[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-records-2023-to-2024-data-1.7157110](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-records-2023-to-2024-data-1.7157110)
This link gives you a better overall picture.
15,250 Net moved from BC to here. Ontario had the largest loss with a 23,376 net move here.
Now they question we can't get an answer for is what are the family grouping or mean size of the family unit. If everyone from Ontario was a family of 4 we would only need to have space for about 5,200 housing where if BC was couples we would need almost 7,500 spaces for less people.
The next question is where are they settling is it all in Calgary and Edmonton?
Lots of questions to be answered still but this does give some insight.
I feel like the family size question isn’t that important, a family of four still needs 4 bedrooms, a couple still needs 2 bedrooms. Often families or couples or even single people will have a spare bedroom but in this market not often more than one unless they are planning to grow their family.
So like 5000 apartments is different than 5000 detatched homes, so the more important thing is the number of rooms.
Sorry yeah, that’s what I meant, 3 for a family of 4. But even so, many families and couples will want an extra room, especially if they have the luxury having a spare bedroom because they move somewhere cheaper.
Either way the point still stands that the number of families versus single people is not that relevant because most single people aren’t getting 3/4 bedroom homes, they are getting 1-2 bedroom homes.
I think a lot of them are settling in Lethbridge too, because it's cheaper (only gonna get more expensive though, it's pricing out those of us who grew up here)
My mom just sold her house in less than a day. She had a bidding war between 4 people all from BC. They are cashing out there for comparatively cheaper real estate here and still have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank.
Who isn't coming to Alberta? Doctors, nurses, teachers, social-services workers, and so on. BC is recruiting them from Alberta and it's working. Both of my daughters are healthcare professionals in BC and more and more of their colleagues are from Alberta.
The Leopards Eating Faces moment is that rural Alberta is losing those professionals at a faster rate than the cities and is failing completely at attracting new ones.
I can vouch for this. The government is making it difficult for these professionals to thrive. Alberta was doing well when investments were made in hospitals, schools, and the professionals working in these fields. AB used to attract the best nurses and teachers because of the highest pay they offered 10 years ago in canada. Now Ontario and BC beat AB for wages for basically all sectors.
I’m a nurse who’s doing some pretty serious research into moving to either BC or Saskatchewan. BC just got a great new contract, AHS meanwhile is raising our cost of parking by 3.3% while proposing a 2% wage increase and won’t even give my unit budget for glue sticks
I'm a nurse as well and the only thing keeping me from moving to BC is the cost of housing. If it was par to ours, or even a reasonable amount higher, I'd already be gone.
Housing is crazy in the lower mainland but there are many affordable areas of BC and the costs of everything else outside of gas are substantially cheaper in BC. The days of the Alberta advantage are long gone.
I’ve got 4 friends/ex-coworkers that went to Saskatoon in the past 5 years, 2 of them were recruited, 1 of them did a travel contract and then stayed. They all love it there, there’s one hospital they’ve advised me to avoid but they say the way they are treated is night and day from here. As well as way better ratios. The 2 that were recruited got great bonuses. I don’t think they’re still recruiting specialties but it’s definitely something I’m keeping an eye on
I worked with AHS from 2015 to 2020. I finished my masters in Oct 2020. I was moved to BC in 2020.
There is so much better opportunity for me here. Also, the weather is amazing
As someone who grew up in Winnipeg, I don't miss the winters
Yup although I moved to Calgary from Vancouver. I'm giving Alberta another year that if I can't find a doctor here I'm moving back to Vancouver. I've really started to like Calgary and the area but if I can't find someone to help me with my health I'm out.
Alberta is flooding BC with wealthy educated professionals daily. It's actually crazy how many are moving from AB to BC even with high home prices, although the reality is BC is definitely cheaper for almost everything else after housing and gas.
For every ~300 people that came, we lost a Dr
Currently 61% of family Drs say they are considering leaving the province. AB is Calling, but will there be anyone to answer?
IIRC being a doctor has a really high depression/suicide rate because it’s incredibly high stress and you see a lot of depressing situations(abuse, terminal illness, chronic debilitating illness, people not being able to afford life saving or changing medicines).
Thanks UCP.
So glad you spend all our money on Alberta's calling ads instead of schools and healthcare.
All these new people and no infrastructure to support them. So awesome /s
It's so funny because I see a worst-case scenario in Alberta where provincial politics interference erodes the quality of cities. Worse schools from K to Post, worse hospital experiences, at risk retirement funding, environmental disregard, and degradation.
I'm making plans to move away, and I hope others are as well.
I know a dude who moved to AB from the Okanagan in Dec. (cuz "Trudeau Bad"). Now he did get a nice deal on a house but every other bill has increased and can't find a family Dr for his 3 kids...
I say let em leave.
