Vancouver is consistently named as one of the most livable places in the world by some rankings, but not all studies see it as a shining example of what a city should be.
Once again, MoneySense magazine’s annual list of the best places to live in Canada has not ranked Vancouver in the top 10 or even the top 40.
In its ranking of 219 cities across the country, Vancouver comes in at number 44, which is a slight improvement from last year, when it was number 46.
The discrepancy between these findings and the results of other studies that rank Vancouver favourably lies in the criteria that are used in the comparison. For example, the Mercer quality of life survey, which puts Vancouver at the top of the list for North American cities and number five worldwide, compares cities around the world using 10 criteria including social and political environments, healthcare and education. It does not consider affordability, and Vancouver is notoriously unaffordable, particularly when it comes to real estate.
Not surprisingly, MoneySense gave Vancouver poor marks for housing affordability. Home prices have been soaring across the entire region; in the past year alone, prices grew almost 30%, according to Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver data released last week. These prices are only expected to keep growing.
Vancouver also scored poorly when it comes to income levels. The median household income was $61,455, which is more than $30,000 less than that found in Ottawa ($91,510). Vancouver fared better than our nation’s capital when it comes to unemployment, however; in our city, the estimated unemployment rate was 5.5%, compared with 6.6% in Ottawa.
Not all Lower Mainland municipalities scored as poorly as Vancouver. West Vancouver was ranked as the seventh best place in Canada in which to live, followed by the District Municipality of North Vancouver, in eighth place. Port Moody (11th place), Delta (14) and the City of North Vancouver (25) also ranked higher than Vancouver.
The richest city in Canada
MoneySense also ranked the richest cities in Canada, and West Vancouver took top spot. The average household net worth in that city was found to be more than $3.5 million, compared with $859,000 in Vancouver. Whistler was the eighth richest city in Canada, with an average household net worth of $989,000.
MoneySense’s full ranking can be found here.
@EmmaHampelBIV
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