To find the best places to live in Canada, you need to measure both the prospects for finding work, the cost of living, and the affordability of housing. Sure, weather matters, as do schools, culture, and leisure activities, but let’s be honest, if you can’t afford to pay the bills, nothing else matters.
5 Best Places to Live in Canada
So with those goals in mind, I set out to find a list of the best 5 places in Canada to live. Here are the results.
1. Fredericton NB
Fredericton has a moderate household income ($73k), less than 5% unemployment rate, and the average price of a home is nearly $125k, making it one of the best places to buy a home in Canada.
2. Moncton NB
As the second area in New Brunswick to make the list, Moncton might have a lower household income than most ($68k), but it also has a steady employment rate and low cost of living. According to home pricing surveys, it’s cheaper now than last year.
3. Brandon MB
Like the rest of the list, Brandon has a low unemployment rate and low cost of living. There are colleges and universities in the area, and plenty of transit opportunities, making it the best place to live in Manitoba.
4. Repentigny QC
Jumping into the fray from Quebec is Repentigny, which sports a higher average income per household than the first in the list, but has a median price of around $200k, which sets it back just a bit. Still, for such an excellent job economy, Repentigny deserves to be the best in Quebec.
5. Windsor ON
Finally, Windsor jumps to the front of the list in Ontario because of the low sales tax, high-income prospects, and moderate housing prices. Opportunities for Windsor also look good for the next few years as more and more jobs move to the area.
Though we could only find room for five, some of those that didn’t cut for the best places to live in Canada were Portage la Prairie (lowest home prices in the country), Yorkton, Clarington, Waterloo, and Leamington.
Remember that these ratings are biased based on housing prices and the cost of living index, and if you’re looking for great weather or culture, this list might not work for you. See Here
However, either way, you look at it, if you’re looking to buy a new home in Canada, then you need to know how much you can afford. While this list helps in part, you can go even further by digging into our free mortgage calculator & mortgage quotes section, which will help you find out how much you can afford to pay, what interest rate you need to aim for, and how much you should put down to keep your payments manageable. Second, you will also get five free mortgage quotes from specialty lenders in your area, which is a great way to test the market.
