Cost of Living in Medicine Hat 2021 Edition

By on March 19, 2021.

Source: Mad in the Hat
Cost of Living in Medicine Hat 2021 Edition
I last did one of these in 2012. Recently, I’ve been asked by a couple of people how Medicine Hat’s cost of living compares with other cities in Alberta, so I thought I should do an update. This is trickier to answer than it seems, because it’s a false equivalency to compare cities of similar size. Medicine Hat has a similar population size to three other Alberta cities – St. Albert, Airdrie, and Grande Prairie.  However, only one of these has a comparative situation to Medicine Hat as a hub for shopping and services. Both St. Albert and Airdrie rely on their proximity to their populous neighbours to provide many services and amenities. Grande Prairie is the only city of similar size that also acts as a hub for the surrounding area.Here’s the breakdown:PopulationComparison by population:Medicine Hat – 65,441Grande Prairie – 69,626St. Albert – 69,806Airdrie – 74,591Popular comparison:Lethbridge – 100,323Red Deer – 106,024Edmonton – 1,025,096Calgary – 1,335,145Median Family Income as of 2018Comparison by population:Medicine Hat – $91,960Grande Prairie – $118,340St. Albert – $129,830Airdrie – $113,410Popular comparison:Lethbridge – $92,490Red Deer – $98,320Edmonton – $95,840Calgary – $102,570Average House price as of March 2021 (From Remax Real Estate Statistics)Comparison by population:Medicine Hat – $324,413Grande Prairie – $355,577St. Albert – $494,000Airdrie – $416,805Average of cities of similar population size = $397,699Medicine Hat’s average housing cost is $73,286 or 18% less than the average.Popular comparison:Medicine Hat – $324,413Lethbridge – $328,565Red Deer – $345,644Edmonton – $364,820Calgary – $458,742Average of popular comparison = $364,437Medicine Hat’s average housing cost is $40,024 or 11% less than the average.2020 Property TaxesFor this I’m going to use each city’s tax rate against the average house prices listed above for comparison, as I don’t know how different assessed value is from real estate market value. Let us assume that the difference in real estate pricing and assessed value are the same across the board.Comparison by population:Medicine Hat – $3,141Grande Prairie – $4,270St. Albert – $5,454Airdrie – $3,079Average of cities of similar population size = $3,986Medicine Hat’s average property tax is $845 or 21% less than the average compared to similar sized cities.Popular comparison:Medicine Hat – $3,141Lethbridge – $3,745Red Deer – $3,390Edmonton – $3,402Calgary – $3,451Average of popular comparison = $3,426Medicine Hat’s average property tax is $285 or 8% less than the average in cities popularly compared to Medicine Hat.Utility Costs – Total Energy Charges for the period January 2020 to June 2020 (Taken from the How We Compare information from the City of Medicine Hat – natural gas and electricity costs)There is a website, Utilities Consumer Advocate, where you can do price comparisons. I did not want to do the figuring that went into the information the city shared, so I am just using their price comparisons and will forgo the utility comparisons with the similarly sized cities.Medicine Hat – $916Lethbridge – $1,265Red Deer – $1,199Edmonton – $1,184Calgary – $1,116Average of popular comparison = $1,136Medicine Hat’s average energy cost is $220 or 19% less than the average of the 5 cities popularly compared with Medicine Hat.Non-Residential Mill RatesComparison by population:Medicine Hat – 15.71Grande Prairie – 16.1St. Albert -10.9Airdrie – 10.0Popular comparison:Medicine Hat – 15.71Lethbridge – 20.55Red Deer – 14.1Edmonton – 18.5Calgary – 15.8Whether it’s population comparison or popular comparison, Medicine Hat has the best value when it comes to cost of living. This in addition to it’s warm and welcoming community spirit and beautiful landscapes puts it at the top of the list of places to live in Alberta. I’m biased of course, but you know it’s true.Here are some websites you may find useful for comparing other aspects of living costs or livability between communities:Alberta Regional DashboardAlberta spatial price survey : a place-to-place price comparison surveyWalkscoreAverage Two-Bedroom Rent, Alberta and Major Alberta Urban Centres

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