From affordable housing in Alberta to high taxes in Quebec, there are many widely accepted claims about the cost of living in different parts of the country. But are these preconceptions accurate?

“I lost a lot of money while I was in Alberta. I had quite a lot of debt,” said Sarah Lopes Rodrigues. 

In July 2022, the mother of two moved from Vancouver to Calgary to take advantage of the province’s supposed affordability. But she found the lower home prices, and the fact that Alberta has no sales tax, weren’t enough.

“Sure, you might save $4 or $5 on your bills, but ultimately, that’s not what saved me money at all,” she said. Moving to Montreal in the summer of 2024 helped replenish the family’s budget, even though la belle province is notorious for its higher taxes.

Benoît Bornais, on the other hand, says his finances actually improved after he relocated from Quebec to Alberta in the summer of 2023.

One way to compare affordability across the country is by using the “market basket measure,” which calculates the cost of a specific basket of food, clothing, shelter, transportation and other necessities.

The cost of that basket of goods — deemed essential for a “modest, basic standard of living” — is highest in British Columbia, with Alberta ranking second.

That cost of living measure is lowest in Quebec. In 2024, the average Quebec household would have needed about $47,133 to live “modestly,” compared to $56,059 in British Columbia, $55,041 in Alberta and $54,981 in Ontario.

This measure, however, masks significant cost differences between large cities and rural areas within a province or territory.

Another key consideration: income. Things usually cost more in regions with higher wages “because the general population can afford to pay more,” said Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at Servus Credit Union.

Excluding the territories, disposable incomes in Alberta remain significantly higher than elsewhere in the country, allowing its residents to absorb higher daily costs.

“This advantage however is eroding,” St-Arnaud said. “Wages in the province are now almost equal to those in British Columbia and in Ontario. Therefore, there has been a considerable decline in Albertans’ purchasing power.”

Alberta: Canada’s last resort for affordable homes?

For most Canadians, housing makes up the largest chunk of their monthly budget. Vancouver and Toronto are the priciest cities for buying property, but which are the most affordable?

To answer this question, it’s important to understand that affordability boils down to three factors, according to Mathieu Laberge, chief economist at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC): “What you pay, what you can afford and what you can find.”

In addition to the cost of owning and renting, the CMHC looks at residents’ incomes and housing availability, meaning the number of unsold properties and the vacancy rate in the rental market.

In March 2023, Hannah MacDonald decided to give up on her university studies in Nova Scotia and return to Prince Edward Island, her home province. “It essentially got too expensive. I could no longer afford to live in Halifax,” she said.

Since the pandemic, Halifax has become one of the most expensive rental markets in Canada. The average rent there surpassed $2,200 in December, according to data from Rentals.ca and Urbanation.

Laberge says the option of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic led many people to move from major urban centres to more affordable markets.

“People who work in Vancouver or Toronto with high-paying jobs now have the option of keeping their jobs but taking advantage of the lower cost of living in a smaller city, such as Halifax, or other cities in rural Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies,” said Laberge. He noted that the mass exodus to these parts of the country not only drove up rents but home prices, too.

If you’re looking to buy a property, Edmonton and Calgary remain the most affordable markets among major Canadian cities, partly because they are less densely populated, according to Laberge.

For the third year in a row, Alberta is the most popular destination for Canadians relocating from another region. The province led the country in residential construction, with 54,900 housing starts last year.

“The regulatory environment makes it easier to build in Calgary and Edmonton — and to build faster, too,” Laberge said.

When Janaína Nazzari Gomes and her husband moved from Winnipeg to Ottawa for her studies in 2022, they saw their monthly rent jump from $1,400 to $2,500.

But the Brazilian couple found out a few years later that moving from a big city to a smaller one isn’t always the answer. Nazzari Gomes relocated for a university teaching job in Guelph, and discovered that rents in the smaller Ontario city were just as steep. The family now pays $3,100 a month.

Homeownership also feels out of reach for the professor: houses in Guelph on average cost around $800,000. It’s less than the roughly $1-million price point in Toronto, but it still requires significant savings. 

“An immigrant who has moved three or four times in less than six years probably won’t have enough money to buy,” Nazzari Gomes said.

Rising grocery costs everywhere

Hannah MacDonald, who lives about 20 kilometres northwest of Charlottetown, was shocked by the grocery bills when she moved there two years ago.

“It’s about $400 to $500 a month, and that’s when I buy things on sale,” the Wheatley River resident said.

Coffee — a staple in her daily routine — is much more expensive than it used to be. A 900-gram container now sells for around $25. According to Statistics Canada, in December, the price of coffee jumped 31 per cent compared to the previous year. 

“It’s absolutely crazy,” MacDonald said.

The cost of food has increased significantly in recent years, but doesn’t show huge regional variations. By the end of 2025, food was projected to represent between 16 and 19 per cent of Canadians’ overall spending.

The proportion of food in the household budget is highest in Quebec, according to Clément Yélou, senior analyst at Statistics Canada. But he stresses it’s not because Quebecers spend more on food. The food share of the budget is larger because everything else costs less.

Groceries are generally more expensive in the Atlantic provinces and territories due to transportation costs. These regions are farther from major entry points such as the Port of Vancouver, the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.

The proximity of food producers, processors and wholesalers — in Ontario and Quebec, for example — can help keep grocery prices lower. But it’s not always so straightforward.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba often have below-average prices for dairy and eggs, while Ontario — one of the biggest milk producers in the country — recorded the highest price for a litre of milk ($3.85). Similarly, salmon costs the most in British Columbia — about $32 per kilogram — even though the province produces nearly two-thirds of Canada’s supply.