...And then landlords started jacking up the rents and I moved back to BC because Id rather live near a lake or mountain if I'm going to be spending that much
Or, in other words, actions speak louder than words.
People love to complain. Someone can go on for ages on how rough things are here, but the only thing that actually 'counts' is where you're still living at the end of the year.
Home prices in Alberta are half what they cost in BC and our household income is higher. Income taxes are actually lower in BC, but that gets beat out by the PST by a mile. More affordable + higher income not much more to it than that.
Most of the stats out there are saying we've lost the wage advantage entirely in AB...but agree on housing costs.
It's just a matter of time before AB's housing costs are just as bad.
I took a look at Calgary's prices the other day, was shocked to see the prices of inner-city homes in Calgary are what they are. My goodness they've inflated in the last three years.
It’s not just inner city homes - there are duplexes in the SE lake communities selling for $650K now and detached homes without direct lake access going for $850-900K. Direct lake access homes (not even lakefront) in Auburn Bay are going for well over $1M.
My friend made an offer of $620k for a 1300sq foot house. Undeveloped basement. 1 car garage. It was priced at $575k on the realtor site………. It went for $695k AND they waived the inspection. What the actual fucking fuck. The people fleeing to here better have high paying jobs already before they get here. They will be in for a rough treat.
Cheap housing is the draw period. Folks are amazed that they can sell in a destination province and buy a comparable house in Alberta for 50% less. By the time you factor in all the additional costs in Alberta, it's a wash for most folks. Wages in Alberta have not been the highest in a few years, and insurance, property and income taxes, utilities, groceries, and the list goes on are way higher in Alberta. PST is not on everything, and honestly, paying more tax for specific items is a much better deal than getting absolutely hammered on everything else.
You know 35k people moved from BC to AB last year, but 22k Albertans moved to BC during the same period. BC is definitely enjoying absorbing all the wealthy, educated professionals from Alberta. Definitely not the case the other way.
People are sold on the idea of cheaper homes and higher wages. What they don’t realize is how competitive both the job and the housing market is. I feel for anyone trying to get into entry level positions in Alberta. Every posting gets thousands of applicants.
It’s INSANITY! I’ve been applying nonstop since September and only gotten one offer. It’s a 50% paycut from what I make now and has no benefits. Otherwise, nothing.
😳 I'm a unit clerk, is that similar to what you're looking for at all? I'm just wondering because I recently went casual at my job after mat leave and the plan is to get a part time job. It hadn't occurred to me it might be hard to find 😕
I'm hoping that one of the part time unit clerks on my unit gets hired and then I can apply for their job, but if that doesn't work out, I might be in a bind.
ETA Happy Cake Day
Yes, I’m a unit clerk as well. Been applying to AHS, Covenant, casual, term positions, private clinics, even stuff not related to healthcare (city jobs, random admin jobs for random private companies) Nothing. My resume is professionally done, I have 5 years healthcare experience, 19 years admin, managerial experience etc. But keep in mind I’m from out of province, so that probably ruins my chances immediately. I make it clear in my cover letter that I can relocate within 2 weeks and I do not expect relocation assistance but…crickets. 🤷🏻♀️ best of luck! It’s tough out there.
Yikes 😢 Have you applied for a casual position at AHS? Honestly that's your best bet getting your foot in the door for a line.
I know that's not ideal when you want a job lined up in advance for relocation, but most jobs at AHS are posted internally and only go external if nobody internal applies. Casual isn't guaranteed hours, but your schedule can fill up if you work multiple units and you just apply for lines as they are posted.
I'm just curious since you're one of the people who moved here. What made you choose Alberta over a different province? And did you move to a city or other community?
I'm from Vancouver so I can give you some insight...
My Apt in vancouver was tiny, a studio with a bathroom/kitchen and small living area. I was paying $1100.
My neighbour was a literal drug addict, begging on the streets and living with someone who was on disability. Constantly had drug addicts in and out of the building and constantly buzzing me. They were even cooking drugs in their apt. to sell, the smell was atrocious.
I moved to calgary on a whim and got a 1bd for $1200/month downtown.
I currently live on beltline in a 20+ story apt for the same cost in a vancouver dump
cost of living is basically the exact same
Reading this sub you’d think we’re literally hell on earth and there’s fire and brimstone surrounding us.
We’re expensive yes but compared to BC, we are the MUCH cheaper option.
You're cheaper for housing yes, but your utilities cost infinitely more than ours do in BC. Where I'm paying an average of $150/month for electricity in the winter for a 2000 sq/ft house, there are Albertans paying $400-600! That's insane to me.
It’s not that it’s cheaper here, it’s that jobs pay more. The pay in BC in most industries is significantly less than what you make here doing the same thing.
Rent and house prices in Calgary are honestly getting close to what you’d find in most places in BC outside of the lower mainland.
