Newly released data designates Ottawa as Canada’s most livable city for 2026, providing a high quality of life for residents and visitors alike.
Ranking 28 on a global scale, Ottawa also takes the top spot across all of North America for quality of life, based on factors such as cost of living, safety, and traffic commute time.
In total, 17 Canadian cities were lauded for their quality of life, including Nanaimo and Victoria in British Columbia, and Calgary in Alberta.
This data was published by Numbeo, a crowd-sourced database used for international location comparisons of cost of living, quality of life, and other socio-economic indicators.
Which Canadian cities made it on the list?
In this global quality of life ranking, a total of 17 cities across seven Canadian provinces ranked among the most livable for 2026—with Ontario having the highest number of featured cities.
The table below shows which cities were featured by province, ordered by the number of cities that made an appearance.
| Province | Canadian city |
|---|---|
| Ontario | Ottawa |
| London | |
| Mississauga | |
| Toronto | |
| Brampton | |
| Hamilton | |
| British Columbia | Nanaimo |
| Victoria | |
| Vancouver | |
| Kelowna | |
| Alberta | Calgary |
| Edmonton | |
| Quebec | Quebec City |
| Montreal | |
| Saskatchewan | Regina |
| Manitoba | Winnipeg |
| Nova Scotia | Halifax |
Compared to last year’s rankings, only 14 Canadian cities appeared on the 2025 Quality of Life Index, though the same seven provinces were featured. Brampton, Hamilton, and Nanaimo are new additions this year.
How did the 17 Canadian cities rank nationally?
On a national scale, cities based in Ontario (one), British Columbia (three), and Quebec (one) ranked among the top five cities with the highest quality of life.
View the table below to see the rankings for the 17 cities that made it onto Numbeo’s 2026 Quality of Life Index.