It is without a doubt that Calgary is an amazing city. We are often a humble Western folk who don’t necessarily adore being praised, but when we do, we accept it with much gratitude. It also doesn’t hurt if you are second place in MoneySense’s 2014 Best Places to Live in Canada list.
People in Calgary often complain though about the high costs of living in this city of the west, but what Calgarians don’t realize is that we have it quite well here. Compared to other Canadian cities, many houses up for sale in Calgary cost thrice as much in major cities like Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Calgary has been the first best place Canadian city to live in the past consecutive years, yet this year it fell, due to what the report calls, “largely due to minor hiccups in the unemployment rate, home affordability and an uptick in population growth, which can lead to more strain on the city’s infrastructure.”
Yet, Calgary is flourishing in ways that, if you were told that Calgary were to become a major cosmopolitan city 30 years ago, people would have thought you were insane. We’ve gone from a desolate pioneer train stop in the 1900s to Canada’s oil boom success child. We are a city on our way to champion even the likes of Toronto. We came from 30 years ago, only hailing 350,000, to a city surpassing one million strong. Canada will soon have a rival to Vancouver’s arrogant claim as the only major city in Western Canada.
Calgary is, in fact, much more affordable. Being a British Columbian expatriate myself, the main reason to why we moved to Calgary was mostly due to its large job market. Calgary is a job haven for many Canadians. Many flock from their provinces to this Albertan city in search of employment. The report suggests this as being the sole reason why Calgary has faired much better on the list saying, “[Calgary’s] unemployment below 6%, household incomes averaging above $100,000, low crime and access to transit. Sure, home prices are higher than 80% of the rest of the country, but the people here can afford them.”
According to the report, the trend that they see that mid-sized cities and small towns often do much better on the list due to their affordability and better living standards. Now before I get Torontonians, Montrealers, and Vancouverites insisting their cities have all of that, I’d like to point out, Vancouver is currently the world’s second most expensive city in world in terms of living, while Toronto and Montreal have it hard to pay for their own homes because the housing markets in those fair cities has been inflated due to the housing bubble, making homes their extremely expensive.
It’s just fact that smaller towns and mid-sized cities just have affordability in their names. They also have a patriotic citizenry who often will choose to reside in their respective towns and cities due to their love for the vibes of a small town. Home is defined by some as a strong knit community, by those standards, Calgary sure deserves it’s place up so high on a living list, because community is what makes Calgary so amazing and homey. We’re a large city, with a small town feel. For all those expatriates who found refuge in Cowtown, you will snuggle right in, just have one of our pancakes wrapped in bacon breakfasts and make yourself comfortable.
Also, for those of you wondering, the first on the list was Alberta town St Albert. FULL LIST OF BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN CANADA 2014 BY MONEY SENSE HERE.
