What makes the city so liveable? Calgarians explain why their city is great

Calgary found itself on a couple of “best places to live” lists in 2022, which had one Reddit user wanting to know what makes it so liveable. Calgarians were happy to tell them.

The original question was asked by u/northbk5.

“I’ve never been to Calgary, but I always see that Calgary is rated as one of the best places to live in North America and in the world ranking with a lot of international cities, which has me a bit surprised. I’ve never been to Calgary so I’m curious about what makes the city so quote ‘livable.’ It can’t be the weather that’s for sure lol.”

At the time of this writing, there are 500 comments with most of them explaining why the city was so great. A few users complimented how clean our city was.

“It’s clean (cleanest city in the world by some reports), salaries are high, cost of housing is low (relative to other large metropolitan areas), cost of living is low, Alberta taxes are low (relative to other provinces), it’s one of the sunniest places on earth, commutes are reasonable, huge amount of green space, and proximity to nature,” wrote one commenter.

“Our wastewater system here is basically second to none amongst cities of any decent size. We do primary treatment on a higher percentage of our stormwater than some other Canadian cities do on their sanitary water. Water quality is an important part of the environment, and we are the best in the world at it,” added another.

Some others appreciated how affordable it is here, in comparison to Toronto and Vancouver of course.

“I’m able to afford my rent while also living the lifestyle I want and not feeling strapped for cash. There’s lots of nature in the city. It’s clean. People are very friendly and approachable. Great bars, great energy to the city, and living so close to mountains makes some of the best hiking and skiing super accessible,” offered user out0fdonuts.

“Incomes are relatively high and the cost of living is low. Education is exceptional,” shared another.

There were other examples given such as how sunny it is here, the friendly people, and the safety of the city.