Caledon, Milton, Halton Hills, Clarington, and Burlington, which are all located in southern Ontario.
The study used 30 metrics graded on a 100-point scale. The metrics were further grouped into four categories:
- Economy and real estate
- Health and well-being
- Community and environment
- Location and demographics
Caledon scored 67/100 for overall happiness.
The report findings highlight the locations that people are likely to be happiest based on their priorities, which may help newcomers who are deciding where to settle in Canada.
Despite Caledon’s high overall ranking, some cities in Quebec received very high rankings as follow:
- Three Quebec towns (Terrebonne, Blainville, and Repentigny) ranked the highest for happiness based on economy and real estate. All three towns are north of Montreal.
- Granby, Saint-Hyacinthe, Lévis, Québec City, Drummondville and Trois-Rivières in Quebec were the top cities in Canada for happiness in health and well-being.
The report says this is in part due to Quebec having shorter working hours than other provinces and a reported lower share of residents dealing with mood disorders. Only 6% of Quebecers reported having a mood disorder.
This number went up to 10.5% in Ontario and over 12% in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
St John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador was found to be among the greenest cities, as well as the highest-ranking spot for charity donations. over 55% of Newfoundlanders had a high rate of life satisfaction (on a scale of 1-10).
However, Cape Breton (which was evaluated as a city although it’s an entire island of more than 10,000 square km) ranked higher than St John’s for a strong sense of belonging.
Regina and Saskatoon took the top spot for the highest number of volunteers in their communities. Saskatoon also ranked as the second most stress-free large city in the country.
In this evaluation among cities Milton, Halton Hills, Burlington and Oakville ON were ranked as having the lowest crime rate.
