Construction · OpenStats
OpenStats Building Permit Value
OpenStats
Cities ranked by total Statistics Canada building permit value in the calendar year. Rank 1 is highest value.
4 editions · 2023–2026
#5
Latest · 2026 · of 42
Score 2818817000
Alberta
Calgary
Stampede City from a prairie fort
Calgary in brief
Calgary grew up where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet, on land long used by Niitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy), Îyârhe Nakoda, Tsuutʼina, and Métis communities. In 1875 the North-West Mounted Police raised a post here; the name Calgary stuck after a scrap over an earlier label.
The Canadian Pacific Railway turned the post into a townsite, cattle money paid for sandstone buildings, and oil later paid for towers. Through it all the Calgary Stampede has kept July loud since 1912, billing itself the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth with a straight face and a lot of dust.
Today the skyline still argues with the foothills on clear days. When you want figures instead of folklore, the buttons below open permits, tax, internet, radon, hazards, and water for Calgary.
Drawn from Wikipedia, Atlas Obscura.
Permits, tax, radon & more for Calgary
Open the live numbers for Calgary. Each link goes to the original topic page for this city.
Follow Calgary by email
When Calgary moves in a ranking, posts new permit figures, or lands in a study, get a short note. A few sends a year, only when something changes.
No spam. Unsubscribe with one reply.
#24
City Score rank
78%
City Score
5
Owned lists in score
City Score over time
The green line averages OpenStats-owned rankings (radon, permit value, mill rates). Grey dots mark every published placement across all studies below.
Rankings for Calgary
Each study below is its own ranking. Where a study has more than one edition for this city, the chart shows standing across those years only.
Composite · OpenStats
OpenStats City Score
OpenStats
Average standing across OpenStats-owned rankings built from public data (currently radon, building permit value, and residential mill rates). Each placement is scored from 0–1 within its edition, then averaged. External livability lists stay on hometown pages as separate published appearances.
Single edition · 2026
#24
Published · 2026 · of 125
Score 0.783
Only one published edition places Calgary in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Health · OpenStats
OpenStats Highest Indoor Radon
OpenStats
Communities ranked by Health Canada survey mean indoor radon (Bq/m³). Rank 1 is the highest mean.
Single edition · 2026
#26
Published · 2026 · of 117
Score 135.1
Only one published edition places Calgary in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Housing
CMHC Average 2-Bedroom Rent — Lowest Rent
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Average rent for purpose-built 2-bedroom apartments (all tenants) from CMHC Rental Market Survey. Rank 1 = lowest average rent among covered CMAs.
Single edition · 2025
#14
Published · 2025 · of 18
Score 1914
Only one published edition places Calgary in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Housing
CMHC Purpose-Built Rental Vacancy — Highest Vacancy
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Purpose-built rental apartment vacancy rate from CMHC Rental Market Survey (October). Rank 1 = highest vacancy (most available rental stock among covered CMAs).
2 editions · 2024–2025
#1
Latest · 2025 · of 18
Score 5
Housing
Demographia International Housing Affordability — Canadian Markets
Demographia / Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Canadian subset of Demographia median multiple (median house price / median household income). Rank 1 = most affordable (lowest median multiple) among Canadian major markets in the international survey.
3 editions · 2024–2026
#2
Latest · 2026 · of 6
Score 4.3 · Seriously Unaffordable
Livability
EIU Global Liveability Index
Economist Intelligence Unit
Ranks ~173 cities on stability, healthcare, culture & environment, education, and infrastructure. Full dataset is paid; OpenStats stores only ranks and scores published in free press releases and news coverage.
3 editions · 2023–2025
#18
Latest · 2025 · of 173
Score 94.7
Livability
Globe and Mail Most Livable Cities
The Globe and Mail
2023 data partnership with Environics Analytics ranking 439 Canadian communities on ten livability categories.
Single edition · 2023
#8
Published · 2023 · of 439
Only one published edition places Calgary in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Livability
Maclean's Best Communities
Maclean's
Successor-style municipal livability ranking published by Maclean's for 2019 and 2021 (no 2020 edition).
Single edition · 2019
#33
Published · 2019 · of 415
Only one published edition places Calgary in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Quality of life
Mercer Quality of Living City Ranking
Mercer
Expat-oriented quality of living ranking across 39 factors in 10 categories. OpenStats stores Canadian cities named in free Mercer press releases (typically top-25 highlights), not the full paid ranking.
2 editions · 2023–2024
#25
Latest · 2024 · of 450
Livability
MoneySense Best Places to Live
MoneySense
Annual composite ranking of Canadian municipalities on economy, housing, crime, health, and weather.
5 editions · 2013–2018
#30
Latest · 2018 · of 415
Housing
National Bank Housing Affordability — Highest Mortgage Stress
National Bank of Canada Economics and Strategy
Ranked by Mortgage Payment as a Percentage of Income (MPPI) on a representative home. Rank 1 = highest MPPI (least affordable). Free quarterly Housing Affordability Monitor tables.
2 editions · 2025–2026
#7
Latest · 2026 · of 10
Score 39.3
Quality of life
Numbeo Quality of Life Index by City
Numbeo
Crowd-sourced composite Quality of Life Index. Historical snapshots are free on Numbeo ranking pages; OpenStats cites Canadian cities from those public pages (cite_only). Higher index scores are better; ranks are global position on the snapshot page.
3 editions · 2024–2026
#95
Latest · 2026 · of 304
Score 179.1
Housing
RBC Housing Affordability — Least Affordable Markets
RBC Economics
Ranked by RBC aggregate Housing Affordability Measure (% of median pre-tax household income for mortgage, property taxes, and utilities on a benchmark home). Rank 1 = highest ownership-cost burden (least affordable). CMA markets mapped to primary city slugs.
2 editions · 2024–2025
#7
Latest · 2025 · of 13
Score 40.9
Worth knowing in Calgary
Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.
Calgary is the largest city in the Canadian province of Alberta.
As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making Calgary the third-largest city and the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Canada.
The Calgary Stampede bills itself as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth and has run as an annual ten-day rodeo and exhibition each July since 1912.
Calgary Tower rises 190.8 metres above downtown and was originally called the Husky Tower when it opened in 1968.
Places to see
Peace Bridge
Santiago Calatrava's bright red, webbed pedestrian bridge stretches across the Bow River and has become one of downtown Calgary's most photographed landmarks.
Nose Hill Siksikaitsitapi Medicine Wheel
A First Nations monument on Nose Hill with prairie views across Calgary, marking Indigenous presence on the city's northern escarpment.
Udderly Art Pasture
A herd of colorfully painted cow statues scattered through Cowtown, leftovers from Calgary's public art cow parade.
Reader Rock Garden
A Victorian rock garden planted in a harsh prairie-foothills climate at the edge of Calgary.
