From Business in Vancouver:
Is Vancouver really such a great place to live? MoneySense doesn’t think so
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Out of a total of 209 cities, Vancouver comes in at number 46 – down from 39 last year. When population size is taken into consideration, the city ranks ninth out of 15 large cities across the country.
So why the huge discrepancy between other studies that rank Vancouver so favourably compared with other cities across the world? Not all studies look at the same criteria. For example, The Economist’s list that found Vancouver to be the third most livable city in the world (and tops in North America) looked at such factors as healthcare, infrastructure, environment and education – but it did not consider affordability.
The MoneySense ranking gave Vancouver poor marks for unemployment, income levels and housing affordability.
HAHA. Awesome. Time to get called out
Very few head offices. Energy and resources industry not wanted by the administration. Traditional manufacturing all, still, in the east, including foods, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
The MoneySense article is somewhat useless as incomes are not properly measured.
Many folks live here that are quite wealthy yet pay little, if any, BC income taxes as their 9declated or actual) BC income is quite low as it is derived, and/or declared elsewhere.
A great place to work FROM, with a business elsewhere (say Alberta, or Peru, or Iran, or China, or Hongkong, ..).
As such, property taxes are the preferred way to monetize this beautiful location, not more PST or income taxes.
Property taxes are ridiculously low for the value, compared to other world cities.
When will politicians, both in MetroVan and/or Victoria wake up to this simple fact ?
And the Economist’s rating only considers larger Canadian cities and similar-sized cities at that. MoneySense is comparing a wide range of Canadian cities. Totally different ratings and base.
It’s a nice resort. Work in Vancouver is what one would find in any resort town. The big employers are the port, the airport, the hotels and restaurants and some retail.
And government, BC Hydro, universities, strata managers, landscapers, conventions, GreenPeace, movie industry, some high tech, mining execs .. and of course: condo builders.
I think plumbers do quite well, care-givers has to be an expanding field, along with other heal-care related service jobs. Dentists seem to be everywhere too. Auto mechanics are in very strong demand, especially for high-performance vehicles.
I find it hard to compare all of Calgary to Vancouver. Plus all the other parts of the metro region that did quite well. Totally different things to look at due to different municipal structures.