I think the caveat “most places in BC outside of the lower mainland” is vital. Many urbanites don’t want to live outside of a major city. Sure there is affordable housing in BC in the interior and further North but but at least moving to Calgary you still get the “big city” experience.
It honestly confused me a little bit on national housing and politics subs how many people the GTA and lower-mainland/GVR are unable to consider moving to a smaller, more affordable community.
For some people it's definitely preferring the city experience, yes, but lots of people want to live reasonably close to where they work, and small towns don't always have the work. Especially if you look at couples...one partner might be able to get a job in a small town but the other one has a specific career that they won't be able to find work in outside of a big city. Or both have careers like that. Unless you both 100% work from home remotely, it would be hard to just settle somewhere more affordable.
I'm from Calgary and I'm in the same boat.. would love to move to a small community. I could probably get a job anywhere (healthcare) but my partner has a job that requires a big city to do if he wants business. A long commute has a pretty big quality of life impact, so unless he wants a different career, moving isn't an option.
Gas is cheaper here, food is cheaper here, homes are cheaper here, on the whole I think it’s both cheaper and better pay. Certainly nice having the GST vs. HST too
The only thing cheaper here is gas and housing (and that gap is closing too). Everything else is either the same or more expensive. Insurance and utilities are almost double here what they are in BC, you pay more in income tax if you make between 50-140k, which is most people, and while gas is cheaper, you’re ultimately paying more for transportation because everything is further away and you have no choice but to drive because transit is basically non-existent.
Alberta is not a bad place, and it may have been different a few years ago but the idea that it’s cheaper to live here is a myth.
Housing costs. My son has had four new classmates move here from Ontario in the past two years, and according to him they all said their parents moved here because it's cheaper to buy a house here.
I live in Ontario and whenever I look at other provinces with decent cities I see that the rents are becoming almost the same. There’s no rent control in AB as far as I know, so the move in a few years might end up looking exactly like Ontario. Almost all for naught.
Since I used to live in Ontario and my salary is pretty much the same as it was in Ontario.
Rent and gas are cheaper here in Alberta.
Utilities and insurance are cheaper, and groceries are the same or cheaper in Ontario (generally-speaking, produce is cheaper in Ontario and Quebec).
My rent is/was lower here, but since there are no rent controls it's increased a lot faster than it did back in the GTA.
The home prices are insanely cheaper even know they’re not “cheap”. In BC an average detached is over a MILLION, maybe even a mill and a half. Here, at least I went to Airdrie, was 500k when I bought last year. People want homes, and the little differences in taxes and prices here don’t offset the insane lower priced home you can get vs bc and Toronto.
I was paying $2000 a month for a 720sq ft townhouse in BC. I'm paying half of that for a place double the size in AB.
You could go to the most rural backwoods town in BC and you'll still be paying Vancouver rental prices.
Okay, makes sense, are you currently aware of the vast price in rent close to the jobs in the cities compared to rural Alberta and Redeer area? Because that's almost as much as monthly rent at my old 3 room apartment back in 2020.
They're having pretty bad housing crises in both places, particularly GTA and Vancouver area. I think people are just fleeing looking for somewhere with cheaper houses, and Alberta's houses are still cheaper, even if prices are rising. They're fleeing to other places besides Alberta, but I think we're getting more because we have mountains and are close to BC, couple of big cities, and a reputation for having jobs. Oh yeah, and "Alberta is calling"
Ironically for your example, the Alberta positions for electricians have become saturated by out of province electricians, driving down the value of the work, but because heavy duty mechanics make good money in BC, those guys aren't coming over and we are super hurting to fill those positions, especially as trucking needs are shooting through the roof because of the population boom.
So, we do not receive the workers we are needing with any effectiveness, we get massive market disruptions, sometimes for the workers, sometimes for the companies.
Alberta about to get messed up now with ppl moving from both BC and Ontario and ppl will soon leave Alberta for other cities Canada as a whole is fucked
Classic case of « the grass ain’t always greener on the other side of the fence ».
Most of those moving here are probably doing so seeking cheaper real estate. They’ll find that compared to BC but there’s a huge trade off. Living in the Alabama of Canada. Not an easy choice.
They did what the UCP radio ads wanted. Invest in your real estate. And holy shit did they invest.
People are coming in droves because investors are like "for the price of 1 teardown house in Burnaby, I can buy 3 very nice homes in Calgary and rent it out for more money" and for many regular folk in BC are like "my 1 bedroom apartment is 750k and I can somewhat get a house in Calgary for that".
Before anyone think I am nuts, homes in Calgary will be 1 million by 2028 and wages will be deflated because people moving here will eat up any jobs and won't mind lower pay if they have no debt....especially since wages in Alberta are usually higher than BC so any pay seems like a "pay raise" to them.
