The rankings are in and Greater Sudbury placed 169 on the Canada's Best Places to Live list of 2017.
This was a steep drop off for the Nickel City, as Sudbury placed 84th in Canada on the 2016 edition of the list.
The annual list, compiled by MacLean's magazine takes into account a variety of factors including, robust economy, high wealth and income, home affordability, low taxes, transit friendly, and more.
The Nickel City ranked at 169 this year, on a list of 417 total cities. More locally, Sudbury ranked 67th in Ontario, which was good enough for second among major Northern Ontario cities. Coming in at 41st in Ontario and 97th in the country was Thunder Bay, which ranked the highest among Northern Ontario.
Sault Ste. Marie came in at 104th in Ontario (263 in Canada), North Bay landed right on the century mark as 100th in Ontario and 255th in Canada. Timmins broke into the top 100 in Ontario, ranking 90th in the province and 225th in the country. Bringing up the rear as far as Northern Ontario was Elliot Lake, coming in at 148th in the province out of 150, and 379th in Canada.
Greater Sudbury did not rank in the top 25 percentile in any of the 11 categories. Sudbury did however have decent showings in economic factors, with average rent coming in at less than $1,000 and an unemployment rate of 6.31 per cent, compared to Toronto's 8.42 per cent.
Ottawa retained its number one spot from a year ago, once again finishing atop the list of best places to live in Canada. The nation's capital scored very well in categories such as mobility, with nearly 14 per cent of the population taking public transit to work, which ranks among the top 10 in the country.
Ottawa also hit the top 25 percentile for weather and access to health care, with three doctors per 1,000 residents.
Back in Greater Sudbury, weather may have played into the city's low ranking, coming in with just 96 days of the year with temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius, compared to Ottawa's 117 days.
For comparison, Edmonton gets 88 days per year with temperatures above 20 degrees Celcius, and Alberta's captial is roughly 1,000 km farther north than Sudbury.
Sudbury quick facts:
- Median household income is $78,956
- 3.2 per cent of Sudburians take public transit to work
- Total rainfall in Sudbury was 676 mm
- 4,708 reported crimes per 100,000 residents
- Average propert tax is $2,198
For the full list of the Best Places to Live in Canada click here.
