A ranking of Canada's 10 best cities for renters just dropped and Quebec dominated the list

A ranking of Canada's best cities for renters in 2024 just dropped. Whether you love it or hate it here, Quebec absolutely dominated the list with cities in the province taking seven out of the 10 top spots.

While 70% is a pretty good track record for a roster that measures the most desirable places to live, it's also not a perfect score — and Quebec did not manage to take first place, meaning that the best place to rent in Canada is a city outside the province.

In order to compile the ranking, online real estate marketplace Point2Homes analyzed Canada's 100 largest cities using 24 metrics spanning three categories: housing & economy, quality of life and community.

This means that while the cost of rent was a determining factor, the top spots didn't necessarily go to the cheapest spots. Rather, cities also had to offer advantages in areas such as perceived level of stress, air quality and unemployment rate.

Here's the 2024 list of Canada’s 10 best cities for renters, starting with the best. We also put the average rent in brackets so you get a sense of how much people pay each month, and how much that weighed into the results.

1. St. John's, NL ($1,073)
2. Sherbrooke, QC ($926)
3. Québec City, QC ($1,000)
4. Trois-Rivières, QC ($745)
5. Saguenay, QC ($748)
6. Granby, QC ($915)
7. Fredericton, NB ($1,259)
8. Saint John, NB ($1,027)
9. Saint-Hyacinthe, QC ($967)
10. Lévis, QC ($1,035)

"It seems St. John's, NL managed to find the right balance: The strong fishing industry, doubled by the gas and oil industries in Newfoundland and Labrador's charming capital create the strong economic backbone of the city, with its vibrant arts and cultural community representing the beating heart of the province's main urban hub," Point2 says on a website outlining the study's key takeaways.

Even more than in the general ranking, Quebec specifically crushed the "economy & housing" category, which focused on things like rentership rates, average rent and tenant insurance costs, with cities in the province taking up the top 18 spots.

"It's astounding that 18 of the 19 Québec cities included in the analysis boast the best economic and housing scores, taking up the first 18 spots in the Economy & Housing category," Point2 says. "However, what makes this even more remarkable is that these 18 cities represent almost all the Québec cities analyzed, with Brossard the only exception coming in at #21."

That means pretty much every Quebec city included in the study was among the country's best places for renters in terms of economy and housing.

While Montreal didn't make the top 10 overall, we still made a good showing for a major city, coming in 12th place. Canada's other large metropolitan centres — Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary — came in 44th, 19th and 56th, respectively.

Ontario didn't even crack the "economy & housing" list until #23 (Chatham-Kent) or the overall list until #22 (Greater Sudbury).

Regardless of how you feel about being a renter in Quebec, one thing is clear: it's better than being a renter in Ontario.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.