As expensive as our big cities are to us here in Canada, they’re kind of a bargain on a global scale.
In the recently issued 2023 Mercer Cost of Living survey, Toronto ranked 90th out of 227 cities, Vancouver 116th, Montreal 135th, Ottawa 137th and Calgary 145th. Nineteen U.S. cities are more expensive than the five Canadian cities in the survey, as are a swathe of cities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
“The cost of living certainly is higher in those locations, even relative to the most expensive places in Canada,” said Gord Frost, a partner with the Canadian arm of Mercer, a global HR and pension consulting company. “Everyday costs like food are more expensive. Housing is more expensive. Transit is more expensive.”
In a way, so what? What matters are costs where you live, not in cities you may at most visit briefly. But a global