Burlington ranked top mid-sized place to live

(Updated)

For the second year in a row Burlington has been named one of the best places to live in Canada. Moneysense magazine’s annual rankings lists Burlington as the top mid-sized city in the country — and 5th best overall.

It’s hard to imagine on a day like today, but Burlington’s great weather is one of reasons it’s so high on the list. Moneysense heavily weighs the economic factors in its report. And Burlington shines in those categories too.

According to Moneysense, the average annual household income in Burlington is slightly over 110-thousand dollars. Unemployment is at 5.8%.

Managing editor Mark Brown says when you factor those scores in with things like Burlington’s low crime and average temperature, the city rises to the top of its list: “It scores in the top 25% in most of those categories. It just makes it a great place to live.”

Not surprisingly, Burlington city councillor Paul Sharman says he was excited to learn about his city’s high ranking — and says these types of surveys can make a difference: “Truthfully, they’re very important. We find that we have many people from moving around the area relocating to Burlington exactly because this is considered the best place to live in the GTHA.”

Out of 201 cities, Hamilton came in at 77. a slight drop from last year.

Mark says: “The key things holding Hamilton back right now are things like the unemployment rate and the growth of the city.”

Moneysense lists Hamilton’s unemployment at 8.7% – that’s above the national average.

But Mayor Bob Bratina says it’s 5.9% — and questions the magazine’s data: “They have our population wrong at 549-thousand. It sounds like they’ve included Grimsby.”

Hamilton’s average household income is listed at 80-thousand dollars a year. But Bratina notes the cost of housing is considerably low compared to Burlington or Toronto: “Then again, our restaurants are affordable. Anybody will tell you it’s cheaper to buy a steak in Hamilton than it is in Toronto.”

Critics say the study doesn’t take into account things like access to nature.

Mark says: “This is a data driven project — you can’t really quantify the beautiful mountains or lakeside vistas.”

So how did other city’s in our area do? Overall, Oakville came in at number 7 — Toronto at 32 — and St. Catharines at 134.

Burlington has been ranked one of the best places to live in Canada.

The list by Moneysense magazine looked at things like employment, housing prices, crime, weather and household income. Burlington placed 5th in the overall rankings.

The city of St Albert, Alberta placed first overall with its four per cent unemployment, high incomes and falling crime rate. It knocked Calgary down to number two.

Niagara Falls was 168th.