How's Calgary? How different is it from a typical American city?

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joey v

Calgary is starting to be like a big city, ex:crime,homeless,highercost of living,etc. Its growing too fast for the infastucture to keep up with which means sitting in your car during rush hour a lot longer waiting for road construction, which is way behind schedule. But there is lots of work for those who want it ( thats why the homeless population makes me wonder) But i think its a great place to work.

USA_USA_USA

" I would like to know how different Calgary is from any other American city"

Well for starters it ain't in America!

I've spent that last few years travelling all of Canada and have been to Edmonton and Calgary many many times.
Calgary is a really booming western city due to the oilpatch. Calgaryis a vibrant growing city. If you are moving there you are going to likely experience a few frustrations due to the economcy being over-heated. Real estate prices are out of control and increase faster than a person can save....last year orver year the average house increased in value 46% (Toronto by comparison was 7%, Boston was flat) Since there is a huge labour shortage in the city, service tends to be poor in restaurants/gas stations etc as they can't keep staff as nobody will work for the lower wages. Most staff at Tims and McDonalds seem to be very recent immigrants who speak little to no English. Likely that once they have been in Alberta for a while they realized they can make so much more money elsewhere that they leave.

Alberta in general has a world-leading economy where you can make pretty good money if you have the right skills. Odd thing right now is that blue collared or manual labour tends to pay better than professional services...guys driving forklists are making more than lawyers and dentists in many cases.

If I was a bit younger I'd head to Calgary or Edmonton to make my fortune....hope this is useful info.

Cdn_Superdave

Comparing all Canadian cities, Calgary is probably as close to a typical American City as you would find elsewhere in Canada. That said, it is still very much Western Canadian.

Alberta has a long history of close relationships with America because of the ranching cattle Industry, hosting U.S. and international vistors during our annual Calgary Stampede and the American investment and partnerships in the Oil & Gas industry. It is a boom city at this time with lots of jobs available but housing and living costs continues to increase dramatically.

Toni_busy

Calgary is much like Denver. I just moved here from Denver, am a born US citizen who just returned from a trip in the states. Honestly, I hope to never move back to the states. That is how much I love it up here.......... especially because I have small children.

mb

kittycat

well for starters, calgary is in canada, not the USA.
i would say it's pretty similar to most north american cities. of course, guns are not legal here so you don't have to worry about that here.
i am thinking that you are contemplating moving here because you have heard there is a labour shortage in the city. whilst this is true, a lot of people are moving here, not realizing how difficult it is to find affordable housing. the average house price here is just short of $500,000 CDN. rental units are very hard to find, and those that are available are expensive as well.
i would suggest if you are moving here you only do so if you have a really well paying job and you have looked into getting a place to live beforehand.

Radiosonde

All this time I've been living in Calgary...
Nobody told me It wasn't in America.

The things you learn here.

All kidding aside, your question regarding afforability is a cause for concern. With the oil-driven economy and aforementioned labour shortage, the prices of rental and purchase real estate have increased at least 50% over the last two years, with some rents more than doubling. I don't know if that brings it up to par with other cities, but probably not quite.

http://www.calgary-city-maps.com/MLS-Listing-Calgary.html

It remains relatively easy to find work here.

Not Ready to Make Nice

I live there, great place. Not that afforable house.

our house is appraised for over half a mill

bettyflintstone

why yes it is different, first off it's in Canada..

Other than that, we have plumbing, electricity and all the things that Amercians do ... cept you have to buy wolves and a sled to get around

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