{"id":485674,"date":"2026-02-19T16:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485674\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:35:15","slug":"province-beats-ontario-b-c-alberta-with-top-three-cities-to-retire-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485674\/","title":{"rendered":"Province beats Ontario, B.C., Alberta with top three cities to retire in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re planning to retire or simply planning for the future, one province in Canada is home to three of the top cities for retirees, even beating Ontario, B.C., and Alberta.<\/p>\n<p>Canadians looking to retire have several factors to consider, such as housing affordability, healthcare, the cost of living, safety, and weather. Zolo, a Canadian online real estate marketplace, has released its ranking of the 10 best places to retire in Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs over 20 per cent of Canada\u2019s population will be over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statcan.gc.ca\/o1\/en\/plus\/7059-older-people-are-all-right\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">65 or older by 2030<\/a>, many will be considering where to live in retirement,\u201d reads the report. \u201cSome will age in place, staying in their family homes during retirement, while others will downsize and choose another locale to live out their golden years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zolo compared 38 cities across Canada and scored them based on eight factors:<\/p>\n<p>Age characteristics \u2014 the percentage of the population 65 years and older<br \/>\nHealth care access \u2014 percentage of population with regular access to a health-care provider<br \/>\nCost of living \u2014 affordability of goods and services, groceries, healthcare, housing, transportation, and utilities<br \/>\nHome price \u2014 average home prices<br \/>\nCrime rate \u2014 crime severity<br \/>\nSunshine \u2014 number of sunny days per year<br \/>\nFreezing days \u2014 number of days at or below 0\u00b0C<\/p>\n<p>According to Zolo, the top three cities to retire are all in New Brunswick. Several cities in Ontario make the list, while none of the cities in B.C. or Alberta even made the top 10.<\/p>\n<p>These are the top three cities for retirees and what makes them Zolo\u2019s top choices.<\/p>\n<p>1. Saint John, N.B.<br \/>\n<img alt=\"retire\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"720\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2245110\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/553200839_1191180376364429_4141560172353556374_n-1.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2245110\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">@kingswood_golf\/Instagram<\/p>\n<p>Cost of living: 16 per cent lower than the national average<br \/>\nBenchmark average home price: $341,100<br \/>\nPercentage of population over age 65: 20.6 per cent<\/p>\n<p>St. John\u2019s has low home prices and cost of living, which means you can afford to live here on a smaller income once you retire. The city has a population of 63,000 and has two hospitals and several medical clinics.<\/p>\n<p>With a crime severity index of 58.4, it\u2019s a pretty safe place to live. And if you\u2019re not a fan of gloomy weather, the good news is that St. John residents enjoy 285 sunny days a year. Unfortunately, it only has a walkability score of just 26, so you\u2019ll definitely need a vehicle to visit trails, beaches, and the famous Bay of Fundy.<\/p>\n<p>2. Moncton, N.B.<br \/>\n<img alt=\"retire\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"820\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-2245088 size-full\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/moncton-1-e1771445255568.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2245088\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">@destinationmonctondieppe\/Instagram<\/p>\n<p>Cost of living: 17 per cent lower than the national average<br \/>\nBenchmark average home price: $381,800<br \/>\nPercentage of population over age 65: 19.4 per cent<\/p>\n<p>Not only is life in Moncton more affordable, but the city also offers several amenities, hospitals, clinics, retirement communities, and assisted living facilities. In addition to being a busy entertainment and shopping hub, it also has an international airport for seniors who enjoy travelling. The downside is that Moncton has a relatively higher crime severity index score of 93.83.<\/p>\n<p>3. Fredericton, N.B.<br \/>\n<img alt=\"retire\" title=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1924\" height=\"1306\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-2245135 size-full\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2329749545-scaled-e1771448034440.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2245135\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CandyRetriever\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>Cost of living: 15 per cent lower than the national average<br \/>\nBenchmark average home price: $351,200<br \/>\nPercentage of population over age 65: 19.4 per cent<\/p>\n<p>Fredericton is frequently ranked among the most affordable cities to live in Canada, thanks to a cost of living that sits below the national average and home prices that are nearly half the average cost of a home across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Among the top three cities in New Brunswick, it has the lowest walkability score of 25, so you\u2019ll definitely need a vehicle to get around. If you love festivals, you\u2019ll have plenty of events to look forward to, such as the Harvest Music Festival and NB Spirits Festival.<\/p>\n<p>The following cities make up the remainder of the list:<\/p>\n<p>4. Kingston, Ont.<\/p>\n<p>5. Simcoe, Ont.<\/p>\n<p id=\"h-tillsonburg-on\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Tillsonburg, Ont.<\/p>\n<p>7. Cobourg, Ont.<\/p>\n<p>8. Quinte, Ont.<\/p>\n<p>9. Peterborough and the Kawarthas, Ont.<\/p>\n<p>10. Sudbury, Ont.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zolo.ca\/blog\/best-places-to-retire-in-canada\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">report<\/a> on Zolo\u2019s website. World Atlas also recently named one Alberta city as the <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyhive.com\/calgary\/camrose-alberta-retire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">best place to retire<\/a> in the Prairies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re planning to retire or simply planning for the future, one province in Canada is home to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-485674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}