The 35th most livable city to live in Canada falls to 64
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64
I was intending to watch last night’s council meeting and reporting back but:
Anyways, I’m sleepy so just as well.
It does give me a chance to bring up something else, which is the Globe and Mail’s new ranking of the most livable cities Canada.
In total, we evaluated 448 communities based on 50 variables, which spanned 10 categories such as Transportation, Amenities and, yes, Housing. We tweaked the importance of various categories based on what our readers told us. People care more about a community’s amenities and less about education than we had originally thought. We adjusted accordingly.
Based on their criteria, Prince George is 64 of those 448, which isn’t bad but is worse than last year when it ranked 35. I wanted to know what might have changed in the past year so I pulled up the detailed look from each year to see what changed. Here are the primary changes that I think might have impacted things, all around costs:
Unemployment rose from 7.7% to 10.2%;
Average household income fell from $113,380 to $100,632 (though it was written as median this year, so may not be the same thing);
Average monthly rent rose from $1,118 to $1,121;
Average primary real estate value rose from $399,236 to $419,962;
Average mortgage value went from $399,236 to $278,436
Some other changes — our diversity level went up, some: In 2023 it was 51 per cent lower than the Canadian average, in 2024 it was 46 per cent lower. Mandarin and Tagalog switched spots on the “language most often spoken at home” (in 2023 Mandarin was 3 and Tagalog 5, in 2024 they swapped). Manufacturing fell off our top five employers but construction did. In neutrals the “sense of community” stayed the same at 68 per cent and access to healthcare stayed the same, at 78 per cent.
So I think the main thing is the cost of living went up while employment/wages went down. Mind you, we’re not alone there - North Vancouver and Victoria, which topped the list in year one and two, respectively saw the same thing happen, though by not as much (unemployment, for example, only increased by 0.2 % in North Van). Anyways, who knows, these lists are interesting and everyone thinks they are wrong for every conceivable reason, mostly because “is this is a good place to live” is highly subjective and can be different based on your job, your friends, your neighbourhood, etc etc etc etc.
Here’s where we placed in the other lists:
For young professionals
2023: 23
2024: 41
For raising kids:
2023: 42
2024: 55
For midlife transitions:
2023: 82
2024: 66
For retirement:
2023: 26
2024: 46
For newcomers:
2023: 25
2024: 55
For entrepreneurs:
2023: 68
2024: 165
News roundup:
Prince George ballplayer Jared Young has signed a one-year deal with the New York Mets.
Northern Health seniors facing eight-month wait to secure long-term care bed: Report.
PG Humane Society facing record-low donations; unveil new fundraiser.
Weekend fires on Davis Road, 5th Avenue cause $400,000 in damage.
Bridging the gap between Indigenous communities and the health care system.
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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
RE: livable cities.
I haven't managed to find a non-paywall link that works yet, so I can't check myself. But someone on a Reddit thread said that Montreal didn't even make the list? If so, then I would kick this list to the curb! If not, then I'm at a loss to have an opinion until I can look at the info myself. In any case, I think all of these lists have to be taken with a grain of salt as they attempt to make rank lists "objective". One person's h*llhole is another person's livable city. One magazine's person of the year is Trump based one some kind of criteria, and many people would disagree with that according to their own criteria. I'm going with Kamala, myself. :)