WELLINGTON COUNTY – Five local communities are on the Maclean’s Magazine 2019 listing of the best places in Canada to live.
The listing takes many factors into account, ranging from household income and property taxes to weather and crime severity.
Centre Wellington was number 54 on the list of 415 Canadian municipalities.
First place went to Burlington, followed by Grimsby, Ottawa, Oakville and New Tecumseth. Salmon Arm, B.C. was the only non-Ontario place to crack the top ten, at number seven.
The Town of Erin came in at 71, Guelph-Eramosa was 117, Wellington North 151 and Mapleton 237.
Among Wellington’s neighbours, the City of Guelph was 47, Orangeville 98 and Caledon 164. Milton was 17 and Toronto 19.
Maclean’s uses a points system, comparing municipalities using data from Statistics Canada, Environics Analytics, Canada Mortgage and Housing, Canada Revenue Agency, Environment Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information and even Google Maps.
A complete description and the full listing are available at macleans.ca.
There is also a sub-listing of the best communities in which to raise a family, with Oakville number three and Milton number five.
“We make categories we think are most important to average people worth the most points,” said Maclean’s writer Claire Brownell.
The categories are wealth and economy, affordability, population growth, taxes, commute, crime, weather, access to health care, amenities and culture.
“Different things are important to different people, of course, and we invite you to adjust our category weightings to your taste and find the city that’s perfect for you using our build-your-own-ranking tool.”
With each municipal name on the list is a link to brief highlights of statistics that contributed to the ranking.
Among the listed Wellington municipalities, all had a 5% per unemployment rate and a Statistics Canada crime severity index five-year average of 26. (Toronto’s was 58.)
Centre Wellington had a median household income of $92,275, compared to $117,135 in Erin, $117,863 in Guelph-Eramosa, $69,548 in Wellington North and $97,677 in Mapleton.
The average value of residents’ primary real estate was about $600,000 in Centre Wellington, $933,000 in Erin, $856,000 in Guelph-Eramosa, $440,000 in Wellington North and $588,000 in Mapleton.
The average annual property tax bill was $3,254 in Centre Wellington, representing 2.5% of the average income.
There was an average tax bill of $4,324 in Erin (2.5% of income), $4,178 in Guelph-Eramosa (2.5% of income), $2,043 in Wellington North (2% of income) and $2,434 in Mapleton (1.9% of income).
The average rent for a two bedroom apartment was similar, ranging from $1,047 in Centre Wellington to $1,196 in Erin.
The percentage of people able to walk to work was generally low, ranging from 1.3% in Guelph-Eramosa to 4.9% in Wellington North.
Communities got points for the percentage of population employed in arts, culture and recreation: Centre Wellington had 2.2%, Erin 1.9%, Guelph-Eramosa 2.6%, Wellington North 0.7% and Mapleton 1.1%.
