Ottawa leads North America in quality-of-life ranking

Ottawa tops North American cities in a new quality-of-life ranking.

Newly published data ranks Ottawa as Canada’s most liveable city in 2026, offering a high quality of life to residents and visitors alike.

Ranked 28th globally, Ottawa it also takes the number one spot across North America for quality of life, based on factors such as the cost of living, safety levels and commuting times.

A total of 17 Canadian cities scored highly for quality of life, among them Nanaimo and Victoria in British Columbia, along with Calgary in Alberta.

The data was published by Numbeo. Numbeo is a crowd-sourced database used for international comparisons of the cost of living, quality of life and other socio-economic indicators.

Ottawa and the other cities on the list

In this global quality-of-life ranking, a total of 17 cities across seven Canadian provinces feature among the most liveable in 2026 — with Ontario contributing the largest number of cities.

The table below lists the cities featured by province, ordered by the number of cities appearing.

• Ontario
  • Ottawa
  • London
  • Mississauga
  • Toronto
  • Brampton
  • Hamilton
• British Columbia
  • Nanaimo
  • Victoria
  • Vancouver
  • Kelowna
• Alberta
  • Calgary
  • Edmonton
• Quebec
  • Quebec City
  • Montreal
• Saskatchewan
  • Regina
• Manitoba
  • Winnipeg
• Nova Scotia
  • Halifax

Compared with last year’s ranking, only 14 Canadian cities appeared in the 2025 Quality of Life Index, although the same seven provinces were represented. Brampton, Hamilton and Nanaimo are the new additions this year.

National rankings

Nationally, cities in Ontario (one city), British Columbia (three cities) and Quebec (one city) make up the top five for quality of life.

The table below sets out the national ranking of the 17 cities featured in Numbeo’s 2026 Quality of Life Index.

National ranking	Canadian city
1	Ottawa, Ontario
2	Nanaimo, British Columbia
3	Victoria, British Columbia
4	Vancouver, British Columbia
5	Quebec City, Quebec
6	Calgary, Alberta
7	Halifax, Nova Scotia
8	Edmonton, Alberta
9	Kelowna, British Columbia
10	Montreal, Quebec
11	London, Ontario
12	Mississauga, Ontario
13	Toronto, Ontario
14	Brampton, Ontario
15	Regina, Saskatchewan
16	Winnipeg, Manitoba
17	Hamilton, Ontario

For comparison, here is how last year’s top five cities placed in the 2026 ranking relative to other Canadian cities according to Numbeo:

• Calgary has slipped five places this year, having topped the table last year;
• Ottawa was second last year but has risen to first place in 2026;
• Vancouver has climbed to fourth in 2026, up from fifth last year;
• Edmonton has dropped four places in 2026, from fourth in 2025 to eighth;
• Mississauga was the fifth most liveable city in 2025; it now sits at 12th — the largest fall on the previous year.

Global rankings

The Numbeo ranking assesses 304 cities across 95 countries and territories worldwide.

Six Canadian cities feature in the world’s top 100 most liveable cities this year — one fewer than in 2025.

The table below shows the global ranking of the Canadian cities, together with their overall quality-of-life scores:

Global ranking	City	Overall score	Purchasing power index	Safety index	Health care index	Cost of living index	Property price to income ratio	Commute time index	Pollution index	Climate index
28	Ottawa	198,1	162,4	69,0	68,7	61,7	5,1	32,7	24,1	44,5
66	Nanaimo	185,6	126,1	46,5	62,0	62,6	6,1	26,0	27,6	92,3
84	Victoria	182,1	104,9	60,3	65,6	68,7	9,2	32,4	22,5	92,5
86	Vancouver	180,7	116,7	53,3	71,7	67,5	11,9	36,0	25,5	91,2
87	Quebec City	180,7	134,4	77,6	69,6	60,6	8,8	33,4	36,2	48,0
95	Calgary	179,1	125,7	62,2	73,4	64,5	5,7	29,4	23,8	33,1
108	Halifax	176,8	110,7	61,0	65,0	63,3	5,4	31,4	24,3	59,0
111	Edmonton	175,2	125,4	53,0	77,0	62,1	3,9	37,4	28,7	32,1
122	Kelowna	172,9	121,1	37,9	74,6	63,1	6,4	39,9	33,7	59,2
126	Montreal	172,0	131,0	67,2	71,6	63,9	7,8	39,9	36,3	52,4
131	Mississauga	170,5	128,9	46,2	67,3	59,8	6,1	30,0	35,6	59,3
134	London	170,5	117,5	56,1	70,2	62,4	11,3	37,3	23,5	58,7
143	Toronto	169,9	117,5	56,1	70,2	67,4	12,3	44,6	37,5	58,3
170	Brampton	157,8	123,6	54,5	68,5	58,8	9,7	41,7	36,9	59,2
174	Regina	164,1	120,7	46,5	68,5	63,0	4,4	31,8	39,3	14,3
177	Winnipeg	153,4	120,5	39,2	68,5	59,0	4,4	31,6	35,3	24,7
181	Hamilton	151,7	121,2	43,8	74,5	58,9	4,9	35,8	60,2	61,1

Every city ranked above Canada this year is in a European country, such as the Netherlands (which holds the top five places), Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland — among others.

Last year the United States overtook Canada for the leading North American city, with Boise, Idaho placed 13th among the world’s most liveable cities — while Canada first appeared at 74th with Calgary, Alberta.

Several Canadian cities recorded overall quality-of-life scores equal to those of international cities this year, including:

• Nanaimo (level with Colorado Springs, United States);
• Vancouver and Quebec City (level with Auckland, New Zealand);
• Montreal (level with Salt Lake City, United States);
• Toronto (level with Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel);
• Brampton (level with Windhoek, Namibia); and
• Winnipeg (level with Lisbon, Portugal).

Although the overall quality-of-life scores are equal, each city’s scores in the sub-categories, such as the safety index or the health care index, still differ.

Methodology

Numbeo’s Quality of Life Index is an overall estimate of quality of life that considers the factors set out below, along with how each is scored.

Numbeo builds its database from user-submitted information and data collected directly from reputable sources, including the websites of supermarkets and taxi companies as well as government bodies.

The manually collected figures are updated twice a year and are weighted three times more heavily than user data to improve reliability.

The quality-of-life index is calculated using an empirical formula that prioritises factors through assigned weightings, then aggregates the data into a single quantitative score.

• Purchasing Power Index (a higher score is better): Considers the prices of consumer goods and services, apartment rents, food costs, the price of meals in restaurants and bars, drinks and so on, using New York City as the benchmark.
• Cost of Living Index (a lower score is better): The same factors as the purchasing power index.
• Pollution Index (a lower score is better): Considers air and water pollution, waste disposal and cleanliness, noise and light pollution, access to green space, and overall comfort with regard to pollution.
• Property Price to Income Ratio (a lower score is better): The ratio of property prices to income, the mortgage to income ratio, loan affordability, the rent to property price ratio, and gross rental yield.
• Safety Index (a higher score is better): General perceptions of crime levels, feelings of safety (during the day and at night), concerns about specific types of crime, and the severity of property crime and violent crime.
• Health Care Index (a higher score is better): Considers the overall quality of the health system in terms of medical professionals, equipment, staff, doctors and costs (infrastructure, services, resources).
• Climate Index (a higher score is better): Considers how desirable the climate is — temperature, humidity and extreme weather conditions.
• Commute Time Index (a lower score is better): Travel time (one way, in minutes), dissatisfaction with time spent waiting in traffic (owing to long journey times), CO2 emissions, and the overall inefficiency of the transport system.