Cost of Living

The Province of Alberta is an attractive place to live.  As part of the Province of Alberta, residents in the SouthGrow region enjoy:

• One of the lowest overall tax systems in Canada.
• Lowest overall personal taxes in Canada.
• No provincial retail sales tax.
• High workforce participation rate.
• Low average unemployment rate of 4.2% (2006) versus the national average of 6.3% (Statistics Canada, 2006).
• High worker productivity.
• Steadily increasing population with a growth rate of 6.8% from 2001 to 2006 (Statistics Canada, Census 2001, 2006).
• Increasing individual and couple incomes every year since 2004 (Alberta Finance and Enterprise).
• Affordable rental accommodation with average one-bedroom apartment rent of $726 per month in 2009 compared to rates in Calgary and Edmonton ranging from $852 to $941 per month. (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2009)
• Affordable housing with average price of a home in Lethbridge in 2008 being $243,585 compared to $278,040 in Red Deer and $405,267 in Calgary.