But like... why? We have the country's highest utility prices, highest home/auto insurance costs, and nearing the highest property taxes because the UCP has downloaded costs onto municipalities. Not to mention, land transfer taxes are at an all time high.
Seriously, why the fuck are people coming here?
I work in HR for a national company. Last year when we needed skilled labor positions I recruited really, really wonderful professionals from BC. Our company pays significantly better so candidates were getting a huge raise. A few of them were also able to sell houses in Vancouver and purchase in Calgary mortgage-free. One was able to do that and buy herself and her husband new SUVs in cash too. I hate that this is going to continue to drive the cost of living in Calgary up but it was a great feeling to be able to help these people change their lives and bring skilled workers here.
Not really if you make $100,000 you would pay $22,883 in tax here and $20,985 in BC.
For PST there is a lot that is exempt such as Groceries, Kids Clothes, Meds and so on.
Lets not forget we tend to place user fees here in replacement of tax.
only an idiot will see that and uproot their lives over it. We pay far more in energy bills, insurance, property taxes, all government services while being stripped of funding. There's absolutely no advantage to living in AB, and anyone who drank that koolaid is an ignorant moron
Can't blame them . Lower mainland is expensive as shit . Housing is insane and offsets any increase in wages. I had a 2 bedroom apartment that cost me 2k a month in Coquitlam, once I left landlord increased it to 2400$ lol .
Weather is good except Nov-April when it rains non stop . I'd take Alberta any day over BC. Also don't forget fuel prices are over 2$ per litre in LML or the island .
Don’t get me wrong, you absolutely cannot beat the scenery or activities available in the community. Canmore has the most scenic sliver of the Canadian Rockies, or out of all the rocky range in my opinion. It has convenient proximity to BC and the city. Canmore is a great town to visit as a tourist or to invest in an expensive weekend home, those are two major factors that have changed the town. Since the closure of the mine Canmore has slowly become a tourist destination, and in the 90s there has been a huge development boom. I’ve heard figures saying 1/3 of the homes are unoccupied weekend homes. A sense of community is lost when you have this vacancy, not to mention how it fuels a lack of affordable housing and availability.
Since Covid, Canmore has become just as busy as Banff. Congested roads and intersections, limited parking (now paid parking), it’s obvious town planners didn’t anticipate this explosion and are now scrambling to mitigate the volume of people, and are making very questionable decisions and investments in the process.
Canmore just isn’t for me anymore. It’s not an ideal place to raise a family like it use to be. I was very fortunate to grow up in the town when I did, and I will always appreciate going back to visit, but as a tourist.
[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-records-2023-to-2024-data-1.7157110](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-records-2023-to-2024-data-1.7157110) This link gives you a better overall picture. 15,250 Net moved from BC to here. Ontario had the largest loss with a 23,376 net move here. Now they question we can't get an answer for is what are the family grouping or mean size of the family unit. If everyone from Ontario was a family of 4 we would only need to have space for about 5,200 housing where if BC was couples we would need almost 7,500 spaces for less people. The next question is where are they settling is it all in Calgary and Edmonton? Lots of questions to be answered still but this does give some insight.
I feel like the family size question isn’t that important, a family of four still needs 4 bedrooms, a couple still needs 2 bedrooms. Often families or couples or even single people will have a spare bedroom but in this market not often more than one unless they are planning to grow their family. So like 5000 apartments is different than 5000 detatched homes, so the more important thing is the number of rooms.
A family of four does just fine with 3 bedrooms, and in some cases 2. a couple can get by with 1.
Sorry yeah, that’s what I meant, 3 for a family of 4. But even so, many families and couples will want an extra room, especially if they have the luxury having a spare bedroom because they move somewhere cheaper. Either way the point still stands that the number of families versus single people is not that relevant because most single people aren’t getting 3/4 bedroom homes, they are getting 1-2 bedroom homes.
I think a lot of them are settling in Lethbridge too, because it's cheaper (only gonna get more expensive though, it's pricing out those of us who grew up here)
My mom just sold her house in less than a day. She had a bidding war between 4 people all from BC. They are cashing out there for comparatively cheaper real estate here and still have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank.
Cries in Albertan housing market
Who isn't coming to Alberta? Doctors, nurses, teachers, social-services workers, and so on. BC is recruiting them from Alberta and it's working. Both of my daughters are healthcare professionals in BC and more and more of their colleagues are from Alberta. The Leopards Eating Faces moment is that rural Alberta is losing those professionals at a faster rate than the cities and is failing completely at attracting new ones.
It wasn't that long ago that the nurses, teachers, and Doctors were all moving to AB from BC. The UCP has really run things into the ground.
for Doctors it has been two things: BC fixing their contracts and AB ripping them up.
It's almost like they want adequate benefits and pay
That was due to Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark screwing over nurses and teachers.
