Few things are more rewarding in life than raising a family. At the same time, few things are more difficult. One way to make it a little easier is to pick the right place to call home.
There are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration when choosing a spot to put down roots: quality of schools, crime rate, unemployment, general cleanliness, affordability of housing, median income, access to public transportation, etc.
Below are four Canadian cities that each offer an ideal balance of the aforementioned qualities, as well as some unique advantages all their own.
Calgary
Since Forbes named it the number one cleanest city in the world in 2007, Calgary has continuously been recognized as such all the way up to the present day. Setting an ambitious goal for itself of reducing landfill usage by 80%, the city’s many environmentalist efforts include encouraging recycling and composting and enacting municipal plans to reduce graffiti, litter, and congestion. The result is a bustling community benefiting from unrivaled air quality and clean water.
Pair that with high-quality healthcare and education and a relatively low crime rate, and it’s not hard to see why The Economist recently placed the city fourth in its recent Global Liveability Index report. Nor is it hard to see why many young families are seeking out Calgary homes for sale.
Ottawa
Ottawa has been called Canada’s smartest city due to its population having the highest number of university degrees in the country. Small wonder considering that the city is home to the University of Ottawa, which has made it into the Times Higher Education worldwide top 200 multiple times and which boasts a 97% employment rate for its graduates.
Thankfully, Ottawa has more to offer than just academics. The city’s location along the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers means its many beaches are perfect family-friendly hotspots for summertime activities.
Guelph
From two of Canada’s biggest cities to something a bit more modest, Guelph may not be as famous as other locales, but that just makes it all the more impressive that not too long ago it found itself the one and only Canadian community to make fDi Magazine’s Top 10 Small American Cities of the Future. This ranking was based on such attributes as Guelph’s economic potential, business friendliness, human capital and lifestyle, and connectivity.
That’s not the only survey in which Guelph excels, either. The Bank of Montreal’s final quarterly Regional Labour Market Report Card for 2018 showed that the city has one of the highest employment rates in Canada, staying strong at over 67% with an unemployment rate of 2.3%.
Montreal
In a recent survey, Montreal was the highest-ranked city to move to in all of Canada and the fifth-ranked city to move to in the entire world. It’s hard to argue with numbers like that. For families with children, it’s even harder to argue with a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report singling out Montreal as having the most affordable childcare services in the country, with parents on average paying around $168 a month for full-time infant care.
Similarly low is the cost of home ownership in Montreal, which on average is roughly half that for a home in Toronto and almost a third of the cost of one in Vancouver. At the same time, the city’s economy is on the rise, with promising career opportunities in such cutting-edge fields as IT, aerospace technology, telecommunications, software and video game development, and biotechnology.
