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Toronto

Harbour city with deep roots

Toronto in brief

Toronto wraps a Lake Ontario harbour that Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas peoples knew long before French traders built Fort Rouillé in 1750. The British later surveyed a townsite called York; in 1834 it took the name Toronto and set out to become the big lake city.

Railways, factories, and wave after wave of newcomers stacked neighbourhoods inland from the waterfront. Streetcars, alleys, and food from everywhere are part of the daily plot now.

One smile-worthy stop on many oddball lists is the Winter Garden Theatre, a leafy indoor fantasy above Yonge Street. The buttons below open live open data for Toronto.

Drawn from Wikipedia, Atlas Obscura.

Permits, tax, radon & more for Toronto

Open the live numbers for Toronto. Each link goes to the original topic page for this city.

PermitsBuilding permits for TorontoTaxProperty tax for TorontoInternetInternet for TorontoRadonRadon for TorontoHazardsHazards for TorontoWaterWater quality for Toronto

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When Toronto 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.

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#5
City Score rank
97%
City Score
6
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.

0%25%50%75%100%2014201520162018201920212023202420252026
OpenStats City ScoreIndividual published rankings

Rankings for Toronto

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

#5
Published · 2026 · of 125
Score 0.966

Only one published edition places Toronto in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

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

#96
Published · 2026 · of 117
Score 59.7

Only one published edition places Toronto in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

Property tax · OpenStats

OpenStats Residential Mill Rates

OpenStats

Municipalities ranked by residential mill rate. Rank 1 is the highest published rate (higher tax burden).

Single edition · 2024

#42
Published · 2024 · of 43
Score 7.08

Only one published edition places Toronto in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

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

#16
Published · 2025 · of 18
Score 2034

Only one published edition places Toronto in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

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).

Single edition · 2025

#12
Published · 2025 · of 18
Score 3

Only one published edition places Toronto in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

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

#64
Published · 2023 · of 439

Only one published edition places Toronto in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

Worth knowing in Toronto

Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.

  • Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario.

    Wikipedia

  • The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is constituted of Toronto proper and four surrounding regions, Peel, York, Durham, and Halton, and has a population of 6,712,341, while the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA), with a somewhat different definition, has a population of 7,106,379.

    Wikipedia

  • Casa Loma is a 98-room castle in midtown Toronto that bankrupted electricity magnate Sir Henry Pellatt after he poured his fortune into building it.

    Atlas Obscura

  • The Monkey's Paw bookstore houses the world's first Biblio-Mat, a random book vending machine that dispenses mystery volumes for a few coins.

    Atlas Obscura

Places to see

The Monkey's Paw

A used bookstore with the world's first Biblio-Mat, a coin-operated machine that dispenses a random book.

Winter Garden Theatre

A botanically themed auditorium inside the world's last operating double-decker theatre complex.

Casa Loma

A 98-room Gothic Revival castle built by an electricity multimillionaire who went bankrupt finishing it.

Lower Bay Station

A lost subway station nestled beneath Toronto's busy Yonge-University line, usually closed to riders.

Related guides

Indoor radonBuilding permitsMill ratesNatural hazardsBroadbandWater hardnessConstruction PulseStudies

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