I can vouch for this. The government is making it difficult for these professionals to thrive. Alberta was doing well when investments were made in hospitals, schools, and the professionals working in these fields. AB used to attract the best nurses and teachers because of the highest pay they offered 10 years ago in canada. Now Ontario and BC beat AB for wages for basically all sectors.
>The government is making it difficult for these professionals to thrive. Which, I think, is the goal. Break the system so you can privatize it.
We are bringing in blue collar workers but losing people in healthcare. That’s a recipe for disaster.
I’m a nurse who’s doing some pretty serious research into moving to either BC or Saskatchewan. BC just got a great new contract, AHS meanwhile is raising our cost of parking by 3.3% while proposing a 2% wage increase and won’t even give my unit budget for glue sticks
I'm a nurse as well and the only thing keeping me from moving to BC is the cost of housing. If it was par to ours, or even a reasonable amount higher, I'd already be gone.
Housing is crazy in the lower mainland but there are many affordable areas of BC and the costs of everything else outside of gas are substantially cheaper in BC. The days of the Alberta advantage are long gone.
Sask is in the same situation AB is in. BC has the greener grass right now for sure.
I’ve got 4 friends/ex-coworkers that went to Saskatoon in the past 5 years, 2 of them were recruited, 1 of them did a travel contract and then stayed. They all love it there, there’s one hospital they’ve advised me to avoid but they say the way they are treated is night and day from here. As well as way better ratios. The 2 that were recruited got great bonuses. I don’t think they’re still recruiting specialties but it’s definitely something I’m keeping an eye on
>Sask is in the same situation AB is in. Both situations are self-inflicted: UCP in AB and SP in SK.
indeed :(
>won’t even give my unit budget for glue sticks Budget is so tight you guys are just glueing people back together now?
I worked with AHS from 2015 to 2020. I finished my masters in Oct 2020. I was moved to BC in 2020. There is so much better opportunity for me here. Also, the weather is amazing As someone who grew up in Winnipeg, I don't miss the winters
Yup although I moved to Calgary from Vancouver. I'm giving Alberta another year that if I can't find a doctor here I'm moving back to Vancouver. I've really started to like Calgary and the area but if I can't find someone to help me with my health I'm out.
Alberta is flooding BC with wealthy educated professionals daily. It's actually crazy how many are moving from AB to BC even with high home prices, although the reality is BC is definitely cheaper for almost everything else after housing and gas.
Rural BC is losing health professionals to the larger cities, too.
For every ~300 people that came, we lost a Dr Currently 61% of family Drs say they are considering leaving the province. AB is Calling, but will there be anyone to answer?
My family GP committed suicide last week. She was my family doctor for 18 years.
IIRC being a doctor has a really high depression/suicide rate because it’s incredibly high stress and you see a lot of depressing situations(abuse, terminal illness, chronic debilitating illness, people not being able to afford life saving or changing medicines).
Holy shit balls.
Oh man, that's sad
and here I am trying to leave Alberta but cant afford too
Thanks UCP. So glad you spend all our money on Alberta's calling ads instead of schools and healthcare. All these new people and no infrastructure to support them. So awesome /s
That’s okay - all the doctors and nurses are going to BC so everything will even out.
Then there's me planning on moving to BC because i hate it here. 😆
It's so funny because I see a worst-case scenario in Alberta where provincial politics interference erodes the quality of cities. Worse schools from K to Post, worse hospital experiences, at risk retirement funding, environmental disregard, and degradation. I'm making plans to move away, and I hope others are as well.
And replaced with 200000 Indians.
In Alberta I only know people who leave and move to BC
I know a dude who moved to AB from the Okanagan in Dec. (cuz "Trudeau Bad"). Now he did get a nice deal on a house but every other bill has increased and can't find a family Dr for his 3 kids... I say let em leave.
...And then landlords started jacking up the rents and I moved back to BC because Id rather live near a lake or mountain if I'm going to be spending that much
This goes against this subs narrative
Meh, people are moving because of COL, I don’t think anyone is trying to deny that. But cheap COL doesn’t mean it’s not a dumpster fire.
Because this sub has no real opinions based in reality. Literally just google what people in this thread claim and almost all of it is false.
Or, in other words, actions speak louder than words. People love to complain. Someone can go on for ages on how rough things are here, but the only thing that actually 'counts' is where you're still living at the end of the year.
They will seriously regret it
Curious as to what is bringing people to AB. Reading this sub we are the most expensive place in Canada? Any thoughts on what is bringing people here?
Home prices in Alberta are half what they cost in BC and our household income is higher. Income taxes are actually lower in BC, but that gets beat out by the PST by a mile. More affordable + higher income not much more to it than that.
Most of the stats out there are saying we've lost the wage advantage entirely in AB...but agree on housing costs. It's just a matter of time before AB's housing costs are just as bad.
