The Best Province in Canada for Your Family

Newcomers to Canada are often nervous about the best province to raise their families.

It is certainly something to think about before you immigrate – if you’re not thinking about it already.

Some immigrant parents, for instance, believe that they will be unable to raise their children in Canada as they would back home so this is something you need to consider as well.

Generally speaking, all provinces of Canada will provide a good environment for you to raise your family in. There are a few questions you need to ask yourself though.

What is your expected lifestyle? Provinces with a larger number of big cities offer superior services and lifestyle but are more expensive than remoter areas. And these remoter areas offer more of a tranquil lifestyle.

What is your income range?

How much cold weather can you cope with?

Would you like to have a home of your own within a short period of your stay or are you OK with renting for a long time?

What skills do you possess?

And more importantly, where have you got a job?

There’s an old saying (but probably just from me, though): “Where you have a job, there your home is.”

And you can make a great life for your family no matter which province of Canada you’re living in.

 

Things to Consider When Choosing the Best Province for Your Family in Canada

 

Your Job

If you have a job somewhere in Canada already, then that’s probably the best province for your family. If you’re yet to get a job, then you should consider the best place you can find one.

Work is not evenly spread across Canada. As a rule, the provinces with the most favourable job prospects – that is, where you’re most likely to find work – also happen to be the most expensive.

Ontario and British Columbia are great provinces where there are plenty of job opportunities. But they are also among the costliest provinces to live in.

In the image below displaying the top ten costliest cities in Canada, five are in Ontario and the other five in British Columbia.

Note though that prices are much cheaper if you are living in the smaller towns away from the urban centres. However, the lesser the house prices, the lesser the opportunities too.

Other provinces much less expensive than British Columbia or Ontario but which have a very good rate of employment for newcomers include Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where you have cities like Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg.

You should also consider which region has the most opportunities for someone of your skillset. Check out Canadianvisa’s resource for finding the best Canadian province for your skillset.

The Weather

The cold can be brutal in Canada, particularly in winter. This is exactly why the southern provinces are much more populated and have a higher cost of housing. As a rule, it’s colder the more northerly you go.

The parts of Canada with the mildest winters are mostly also the parts with the most expensive housing and cost of living.

The table below from Currentresults showed the average daily maximum temperature of Canadian cities for December, January and February, the winter months and the coldest period of the year.

Nine of the ten cities were in either Ontario or British Columbia:

As if you needed one more reason to pick these cities.

There are potential opportunities for newcomers in regions like northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba and rural Alberta. However, these places have long freezing winters and very short summers.

But people still live there of course, so why not you?

Your family might be able to adapt but moving there in the first place is a decision you will have to make.

Cost of Living

Cities in preferred locations such as British Columbia and Ontario are the prime choice for most immigrants but it can be shocking how expensive the housing is.

As a matter of fact, the two provinces are top of the charts for the most expensive housing in Canada:

 

You can find cheaper accommodation by staying away from the cities, but you might have to face long commutes if you get a job in a city.

If you are looking for a quieter, less expensive province where you will also be closer to nature and have less traffic, you may want to consider provinces like New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The People

In the larger Canadian communities, especially the big cities, you will find a lot of ethnic diversity. Lots of stores, restaurants and other services reflect this diversity, and you may be able to find people who are from your own native region or even country.

This can have a huge positive effect not just on your own adaptation to life in Canada but also on that of your children.

Don’t forget that Canada is a very large country. Those who live in the more populated areas are more accustomed to having a lot of foreigners and immigrants around. It’s not necessarily that way in the remoter areas.

In these smaller, less popular cities and towns, you might form part of a “visible minority” and so you are much more likely to encounter racist attitudes.

As much as many migrants have lived in Canada without facing any sort of racism, it isn’t necessarily that way everywhere. Places with less diversity and ethnic depth are much more likely to be conservative in their behaviour.

Finally, you can see that the best province in Canada for you and your family really boils down to your own situation, wants, skills and existing resources.

You do not need to worry about your children’s education as public schooling in Canada is of high quality and mostly the same all round, though there might be a few structural differences from province to province. The same applies to universities in Canada.

Moreover, as of 2020, Canada was viewed as having the third-best education system globally and according to this post, 92% of children in Canada attend public schools.

So rest assured, your children will have some of the best education in the world.

What other factors do you need to consider while choosing where to raise your family?