Best Places to Live in Canada

MoneySense Magazine, a division of Canadian Business has ranked the Best Places to Live in Canada. Their index is based upon data the compile for around 180 different Canadian cities and towns. The MoneySense index rates and ranks these communities for things like - climate; healthcare; crime (safety) house and rental costs; income and other lifestyle categories. Like the International Living Quality of Life Index the overall list is based on total average so one community could fare substantially better in a category than another but still be below them on the total rank list.

It takes quite a while to compile all of the data so we are always looking at the previous year. In this case we're looking at the best places to live in Canada in 2010.

The top city for Best Place to Live in Canada was Ottawa.  For more about Ottawa's honour check out this report on CTV news - Ottawa the best place to live in Canada, magazine decides - CTV News


The next nine spots went to:

The Best Places to Live In Canada

#2 Kingston
#3 Burlington
#4 Fredericton
#5 Moncton
#6 Repentigny
#7 Brandon
#8 Victoria
#9 Winnipeg
#10 Lévis

What is interesting and pretty cool about the list is that the top places to live are really spread right across the country. When looking at the extended list of the Top 25 Places it really shows how quality of life is diverse and truly spread from East (St.John's) to West (Victoria) and from North (Yellowknife) to South (Windsor).

The other thing that strikes me about the MoneySense index is how comprehensive it is. International Living looks at Quality of Life from nine different directions (categories) while MoneySense looks at 6 categories but MoneySense goes much deeper into each category. When you add in the sub-categories the MoneySense index looks at 25 different factors altogether. That's a pretty in depth view of any community. It doesn't come right out and present the Cheapest Places to Live in Canada but it gives you a lot of data and certainly enough to determine if the standard of living in each Canadian location is one you can afford.

With this kind of detail it's not too difficult to extrapolate the data for different uses. Whether you're looking for the Best Places to Retire in Canada or the best places to live from almost any other perspective the MoneySense index works.