunched the numbers on 190 Canadian cities to find out which places are the most livable.
Canada’s Worst Places to Live
Our rankings were not kind to every city. See which cities placed last in each of our major categories, as well as Canada’s worst overall city.
Canada’s Best Places for Jobs
These 10 cities have the most prosperous economies and best job prospects in the country.
Best Places to Raise Kids
MoneySense ranks Canada’s biggest cities and towns in 10 categories to find out which are the most family-friendly.
Top 25 Best Places to Live Map
Canada’s 25 top places to live 2012 include communities from coast to coast. Use the screen controls on the left side of the map to move around the country and zoom in on the featured cities. Click on each location to see that city’s rating in different categories and why it’s a great place to settle.
To see the complete list broken down by subcategory, download the full spreadsheet.
moneysense.ca, 20/03/12
I am considering migrating to Australia or Canada. Still digging out whatever info as possible.
Funny to see that everyone is partial to where they live! I think it depends on your priorities. Personally, I love the ocean, so I've always loved Halifax. That being said, I've visited the lakes region east of Montreal and that was just a wonderful little area as well. Who's to say what's good for each person. I say, if you're happy, stay there!
alberta is the richest provence with the lowest taxes (unless your a farmer) and has the best edgucation and a mixture of mountains, plains, forest, and canadian shield
Education is to learn how to spell. It does have mountains, forests etc but where is the water
West ed mall
All the points listed above are important. How-ever, I for some reason( unknown) have a soft spot, in-fact a great fondness for university for university towns, or to put it differently, places with a distinct and if possible unique, educational, which is to quite an extent related to culture, in my opinion, heritage.
BC HAS EVERYTHING A PERSON COULD WANT! WHEN COMPARING PROVINCES FOR ALL OVER BEAUTY, RESOURSES, CULTURE, HISTORY, WEATHER, & I COULD CONTINUE TO LIST THEM, OURS IS #1 wE WELCOME YOU TO EXPLORE ONE OF THE GREATEST PLACES ON EARTH!
I'm moving to regina after Christmas. Is Regina a good place to live?
I hate Toronto and im only 21. I love going snowboarding, gold, skating and surfing. I don't really like the big cities, i prefer to get out to the country side every weekend while alot of my friends just like going out and shopping. If i wanna go out clubbing/shopping i head into the cities for a weekend every once and a while. It depends on what lifestyle you live. Good list
This is a survey for mediocre people who can't afford or keep up with the pace of Canada's only three large cities. What kind of person would ever choose Regina, Red Deer, or Brandon over Toronto or Vancovuer? My guess is a boring Canadian with little-to-no creativtiy or edge- much like the stereotype that Canada deals wtih all the time.
Wonder if you've been to more places than the 3 biggest cities…. If so you'd know a little more about it & the people that live in those " other places" so ignorant.
This year, the downloadable excel data is protected, unlike 2011. Is it possible to find a place to download the editable (actually filterable) 2012 data for convenience? Or simply provides the password to unprotect the datasheet? Appreciate this awesome statistics.
hello all pls am a foreigner and am looking for a very good place to stay in Canada dat is very affordable….like good job opportunity, cheap housing, very less crime rate, very good weather and cheap univercities dere
I can't believe edmonton ab is in the top ten list and Calgary is not! WOW, Calgary was a great place although very expensive, it was superb living.
This list is way off the mark. I have been through almost EVERY single city in Canada, and lived and worked in quite a few of them as well. Ottawa makes me sick to my stomach. For those of you tax paying middle income people that have spent any time there, I don't have to say any more. I lived in Burlington for 14 years. (Loved it) A very clean city with great parks and services too. I lived in Halifax for 8 years. Warm climate? ( Ha Ha) Too much rain and fog. It's also a port city, so it's not for everyone. Now let's get down to the west (Currently living in Calgary). Alberta has taken the title from Toronto as the new "big Lie" Similar to the 5 years I spent working in the oilfields up north.
Big money, big jobs, big rent, big spenders, land of credit and home of the repo. Wait a few years til this province really takes a dive. Not a place I would invest. Not much for lakes either.
BC. "Bring Cash" for wages that don't reflect the housing market. I spend a lot of time in BC and it has to be one of the most wasted provinces ever. The governments in BC have managed to financially screw up a place with some of the best natural resources in the world. BC has some beautiful places, but you will pay for it. Taxes aren't cheap either. Gas is always up there as well. (usually about 15 to 20 cents a litre more that AB.)
Let me sum up this article the way it should be.
Best place to live in Canada……..The one that works for you, because we are all different.
The factor of discretionary income puzzles me. Why is discretionary income ranked as a percentage of total income? Living in a lcoation that provides higher income, reduces the effect of this number. When spending dollars, you don't spend a percentage of your income, you spend real money. I think this ranking should be done based on discretionary income dollars, not percentage of total income.
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