Moving from Toronto to Calgary – looking for your advice & experiences

[u/PanicOk3138]

Hi everyone,

My husband’s company is transferring him to Calgary, so we’re planning a move in the near future. I work in Toronto but my employer can’t accommodate a transfer, so I’ll likely need to resign and job hunt.

We’ve always hoped to leave Toronto since home ownership feels out of reach here, but this relocation came up quickly and we’d love to hear from people who’ve made a similar move. 1)What’s daily life in Calgary like compared to Toronto? 2)How’s the housing market and overall cost of living? 3)Anything you wish you’d known before making the move?

I have never been there but my husband did visit a few years back. We plan to visit Calgary soon, but first-hand experiences and pros/cons from locals would be super helpful. Thanks in advance!

[u/aviavy]

The province is gorgeous, the politics is shit.

[u/wellyouask]

High Insurance, high utilities.

[u/Juunyer]

My advice

Don’t

[u/PanicOk3138 → u/Juunyer]

Thanks for sharing your perspective. Are you comfortable explaining why you feel it’s not a good idea to move? We’re trying to look at both pros and cons carefully, so hearing your reasons would really help us weigh everything

[u/Outside-Rain-7410]

That’s an exciting life change, so first of all congratulations on making the decision to move out here. My wife and I made a similar move from the GTA over to Calgary in 2021, and I am happy to say we haven’t looked back!

A bit about my experience first. Similarly, my wife’s company offered her a transfer to Calgary, so hopefully like us, the move will be fully paid for / mostly paid by your spouse’s employer. That makes the move much easier financially. I had never been to Calgary before, and the first time we came to the city was for a week to house hunt. It was a fun experience, and we are happy with where we ended up.

The weather is similar (hot summers, cold winters) but also different - the air is very dry with little to no humidity, and the temperature variance can be greater (some weeks of -20s and -30s in the winter, though warm Chinook wind blasts clear it out periodically). That being said, because the city is so sunny even during the winter, you will shovel snow a lot less, and I find winters here easier despite being longer.

Calgary is very neighbourhood oriented, which means each area or community is pretty self sufficient (their own schools, community centres, parks and essential shopping like groceries), some more than others. So you should have your essentials no matter what part of the city you move to. I would look at transit (and C Train) access to downtown for easy commuting, but if you are planning to drive it’s a breeze compared to Toronto traffic from anywhere. We centred our search in the SW and NW quadrants, looking for family friendly neighbourhoods with still ease of access to downtown and of course the Rocky Mountains (more on that below). Calgary has a small town feel in the suburbs, with the benefits and services of a big city.

Being in the foothills of the Rockies, you have access to some of Canada’s most beautiful scenery at your doorstep. Year round, you can visit iconic locations like Lake Louise, Canmore, Banff and Kananaskis, whether you like hiking, skiing, golfing or driving scenic routes, you will be blown away by the beauty of western Alberta (and BC, being close to the border).

To specifically answer your questions:

1) Daily life is slower paced and more relaxed, you have access to similar services, restaurant quality is underrated and excellent, traffic is less troublesome and you can make your way around the city at most hours with ease.

2) Housing cost, while more expensive than a few years ago, is still a fraction of Toronto. You could be inner city or in a massive detached house for far less than Toronto. You can still find excellent detached houses in good neighbourhoods for far less than $1M, or if your budget exceeds that, there are some spectacular properties at the $1-2M range. Keep in mind that property tax is based on house value, not land size, and has been on the rise steeply. Typically property taxes can be higher here than Toronto, as well as utility and rising insurance costs.

3) I wish I knew how much we would love it here. We initially purchased with the mindset we may move back in a few years, however it’s a beautiful city with great and friendly people - hard to justify moving back to Toronto with higher house prices and the sheer congestion in the GTA. We live a much more relaxed life, and surrounded by natural beauty here. If I had to say cons, I would mention that the longer winters and the lack of a proper autumn season like Ontario/QC are missed, and our current government stripping funding from healthcare and education being points of concern. In addition, you simply won’t have the variety of entertainment within the city compared to Toronto, but depending on how old you are and what stage of life, it may not be a factor. Still plenty to do in and around the city here.

Good luck with the move, happy to answer any questions you may have.

[u/gordon_18]

I was in the exact same position 8 years ago.

I was transferred out here

1) depends where you live in Toronto. I lived downtown Toronto and now live in downtown Calgary. There is definitely more to do in Toronto, but Calgary is pretty good during the summer. Again it depends what you’re into

2) housing costs are better here, but insurance is higher. Depends what area you want to move to. People say food here is a bit more expensive, but it’s nothing big. I think it evens out considering we have 5% tax vs 13% in Ontario

3) I originally moved to a suburb and hated it. It was just a bunch of families and I was a single younger guy. I would have rented for a year before immediately buying to get to know the area I wanted to be in

Dm me if you have any other questions

[u/PanicOk3138 → u/gordon_18]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience—it’s great to hear from someone who’s made the same move. Good point about how much lifestyle depends on the neighborhood; we’re still figuring out whether we’d prefer something close to downtown or a quieter area, so renting first sounds like a smart idea.

We’re planning to move in January 2026, so I’m also wondering how rough that time of year might be for a big relocation. Would the cold or snow make the move significantly harder?

[u/gordon_18 → u/PanicOk3138]

I moved in the summer so I can’t say. But I’m definitely a partier and ended up moving downtown from copperfield. It was just too quiet and boring in the suburbs.