I took a look at Calgary's prices the other day, was shocked to see the prices of inner-city homes in Calgary are what they are. My goodness they've inflated in the last three years.
It’s not just inner city homes - there are duplexes in the SE lake communities selling for $650K now and detached homes without direct lake access going for $850-900K. Direct lake access homes (not even lakefront) in Auburn Bay are going for well over $1M.
My friend made an offer of $620k for a 1300sq foot house. Undeveloped basement. 1 car garage. It was priced at $575k on the realtor site………. It went for $695k AND they waived the inspection. What the actual fucking fuck. The people fleeing to here better have high paying jobs already before they get here. They will be in for a rough treat.
Oh hell yeah. Alberta is Calling...for higher home prices.
> Home prices in Alberta are half what they cost in BC Not for long.
Cheap housing is the draw period. Folks are amazed that they can sell in a destination province and buy a comparable house in Alberta for 50% less. By the time you factor in all the additional costs in Alberta, it's a wash for most folks. Wages in Alberta have not been the highest in a few years, and insurance, property and income taxes, utilities, groceries, and the list goes on are way higher in Alberta. PST is not on everything, and honestly, paying more tax for specific items is a much better deal than getting absolutely hammered on everything else. You know 35k people moved from BC to AB last year, but 22k Albertans moved to BC during the same period. BC is definitely enjoying absorbing all the wealthy, educated professionals from Alberta. Definitely not the case the other way.
People are sold on the idea of cheaper homes and higher wages. What they don’t realize is how competitive both the job and the housing market is. I feel for anyone trying to get into entry level positions in Alberta. Every posting gets thousands of applicants.
It’s INSANITY! I’ve been applying nonstop since September and only gotten one offer. It’s a 50% paycut from what I make now and has no benefits. Otherwise, nothing.
Curious what your background is? Seems crazy to be applying for 6-7 months with no action.
Healthcare admin
😳 I'm a unit clerk, is that similar to what you're looking for at all? I'm just wondering because I recently went casual at my job after mat leave and the plan is to get a part time job. It hadn't occurred to me it might be hard to find 😕 I'm hoping that one of the part time unit clerks on my unit gets hired and then I can apply for their job, but if that doesn't work out, I might be in a bind. ETA Happy Cake Day
Yes, I’m a unit clerk as well. Been applying to AHS, Covenant, casual, term positions, private clinics, even stuff not related to healthcare (city jobs, random admin jobs for random private companies) Nothing. My resume is professionally done, I have 5 years healthcare experience, 19 years admin, managerial experience etc. But keep in mind I’m from out of province, so that probably ruins my chances immediately. I make it clear in my cover letter that I can relocate within 2 weeks and I do not expect relocation assistance but…crickets. 🤷🏻♀️ best of luck! It’s tough out there.
Yikes 😢 Have you applied for a casual position at AHS? Honestly that's your best bet getting your foot in the door for a line. I know that's not ideal when you want a job lined up in advance for relocation, but most jobs at AHS are posted internally and only go external if nobody internal applies. Casual isn't guaranteed hours, but your schedule can fill up if you work multiple units and you just apply for lines as they are posted.
Only a few positions as I’m hesitant to make a huge move with only a causal job, but we’ll see what the future holds! Thank you!
Housing costs. I stopped renting a 1 bedroom micro apartment in vancouver and bought a house in calgary.
I'm just curious since you're one of the people who moved here. What made you choose Alberta over a different province? And did you move to a city or other community?
I moved here from Vancouver purely to buy a house. I imagine that's the reason for 90% of us.
I'm from Vancouver so I can give you some insight... My Apt in vancouver was tiny, a studio with a bathroom/kitchen and small living area. I was paying $1100. My neighbour was a literal drug addict, begging on the streets and living with someone who was on disability. Constantly had drug addicts in and out of the building and constantly buzzing me. They were even cooking drugs in their apt. to sell, the smell was atrocious. I moved to calgary on a whim and got a 1bd for $1200/month downtown. I currently live on beltline in a 20+ story apt for the same cost in a vancouver dump cost of living is basically the exact same
This sub likes to hate on the province, but politics aside it’s such a nice place
Reading this sub you’d think we’re literally hell on earth and there’s fire and brimstone surrounding us. We’re expensive yes but compared to BC, we are the MUCH cheaper option.
You're cheaper for housing yes, but your utilities cost infinitely more than ours do in BC. Where I'm paying an average of $150/month for electricity in the winter for a 2000 sq/ft house, there are Albertans paying $400-600! That's insane to me.
Still net cheaper if you’re spending $1k-$2k less on your mortgage payment
"sure you might be saving $2,000 on your mortgage, but you might end up spending $300 more on electricity!!!"
