2 Alberta cities ranked best places to live in Canada: MoneySense
Posted Mar 12, 2014 08:47:02 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Two cities in Alberta have been named the best places to live in Canada, according to an annual tabulation by MoneySense magazine.
St. Albert earned the top spot — for the first time in the magazine’s Best Places to Live in Canada ranking — followed by Calgary. St. Albert was ranked No. 2 in 2013.
“It was a bit of a race in Alberta for the top spot — Calgary continues to do well,” MoneySense deputy editor Sarah Efron said on Wednesday.
The magazine looks at factors that contribute to the quality of life in 201 cities and communities across Canada, including employment, housing prices, crime, weather and household income.
MoneySense says the prominent trend in rankings show nearly half of the top 20 cities are in Western Canada, led by St. Albert, which has a population of 64,000.
With respect to St. Albert, Efron said “it’s a bit of a surprise … do you even know that community? A lot of people have never heard of it.”
“It’s a very affluent community … a very family-friendly place to live.”
Located on the fringe of Edmonton, St. Albert, has an unemployment rate near four per cent, with incomes near the top in the country and a low crime rate.
MoneySense also says Alberta has a strong economy and many high-paying jobs.
In Ontario, Burlington and Oakville took the fourth and sixth spots, respectively; while Burlington was named top mid-sized city in Canada.
“Oakville does very well. It’s also on our richest cities list — on the flip side, housing prices are very high,” Efron said.
Toronto came in at No. 32 overall, compared to 28th spot in 2013, mostly because of the cost of living in the city.
“Unemployment rates are slightly higher in the urban centres like Toronto, while incomes and household net worth are high. It’s the affordability that undermines the city,” said Mark Brown, the managing editor of MoneySense.
“Toronto really is suffering from high unemployment this year, around nine per cent, and it’s hard to get into the Top 10 with that kind of unemployment score,” Efron added.
The latest edition of MoneySense also looks at the best places to raise children, best places for weather, best places for new immigrants and best places to retire.
Canada’s Best Places to Live 2014 (top 10 out of 201)
- St. Albert, Alta.
- Calgary
- Strathcona County, Alta.
- Ottawa
- Burlington, Ont.
- Boucherville, Que.
- Oakville, Ont.
- Edmonton
- Regina
- Quebec City
Top small cities in Canada (top 5 out of 140)
- St. Albert, Alta.
- Strathcona County, Alta.
- Boucherville, Que.
- Lacombe, Alta.
- Rimouski, Que.
Top mid-sized cities in Canada (top 5 out of 46)
- Burlington, Ont.
- Oakville, Ont.
- Regina
- Kingston, Ont.
- Lévis, Que.
Top large cities in Canada (top 5 out of 15)
- Calgary
- Ottawa
- Edmonton
- Quebec City
- Winnipeg
Read the full story and rankings on MoneySense.ca. The magazine will be on newsstands this week.
