Edmonton named third best Canadian city to live, Calgary takes top spot

St. Albert one of Canada's top cities St. Albert is near the top of the list in a magazine ranking Canada's top cities.

Edmonton has been named the third best large city to live in Canada, but Calgary takes the top spot for best city overall.

Several Alberta communities also placed high in a list of annual rankings of best communities in the country.

The MoneySense Magazine annual ranking looked at income, employment, housing, crime, health care, culture, weather and demographics as factors determining communities offering the best overall quality of life.

Calgary took top spot for best overall city, best large city, and best place to raise children.

St. Albert took top spot for best small city as well as second place for best overall city.

Edmonton ranked third, after Calgary and Ottawa in the best large cities category.

Ottawa had held the best overall city to live title for three consecutive years but slipped to sixth place in this year’s ranking.

The list, which was released Wednesday, indicates that Alberta’s thriving energy sector, high income and low unemployment has led to the development of healthy communities.

“A lot of these other cities, the underlying numbers have not really changed. But Alberta is so strong, it’s pushing those cities (in Alberta) up above everyone else,” MoneySense Magazine’s managing editor Mark Brown told Canada AM Wednesday.

Alberta had great representation on the Top 10 overall cities list, taking five spots.

Top 10 overall cities:

Four Alberta communities also made the Top 10 best small cities category.

Top 10 small cities

Top 10 mid-sized cities

Montreal, the country’s the second most populated city, didn’t crack the top 10 for large cities and sits at the 134th position overall.

Top 10 large cities

Click here for full lists and overview of Canada’s Best Places to Live 2013 edition.