Whats its like living in Calgary, Canada?
Calgary’s a really nice city. It’s over a million people, so there are plenty of things to do, but it’s not a huge city. Calgary also has a really bad sprawl problem, so area-wise it is pretty large. It’s only an hour from the Rockies, which is awesome. It’s really easy to head out skiing, hiking, camping, etc. over a weekend. Housing is fairly pricy here, but not as bad as Vancouver or Toronto, and the job outlook is pretty good as well. Alberta as a whole has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada. It can get brutally cold in the winter (below -30 C), but at least we get chinooks, which are warm winds that come over the Rockies and warm things up pretty regularly. Summers are actually not that hot for the most part. There are usually only a few days when it gets above 30 C. The low humidity also helps. Even when it is hot during the day, it usually cools off very quickly at night, in part due to the relatively high elevation (a bit above 1000m). It can easily get down to 10 C
Weather: winter from October/November to March/April. Winter is usually quite cold but chinooks do happen so there can be warm spells. Some days you’ll have both the heat and the air-conditioning on in your car. It is very dry, we do get snow and rain but there is almost no regular humidity. Summers are warm, not too often hot but it depends on the year. Housing: pretty expensive, but roommates make the rent or mortgage easier to deal with, www.mls.ca and www.homerent.ca (and other) can be good guides. Prices: parking is insanity (“early bird only $32 per day!), mainly downtown though…foodstuffs, clothing etc are comparative to anywhere else in Canada, plus online you can get lots of deals. Tax: lowest tax rate in Canada (being in Alberta) but it’s still too high IMO Hospitals: 3 major hospitals including 1 major trauma centre (Foothills), top rated NICU, cancer treatment centre, transplant program etc. A lot of medical research also goes on here. 4th major hospital being built in th
