For the past few years, The Globe and Mail has ranked Canada’s Most Livable Cities. Our goal was to move beyond the typical discussion of housing prices and real estate markets and ask: What actually makes a place good to live?
Our ranking uses nearly 60 variables across 10 categories, from health care and safety to housing and climate resilience.
But livability is not one-size-fits-all. We can compile reams of data, but where you live is also a matter of personal preference. And one of the most important deciding factors? The size of the community.
Big cities may offer better jobs and access to public transit, while smaller ones have more space and a slower pace. Our readers noted that previous editions did not offer a way to compare places by size.
That’s why, in this third edition, we’ve introduced a population filter that allows readers to compare cities more meaningfully within similar size ranges. The most livable cities in our four categories are:
Three of the four top-ranked cities are in the Greater Vancouver Area, which is a credit to the livability of that region as a whole. But if you use our tool to sort by category and size, you’ll see a diverse range of cities that could align with your own preferences, be they big or small. You’ll also get a more detailed picture of which communities have improved greatly.
We evaluated 454 cities using 58 variables across 10 key categories relevant to people considering relocation: economy, housing, demographics, health care, safety, education, community, amenities, transportation and climate.
This year, we added new climate variables to measure how long periods of cold or heat affect energy costs, strain infrastructure and cause discomfort. We also included three new variables in the health care category. Health care quality now looks not only at the availability of hospitals and doctors, but also at how much people trust the system and how often they use its services.
We weighted each category by its perceived importance and averaged city scores to produce a composite score for each city.
No community is perfect; for example, this year’s top-ranked city, North Vancouver, received a low score for housing. The results offer a holistic overview, helping readers understand the strengths and weaknesses that shape each city’s livability.
Our rankings are designed to help Canadians identify communities where they can flourish based on their individual circumstances. With our interactive tool, you can prioritize the attributes you value most and tailor the rankings to your needs.
As in previous years, we have created sub-rankings tailored to different life stages. Whether you are graduating from college, starting a family or business, navigating midlife changes, retiring or moving to Canada, we can help you find the most livable city for your needs.
Explore our list of the 100 Most Livable Cities below. You can personalize the ranking to view the top 20 cities by region, select the features most important to you, filter cities by size or search among the 454 cities in our analysis to view their unique profiles. You can also see how each city’s ranking has changed [↑↓] compared to our last list.
Our methodology
When considering a move to a new city, it’s understandable that you have many factors on your mind. This decision is deeply personal, but looking at a city’s livability ranking may provide some reassurance and guidance as you navigate this important choice.
The third edition of The Globe and Mail’s Most Livable Cities ranking includes 454 cities across the country, each with a population exceeding 10,000.
This year, we added a population filter to our rankings. In addition to customizing our rankings by category, you can now filter cities based on size: small (10,000-29,999), mid-sized (30,000-99,999), large (100,000-499,999) and major (500,000+). This feature was developed in response to user feedback to ensure that our livability assessments are fair and precise, enabling better comparisons between cities of different sizes.