If you’re looking for a Canadian city with low crime rates, affordable housing costs, and a high quality of living, then Toronto, Ontario is the city for you. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers annual “Cities of Opportunity” report, Toronto placed second only to New York City and ranked well above larger cities like Paris and London.
Toronto placed second in two of the ten categories: health, safety and security, and intellectual capital and innovation. Toronto has a relatively low crime rate compared to other big cities, making it a leader in safety and security. Toronto was also praised for its quality and availability of healthcare for people of all ages and stages of life. Placing a high priority on education, Toronto scored well for classroom sizes, literacy enrolment, and for math and science skills, leading to a high score in intellectual capital.
Toronto also fared well in the demographic and liveability and in lifestyle assets categories, placing 3rd and 4th respectively. For the demographic and liveability category, cities were assessed on various factors, such as the size of its working population, quality of living and life satisfaction, heat and humidity, and risk of natural disaster. Toronto had the highest ranking for quality of living and life satisfaction and also fared well for having a low risk of a natural disaster. With regards to lifestyle assets, Toronto was given high marks for having one or more sports teams that are important to the city’s self-definition and received moderate marks for cultural vibrancy.
Toronto also performed well in the sustainability, cost, and ease of doing business categories. The city was rated high for their performances in waste recycling and for reducing air pollution. And if you’re looking to do business in a major city, Toronto is the place to do it. Toronto was one of the top-ranked cities for its cost of living and was listed as the cheapest place for a business trip.
Although Toronto did place second overall, there were several categories in which the city could improve. Major economic cities such as New York, Paris, and London fared better in the economic clout category than Toronto. This category takes into account economic factors such as shareholder protection and currency strength. Toronto also lacked points for technology readiness, including internet broadband quality, and transportation and infrastructure, including the number of skyscrapers being built and having sufficient transit coverage.
Overall, Toronto was found to be an attractive city, welcoming in nature, a good place to do business, and a city with great education for children. If you are trying to decide which Canadian city you would like to live in, Toronto might just be the city for you.
Are you interested in immigrating to Canada? Find out if you qualify for Canadian immigration by taking our free immigration assessment.