Canada is home to many world-class schools, but some cities are more student-friendly than others. A new ranking of the best cities for students in Canada reveals which places are the most accommodating for post-secondary residents.
Insurance policy comparison platform HelloSafe has released a definitive 2023 ranking of Canada’s best student cities.
HelloSafe compared 47 cities and scored them based on four criteria — Quality of Life, Attractiveness, Quality of Student Life, and Academic Excellence.
Each of these criteria contained several sub-categories, ranging from the price of rental housing to transportation to climate to leisure activities. This criteria is similar to the ones used for European rankings.
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Each category is rated 50 points, so the final grade is out of 200.
The highest-ranking city in Canada is in Ontario, but surprisingly, it’s not Toronto. Kingston in eastern Ontario took the top spot in the ranking this year.
Here are the top 10 schools with the highest overall scores, making them the best cities for students in Canada:
- Kingston, Ontario: 152 out of 200
- Montreal, Quebec: 144 out of 200
- Vancouver, British Columbia: 143 out of 200
- Sherbrooke, Quebec: 139 out of 200
- Calgary, Alberta: 135 out of 200
- Edmonton, Alberta: 134 out of 200
- Quebec City, Quebec: 133 out of 200
- St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador: 132 out of 200
- Hamilton, Ontario: 131 out of 200
- Toronto, Ontario: 130 out of 200
There are also separate rankings for all four criteria.
Montreal is ranked Canada’s best city in the Excellence category, as well as Quality of Student Life.
Sherbrooke is the number one city for Quality of Life, and Ottawa scored the highest for Attractiveness.
The complete ranking featuring all 47 cities can be found here.
So, if you’re a student who wants nothing but the best, you may want to set your sights on these cities.
