Please don't come for me, Vancouver friends, Calgary just does it best.
Ok, I will give you a bit of a background story before I dive in: My work contract was ending in early 2025, and I was living in Ottawa, Ontario. I needed a fresh start, so I started weighing out my options and decided I wanted to make my way out West, as many Ontarians do.
I had lived in Nanaimo, B.C. and White Rock, B.C., for short periods of time, so I definitely considered Vancouver, but at the end of the day I chose Calgary.
There were several reasons why I moved to Calgary over Vancouver, but here are the seven most important points that helped seal the deal for me.
I can wear PJ shorts out and not feel judged
I do not have it in me to get all dolled up every time I leave the house.
Vancouverites are so put together its scary. Girls will be in Alo head-to-toe and in a full beat, just to get a latte on a Tuesday morning.
My mental health cannot deal with feeling judged any time I leave the house in boxer shorts. I am just a girl, and sometimes I just need to walk to my local ice cream shop across the street from me in my PJs and get my sweet treat fix.
Calgary is WAY more affordable
I will be the first to admit, I am nowhere near being able to afford buying a home — I'm just out here renting. But renting (let alone buying) in Vancouver seems impossible.
Calgary is much more affordable, with one-bedrooms averaging $1,604 a month and two-bedrooms averaging $1,950, according to Zumper.
Over in Vancouver, one-bedrooms are going for $2,350 on average and two-bedrooms for $3,300. That is a no from me, not in today's economy.
The mountains are actually easy to get to
In Calgary, you can get to a decent hike anywhere within 40 minutes to an hour. I love its convenience, and traffic leaving the city is rarely an issue. Calgary rush hour within the city is a different story, but I'm talking about getting out of the city here.
And yes, Vancouver has mountains — but they're not so easy to get to in my experience.
Vancouver traffic during rush hour, especially over that dang Lions Gate Bridge, is a nightmare. I feel like whenever I have wanted to go on a hike in or around Vancouver, it's so far outside the city and the traffic to get there is horrible.
Plus, it's the same hikes everyone does, like The Chief. The sights from the top are beautiful, but it's like you're at a theme park to get there because it's so busy.
From Calgary, you quite literally have access to hundreds of hikes within a two-hour radius; something I will never take for granted.
I cannot deal with the rain 24/7
Vancouver is so gloomy, it's depressing.
I know there are beautiful sights, but I cannot handle the rain most days of the year. I just don't think I have it in me to live in a rainy city.
Comparing that to sunny Calgary, with blue skies about 330 days of the year? Yes please.
The sun is out the majority of the time, which helps make the cold winters a lot more bearable. The sun factor also just makes me get my butt outside most days. I am very weather-driven, and I need an incentive to get my steps in some days.
The sun here is truly unmatched by any other Canadian city, let alone Rain-couver.
I am a Vancouver 6
Ok, I'm going to get a little vain here, perhaps, or maybe the opposite.
Everyone in Vancouver is just way too hot for my liking. I have been out a few times downtown Vancouver, and I just feel so insecure when I am out in the bar scene there.
Yes, this could potentially be a me thing and it may involve needing to work through some of my own insecurities — but in Vancouver, I would say I am a hard six, whereas in Calgary, I'd give myself a generous nine.
The girls in Vancouver are simply too beautiful, and I just can't keep up. I will stick to my tracksuit and athleisure wearing six days a week, because that is much more my speed.
I am just a cowgirl and was made for Calgary
This fact, of course, sealed the deal for me.
I am a cowgirl through and through, and no other Canadian city does country-western better than Calgary. Mind you, I haven't done much field research in Vancouver, but does the city even have a country bar?
Of course, Calgary is filled with them, so that was a no-brainer. But the country music festival and event scene here is next level.
I know I have already talked your ears off about the Calgary Stampede in other articles, so I won't beat a dead horse here (see what I did there?), but I simply live for the country-themed everything. Concerts, music festivals, bars, birthdays... I couldn't live without a little yeehaw in my life, and Calgary just does it so effortlessly.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