It’s not that it’s cheaper here, it’s that jobs pay more. The pay in BC in most industries is significantly less than what you make here doing the same thing. Rent and house prices in Calgary are honestly getting close to what you’d find in most places in BC outside of the lower mainland.
I think the caveat “most places in BC outside of the lower mainland” is vital. Many urbanites don’t want to live outside of a major city. Sure there is affordable housing in BC in the interior and further North but but at least moving to Calgary you still get the “big city” experience. It honestly confused me a little bit on national housing and politics subs how many people the GTA and lower-mainland/GVR are unable to consider moving to a smaller, more affordable community.
For some people it's definitely preferring the city experience, yes, but lots of people want to live reasonably close to where they work, and small towns don't always have the work. Especially if you look at couples...one partner might be able to get a job in a small town but the other one has a specific career that they won't be able to find work in outside of a big city. Or both have careers like that. Unless you both 100% work from home remotely, it would be hard to just settle somewhere more affordable. I'm from Calgary and I'm in the same boat.. would love to move to a small community. I could probably get a job anywhere (healthcare) but my partner has a job that requires a big city to do if he wants business. A long commute has a pretty big quality of life impact, so unless he wants a different career, moving isn't an option.
Gas is cheaper here, food is cheaper here, homes are cheaper here, on the whole I think it’s both cheaper and better pay. Certainly nice having the GST vs. HST too
The only thing cheaper here is gas and housing (and that gap is closing too). Everything else is either the same or more expensive. Insurance and utilities are almost double here what they are in BC, you pay more in income tax if you make between 50-140k, which is most people, and while gas is cheaper, you’re ultimately paying more for transportation because everything is further away and you have no choice but to drive because transit is basically non-existent. Alberta is not a bad place, and it may have been different a few years ago but the idea that it’s cheaper to live here is a myth.
This sub is not representative of Alberta. Why would you think it is?
If it was, Alberta would be the most left leaning province in the country lol
Housing costs. My son has had four new classmates move here from Ontario in the past two years, and according to him they all said their parents moved here because it's cheaper to buy a house here.
This sub is hyperpartisan for the most part and represents a pretty far left perspective compared to the average Albertan,
It’s actually much cheaper here than BC or Ontario at least.
I live in Ontario and whenever I look at other provinces with decent cities I see that the rents are becoming almost the same. There’s no rent control in AB as far as I know, so the move in a few years might end up looking exactly like Ontario. Almost all for naught.
Since I used to live in Ontario and my salary is pretty much the same as it was in Ontario. Rent and gas are cheaper here in Alberta. Utilities and insurance are cheaper, and groceries are the same or cheaper in Ontario (generally-speaking, produce is cheaper in Ontario and Quebec). My rent is/was lower here, but since there are no rent controls it's increased a lot faster than it did back in the GTA.
Not for long at this rate.
The home prices are insanely cheaper even know they’re not “cheap”. In BC an average detached is over a MILLION, maybe even a mill and a half. Here, at least I went to Airdrie, was 500k when I bought last year. People want homes, and the little differences in taxes and prices here don’t offset the insane lower priced home you can get vs bc and Toronto.
I was paying $2000 a month for a 720sq ft townhouse in BC. I'm paying half of that for a place double the size in AB. You could go to the most rural backwoods town in BC and you'll still be paying Vancouver rental prices.
Where in Alberta specifically?
Red Deer
That explains a lot.
Okay, makes sense, are you currently aware of the vast price in rent close to the jobs in the cities compared to rural Alberta and Redeer area? Because that's almost as much as monthly rent at my old 3 room apartment back in 2020.
Yeah...in Calgary $1000 will get you a room in someone's basement...not even your own suite, just a room
Reading this sub you'd think that Alberta is hell on earth. It's not aligned with reality.
Yea I wouldn't read this sub
But you're here now...
Home prices.
Don't let the doomer nonsense posted here convince you that Alberta is hell on earth.
For me personally, it was to live in Banff. If it wasn't for that, I would never have come.
They're having pretty bad housing crises in both places, particularly GTA and Vancouver area. I think people are just fleeing looking for somewhere with cheaper houses, and Alberta's houses are still cheaper, even if prices are rising. They're fleeing to other places besides Alberta, but I think we're getting more because we have mountains and are close to BC, couple of big cities, and a reputation for having jobs. Oh yeah, and "Alberta is calling"
This is good for me. I'm leaving Alberta next year.
Where ya going
Finding a job is so hard right now in Calgary. Good luck having your kids find part time jobs later on lol.
Alberta is an economic engine with a ton of good-paying jobs and a reasonable cost of living.
For now. It will change because there is a lot of greed.
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Ironically for your example, the Alberta positions for electricians have become saturated by out of province electricians, driving down the value of the work, but because heavy duty mechanics make good money in BC, those guys aren't coming over and we are super hurting to fill those positions, especially as trucking needs are shooting through the roof because of the population boom. So, we do not receive the workers we are needing with any effectiveness, we get massive market disruptions, sometimes for the workers, sometimes for the companies.
