How Affordable is the North?
How Affordable is the North?
May 2023 | Holly Parsons and William Dunstan
In most Northern Ontario communities, big and small, the cost of living is lower than in Southern Ontario. Building off a 2020 NPI commentary that compared living costs in urban areas in Northern and Southern Ontario, this piece looks at living costs in Northern Ontario's smaller communities.
Different goods and services are most affordable in different communities. Cities in Southern Ontario have the cheapest gas, while the least expensive housing is found in smaller communities in the North. When looking at the combined costs of household essentials, Northern Ontario communities are, with few exceptions, more affordable than Southern Ontario's urban centres. When comparing large and small communities in Northern Ontario, there is not a clear pattern; smaller and more remote communities are represented both among those with the highest and the lowest combined costs for household essentials.
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Related Research:
2018 State of the North Conference Report - How Taxation can Support Growth – Discussion Summaries
Systemic Deficiency: Issues with Food Security in Northern Ontario
Rural Ontario Foresight Papers 2019