Oakville tops magazine’s list as best place to live. Hamilton? No. 163

MoneySense magazine is calling Oakville the best place to live in Canada.

The Canadian online personal finance and lifestyle periodical, published by Rogers Publishing, named the town No. 1 in its Canada’s Best Places to Live 2018 article on Tuesday.

Burlington was ranked 31st and Hamilton made the list at 163.

Ottawa ranked second on the list, followed by Russell, Ont.; Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que.; and Lacombe, Alta.

Toronto was ranked 16th, while Milton was sixth and Halton Hills was 10th.

Colchester, Subd. C, N.S. was at the bottom of the list as the 415th best place to live in the country.

“Our data-driven analysis pegs Oakville as not only the best place to live overall, but the best place for New Canadians, third best place to retire and fifth best place to raise a family,” Claire Brownell wrote in the MoneySense article.

“It’s certainly not the cheapest city in the country, but it has attracted a growing and increasingly diverse population because of its many strong points.”

The magazine looked at 10 categories including: wealth and economy, affordability, population growth, taxes, commute, crime, weather, access to health care, amenities and culture.

The economic factors included Oakville’s unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent, its average household income of $161,540, its average value of primary real estate of $1.2 million, its property tax rate of three per cent, its average annual property tax bill of $5,269 and its average rent for a twobedroom apartment of $1,456.

The magazine also noted that two per cent of Oakville’s population walks to work while 8.27 per cent takes transit to work, that the town is home to 220 doctors’ offices and 91 family doctors, and that the crime rate per 100,000 is 2,133.

“Oakville scored high in a broad range of the areas ... placing in the top 25 per cent of all cities in six out of 10 categories,” Brownell wrote, noting that residents “enjoy easy access to Toronto’s strong job market while maintaining the benefits of a smaller suburb.”

The town was also ranked the Best Place to Live for New Canadians in 2018 due to its access to education, a good job market and its family-friendly environment.

News of Oakville’s high ranking was well received by Mayor Rob Burton.

“We have been controlling growth to only what fits, investing in facilities to help residents lead healthy, active and engaged lifestyles, keeping our finances healthy and protecting our built and natural heritage resources — our green spaces,” he said.