Orillia Among Top Cities In Canada To Live

Orillia 53rd Best Place To Live - The Packet & Times

After a dip in ranking in 2010, Orillia is pulling itself back up the list of MoneySense magazine's best places to live.

The Sunshine City ranked 53 in 2011 for the quality of life, after the rank dropped from 42 to 59 the previous year.

"This is great news for us," said Dan Landry, the city's manager of economic development. "There isn't a community out there that doesn't promote quality of life. Other communities may talk about quality of life; we live it."

MoneySense, a personal finance and lifestyle magazine, ranked 180 communities with populations of more than 10,000 in its sixth annual "best places to live" report.

Cities were rated based on home affordability, climate, prosperity, crime rates, access to health care and lifestyle, with subcategories in each area.

"On the whole, employment is more of an issue than transit for people," MoneySense data manager Phil Froats said, noting recent feedback from the public has helped evaluate each criterion's worth.

"The ability to buy a house counts for a lot," Froats said.

While Orillia ranked just below the halfway mark on housing affordability, income levels and unemployment, major gains for the city were seen in culture, low crime rates and the natural environment.

The opportunity for investment and the growing population, one of the top criteria, also contributed to Orillia finishing in the top third of cities, Froats said.

Once again, Ottawa-Gatineau topped the list of best places to live in Canada.

MoneySense wasn't the only publication to take notice of Orillia's developing identity as a place to buy into.

The real-estate think-tank Real Estate Investment Network (REIN) also had its eye on Orillia in 2011, ranking the city as one of Ontario's top 10 towns in which to invest for 2011.

"Being in the top 60 places to live and the top 10 investment opportunities in Canada are selling points," Landry said