Ottawa ranked as best Canadian city to live, Toronto sits at number 85: MoneySense survey

TORONTO, Ont. – MoneySense magazine has released its fifth annual survey of the best places to live in Canada, and Ottawa has topped the list.

And out of the 179 Canadian cities included in the survey, Toronto was ranked number 85.

MoneySense editor Duncan Hood told 680News Toronto’s low ranking has a lot to do with the cost of living.

“A lot of the people that live in the surrounding area around Toronto have higher incomes than people who live downtown, and the cost of housing is lower as well, so they’re effectively wealthier, they have more discretionary income left over at the end of the month than the poor downtowners,” Hood said.

He also said Toronto dropped six spots from 2009.

“Toronto has not been doing fantastically well in our ranking and unfortunately, it seems to be dropping each year that we do it. Now that’s partly because we’ve been getting better and better data and we’ve been starting to strip out the surrounding suburbs of Toronto. It used to be all sort of lumped together,” Hood said.

Toronto’s ranking also has to do with the high crime rate and the fact that the city was hit pretty hard by the recession.

But, Hood said it’s not all doom and gloom for Toronto.

“When we look at transit, Toronto is actually number two in the country. For all our complaints about the TTC, there are very few cities in Canada that have that kind of transit infrastructure, and when we look at culture, Toronto comes in at number three — that access to art galleries and museums and sports that you just don’t get in most places in Canada,” he said.

The surrounding suburbs have done surprisingly well. Hood said Burlington was ranked number three because it’s wealthier than Toronto with cheaper housing prices, less crime and a lower unemployment rate.

Along with Oakville and Mississauga, Burlington also makes it into the top five when it comes to the weather.

The rationale is that these GTA cities rarely see the long harsh winters or severe storms that are common in other parts of the country.

Hood also said the wealthiest people live in areas outside of Toronto. Oakville and Caledon are number two and three, respectively, when it comes to the homebase for the corporate elite.