Is the cost of living in Calgary or Edmonton really that high?

Question

I've heard that rents start from nothing less than 1000 for even a small unfurnished one bedroom apartment.

Answer 1

Resident of Calgary here. Can see the Calgary Tower from the front door of my house.

Like others have said, it is all relative. Compared to Toronto or New York (what I've heard of them) Calgary is still relatively cheaper. What the really big problem in Calgary right now is housing and that fact is hurting a lot of people lately. We just don't have the rental space for people that want to move here. Contractors would rather build single family detached stuff than rental space so there's nothing new being built while the stuff that is here is being taken over by developers who are turning them into condos. That makes rent here rather expensive. I had to go looking myself for June 1st this year and it sucks. People get into bidding wars over renting basement suites.Places only need to be advertised in the paper for one day. Places are being rented out three months before they can be occupied. It's nuts. They say that three quarters of the people sleeping in the homeless shelters actually have full time jobs.

As to other aspects. In Alberta, you need to have a car. The cities are not geographically small and were built for car owners. If you are bus dependant you're going to have to plan on long walks for everything (groceries, laundry, everything) So that can make the city quite expensive as well. Car insurance is private here which can mean it's cheaper or quite a bit more expensive. Depends how much experience behind the wheel you have.

Food and other costs of living I think you will find actually quite cheap. There isn't a grocery chain that doesn't distribute from Calgary and that generally makes things cheaper and more plentiful. Plus we're ranching country and cool weather cropland here. That means meat, potatoes, bread etc is really cheap. (I base that on what it cost me to buy the same stuff in Vancouver in Victoria) That said, dairy and fruit/greenhouse vegetables are more expensive here(again compared to the coast)

All in all it's hard to say. If you come here, the best thing I can say is that you never need worry about being unemployed. You might not get a job you like, but you will get a job. There is a drastic shortage of workers here. Whether you want that job or you make money enough to be comfortable though, well, that's a little more in doubt.

Answer 2

The cost of living varies from province to province. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are the most expensive areas; Charlottetown, Winnipeg and Edmonton are much cheaper.With the high quality of life that is available to Edmontonians, one might think that it would come at the price of a much higher cost of living, but Edmonton remains one of the lowest of Canada's major cities. In fact, Alberta has the lowest personal tax rate in Canada and is the only province with no provincial sales tax. The website give you info on rentals/buying homes.Currency Converter (Bank of Canada)
Salary Calculator (Homefair.com)
Mortgage Rates and Calculators (CanadaMortgage.com)
Price Comparisons and Statistics
Cost of Living (Economic Development Edmonton)
Alberta Health Care (Government of Alberta)
Canadian Econonic Statistics (Government of Canada)
Gas Prices (EdmontonGasPrices.com)
Housing
MLS Listings (Edmonton Real-Estate Board)
Houses for Rent / Sale

Hope this give you some help

Answer 3

My dad lives in Edmonton.I think the cost of living kind of equals out when you break it all down. Real estate and rents are more expensive, as is food and gas, but goods and services are cheaper as is liquor. There is no provincial sales tax and every baby born there gets, like $500 for their education. This year everyone got $100 back because the province is out of debt.
So I think it is about the same as anywhere else.

Answer 4

It is getting there in Calgary. You can find cheeper places but it will probably be in a bad neighbourhood and but probably already be rented out. It is hard to find a place period. Yes there are more expensive cities but me and my husband had relitively good jobs and still never seemed to save anything. Health care is horrible and expensive. Service is really bad. There are bums every where downtown.

Lets put it this way: Me and my husband moved to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Answer 5

really that high compared to where? San Francisco, New York, Seattle,,,Tokyo?....you have to be more specific...in some of those cities people would love to pay only a 1000.00 for a small unfurnished apt.

Answer 6

I am thinking of moving to cowtown myself. Your close I found someplaces that ok for under 1000 but not a lot of them. It still seem cheaper than toronto.

Answer 7

Hey, if you think that is high, you should try to get an apartment in Manhattan, New York, or downtown LA.