The level of competition among retailers also plays a role: regions with more grocery stores, especially discount chains, tend to offer lower overall prices.

Car insurance siphons Ontarians’ budgets

Lucile Rochefort discovered that fleeing a big city to cut costs can actually increase other expenses, like transportation. When the young mother lived in downtown Toronto, she didn’t need a car. But since moving to a tiny P.E.I. village a few weeks ago, driving “became a necessity.”

One saving grace is that her new province boasts some of the most affordable car insurance premiums in Canada. In Ontario, they’re almost double.

Quebecer Benoît Bornais was shocked to find out how much cheaper it is to drive in Alberta. 

“I paid for my plates and my driver’s licence: it cost me for five years what it cost me for one year in Quebec,” the Edmonton resident said.

Maximilien Roy, vice-president of strategy at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, said premiums are ultimately determined by the cost of claims. “It’s not just the cost of insurance, but also what’s covered that will make the difference.”

In Ontario, the average claim costs nearly $16,000, while it exceeds $17,000 in Alberta. In Prince Edward Island, the average claim amounts to less than $7,000.

In Ontario, the cost of claims has skyrocketed, according to Statistics Canada, largely due to auto theft, although the number of thefts in the province has come down. In Alberta, extreme weather events are partly to blame for the cost of claims. It’s not uncommon, for instance, to see dented cars in Calgary due to frequent hailstorms.

While insurance is pricey, drivers in Ontario and Alberta can take solace in the price of gas relative to their neighbours. The proximity of oil production sites and refineries in Alberta helps keep gas prices down, while the reduction in the gas tax in Ontario has also led to lower prices.

Are Quebecers the most heavily taxed?

Alberta’s tax system is the biggest selling point for Bornais when it comes to affordability. 

As a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, he earns the same salary regardless of his home base, but the province’s light tax burden “makes a big difference,” he said. 

The oil-rich province has the largest tax-free income bracket in Canada. Incomes up to $60,000 are taxed at only eight per cent, while those between $60,001 and $151,000 are taxed at 10 per cent.

He says these tax savings more than offset other costs, such as public utilities, which tend to cost more in Alberta.

The only province without a sales tax, Alberta has flaunted its “tax advantage” for decades.

“I went grocery shopping [in Quebec] with my father during the holidays and I was shocked looking at the bill,” Bornais said. “I can buy the same thing in Alberta and it costs me almost half the price.” 

Is Quebec’s reputation as an overtaxed province justified? Not entirely, according to Suzie St-Cerny, a member of the research chair in taxation and public finance at the Université de Sherbrooke.

In addition to income tax, her team calculates the impact of contributions, credits and benefits on the budgets of various household types: single individuals, single parents and families at various income levels. This is known as the “net tax burden” and significantly influences where provinces rank.

For a single person with an average income, the lowest tax burden is in B.C. and the highest in Nova Scotia, according to St-Cerny. 

However, when children are added to the equation or income is lower, the tax burden in la belle province decreases.

“In Quebec, at lower-income levels, someone would receive significantly more benefits than in Alberta,” St-Cerny pointed out.

Quebec families benefit from specific provincial tax credits and payments designed to assist with child-rearing costs, including a refundable tax credit for child-care expenses, a family allowance payment and various credits for children’s activities.

This is why Bornais, who has no children, saw a positive difference on his tax returns after moving to Alberta, while Sarah Lopes Rodrigues and her family fared much better in Quebec.

Economist Charles St-Arnaud says this is a question Canadians must ask themselves when comparing provincial tax systems. 

“Do we prefer to pay more taxes and have the services provided by the public sector, or do we prefer to pay less tax but have to foot the bill ourselves?”

Water and power bills sting outside Quebec

There’s no question, Quebec is the champion of affordability when it comes to utility costs. Its abundant hydroelectric power enables it to offer much lower rates to its residents than other provinces.

British Columbia and Manitoba also produce hydroelectricity, but prolonged droughts and increasing demand have led to rate hikes; B.C. even had to import electricity for the past three years. Meanwhile, Manitoba is planning a four per cent consumer rate increase in 2026.

Quebec’s affordability causes resentment among Albertans, who regularly accuse the eastern province of keeping its electricity rates artificially low.

According to Statistics Canada’s senior analyst, Clément Yélou, whether or not a sector is regulated influences price growth. In Ontario and Quebec, where electricity is regulated, “price increases have been more contained, more controlled and more modest,” he said.

When a market is deregulated, as in Alberta, the pressure exerted by customers on the electricity grid comes into play.

“When demand increases, prices can fluctuate more freely, and therefore, we see sharper price increases, particularly in Alberta,” Yélou said.

For Sarah Lopes Rodrigues, this was the last straw when she lived in Calgary. 

“Our house was certainly bigger [than in Vancouver], but in the winter, we had [utility] bills of $600 to $700 a month,” she said. “That was a problem.”

‘You shouldn’t idealize a province’

How much do you need to earn to sustain a modest standard of living? The amount varies considerably across Canada — and sometimes even within the same province.

Statistics Canada data from 2024 shows Quebec City ($48,362) as the most affordable big city, followed by Montreal ($49,244) and St. John’s ($52,976). 

At the other end are Toronto ($61,763), Vancouver ($62,842) and the territories. In Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, a household needs about $116,211 to cover basic expenses.

Charles St-Arnaud says that while inflation may have eased, the growth in purchasing power has slowed in recent years. 

“Households feel there is an affordability crisis because they consistently feel, year after year, that they are not making progress,” he said.

If you’re searching for a cheaper place to live, Lopes Rodrigues suggests lowering your expectations.

“You shouldn’t idealize a province, thinking that just because you’ll make a better living, you’ll feel better there.”