Categories: Lifestyle

Here’s how 5 Canadian cities stack up for global cost of living in 2022

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Think you’re paying through the nose to live where you are right now? That’s probably the case to be honest, but it might not be as bad as you think. A new report of the global cost of living for 2022 has come out, and Canadian cities are surprisingly low on the list. Let’s check it out!

Published by the multinational asset management firm Mercer, the Cost of Living City Ranking reveals the most expensive cities in the world for international employees. Why international? Well, it makes it easier to standardize the cost of living across different countries.

And boy, do they have a lot of standardizing to do. Their Cost of Living Index looks at over 200 items for 10 different categories, being:

Housing
Transportation
Utilities
Food
Domestic Supplies
Home Services
Personal Care
Clothing & Footwear
Recreation & Entertainment
Alcohol & Tobacco

Bundle that all together, weight it (probably more important to have a place to live than a 6-pack of beer) and you arrive at the list! Out of over 200 cities around the world, Canadian cities landed surprisingly low on the cost of living front.

Toronto, Ontario (Overall Rank: 89)
Vancouver, BC (Overall Rank: 108)
Montreal, Quebec (Overall Rank: 125)
Ottawa, Ontario (Overall Rank: 132)
Calgary, Alberta (Overall Rank: 141)

At least by this measure, it’s still cheaper to live in some of Canada’s most expensive cities than it is to move to places like Hong Kong, Geneva, or New York. Heck, even Philadelphia is apparently more expensive, landing at number 70 on the list.

Huh, well, the more you know!