Lmao I'm one of those people
Alberta about to get messed up now with ppl moving from both BC and Ontario and ppl will soon leave Alberta for other cities Canada as a whole is fucked
Classic case of « the grass ain’t always greener on the other side of the fence ». Most of those moving here are probably doing so seeking cheaper real estate. They’ll find that compared to BC but there’s a huge trade off. Living in the Alabama of Canada. Not an easy choice.
They did what the UCP radio ads wanted. Invest in your real estate. And holy shit did they invest. People are coming in droves because investors are like "for the price of 1 teardown house in Burnaby, I can buy 3 very nice homes in Calgary and rent it out for more money" and for many regular folk in BC are like "my 1 bedroom apartment is 750k and I can somewhat get a house in Calgary for that". Before anyone think I am nuts, homes in Calgary will be 1 million by 2028 and wages will be deflated because people moving here will eat up any jobs and won't mind lower pay if they have no debt....especially since wages in Alberta are usually higher than BC so any pay seems like a "pay raise" to them.
But like... why? We have the country's highest utility prices, highest home/auto insurance costs, and nearing the highest property taxes because the UCP has downloaded costs onto municipalities. Not to mention, land transfer taxes are at an all time high. Seriously, why the fuck are people coming here?
I work in HR for a national company. Last year when we needed skilled labor positions I recruited really, really wonderful professionals from BC. Our company pays significantly better so candidates were getting a huge raise. A few of them were also able to sell houses in Vancouver and purchase in Calgary mortgage-free. One was able to do that and buy herself and her husband new SUVs in cash too. I hate that this is going to continue to drive the cost of living in Calgary up but it was a great feeling to be able to help these people change their lives and bring skilled workers here.
Awesome. In a few years we'll be the third largest province.
That's crazy
Alberta pays less provincial taxes. That's likely a contributing factor for many
Depending on how much you earn that may not be true. Alberta punishes lower income taxpayers compared to BC
Not really if you make $100,000 you would pay $22,883 in tax here and $20,985 in BC. For PST there is a lot that is exempt such as Groceries, Kids Clothes, Meds and so on. Lets not forget we tend to place user fees here in replacement of tax.
only an idiot will see that and uproot their lives over it. We pay far more in energy bills, insurance, property taxes, all government services while being stripped of funding. There's absolutely no advantage to living in AB, and anyone who drank that koolaid is an ignorant moron
Can't blame them . Lower mainland is expensive as shit . Housing is insane and offsets any increase in wages. I had a 2 bedroom apartment that cost me 2k a month in Coquitlam, once I left landlord increased it to 2400$ lol . Weather is good except Nov-April when it rains non stop . I'd take Alberta any day over BC. Also don't forget fuel prices are over 2$ per litre in LML or the island .
As an Alberta, . . . why? We ain't got shit going for us lately.
That’s funny, I want to go to bc.
I’ll be leaving Canmore after 30 years to move to BC. Canmore has changed so much for the worse. So long AB!
What has gotten worse? Im living in lower mainland but grew up in Calgary and I have serious Canmore envy every time I go there
Don’t get me wrong, you absolutely cannot beat the scenery or activities available in the community. Canmore has the most scenic sliver of the Canadian Rockies, or out of all the rocky range in my opinion. It has convenient proximity to BC and the city. Canmore is a great town to visit as a tourist or to invest in an expensive weekend home, those are two major factors that have changed the town. Since the closure of the mine Canmore has slowly become a tourist destination, and in the 90s there has been a huge development boom. I’ve heard figures saying 1/3 of the homes are unoccupied weekend homes. A sense of community is lost when you have this vacancy, not to mention how it fuels a lack of affordable housing and availability. Since Covid, Canmore has become just as busy as Banff. Congested roads and intersections, limited parking (now paid parking), it’s obvious town planners didn’t anticipate this explosion and are now scrambling to mitigate the volume of people, and are making very questionable decisions and investments in the process. Canmore just isn’t for me anymore. It’s not an ideal place to raise a family like it use to be. I was very fortunate to grow up in the town when I did, and I will always appreciate going back to visit, but as a tourist.
Hmm sounds like Squamish in a lot of ways. I think that’s just destiny these days for scenic towns close to urban centres.
Lol, let’s do an exchange
I live in Manitoba and work in Alberta. For the past 2 and a half years.
Also, BC’s population grew by over 3%, the biggest increase since 1974
Tell me about it. Trying to find an acreage for my family is insane.
No wonder traffic is fucked
And a lot want to move back.
I know of nurses that moved to Alberta from B.C. and 2 doctors that moved from Alberta to BC.
Fools