Vancouver may be the "nicest" city in Canada but it ranks last for affordability

Vancouver may be the "nicest" city in Canada, but a recent study commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies found Quebec City and Montreal come out on top when it comes to cost of living, culture, shopping and meeting people.

According to the survey, a quarter of Quebec City residents said the cost of living in their city was excellent, while another 70% described it as good. Montreal came second in the category, with 16% describing it as excellent and 65% saying it was good.

While an earlier Postmedia News report indicated that a quarter of all Canadians had chosen Vancouver as the overall "nicest city in Canada," the executive director of the Montreal-based association, Jack Jedwab, said it ranked dead last when it came to cost of living, with 57% of respondents describing it as poor.

"There's a funny phenomenon in Vancouver: There's not a lot of people in the middle," he said, noting few Vancouverites described the cost of living as good, let alone excellent.

The Greater Toronto Area, Edmonton and Calgary rounded out the list of least affordable cities to live.

On the subject of job opportunities, Calgarians were most satisfied, with half describing them as excellent and more than a third describing them as good. Quebec City came a close second, with 47.6% saying excellent, but another 42.9% describing them as good.

A whopping 36% of Torontonians rated job opportunities in their city as poor, followed by 29% of Ottawa residents and 25% of Vancouver residents.

Source: Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News