Nanaimo Is A Good Place To Retire

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Nanaimo Ranks As Good Place To Retire 

#15 Of 191 Canadian Cities 

While Nanaimo ranks well with other Canadian cities as a desirable place to retire we are still trailing other Vancouver Island communities.
While Nanaimo ranks as #15, Saanich ranks #3, Victoria ranks #4, Courtenay ranks #6. When compared with other BC communities we also trail Vancouver at #12, Salmon Arm at #13 and Kamloops at #14.

The best place to retire in all of Canada according to this study is Kingston Ontario followed by Halifax NS.

Comparing ourselves to other Island communities as a good place to retire Nanaimo has an edge over Saanich when it comes to housing costs where we are #169 and they are #186, however in the category of weather they are #1 and we come in at #32. The category of 'health' favours Saanich at #33 while we come in at #155.

We also trail our Island friends to the north in Courtenay where housing costs rank #160 compared to our #169, weather they ranked #23 to our #32 and on health they ranked #125 to our #155.


Conclusions??

Assuming for a minute that the methodology behind these numbers reflects a degree of accuracy Nanaimo would be a choice based on housing cost advantage alone when compared with Saanich where we would lose out on health and weather. So a retiree, with the money to pay for Saanich real estate would likely not consider Nanaimo based on weather and health which are two seriously important factors when trying to figure where to live out your golden years.

However, the real 'sleeper' in the contest is little old Courtenay (which is not so little any more) which beats us on all counts cheaper housing cost, better health index and better weather index.

There is no doubt that Vancouver Island will be seriously considered as a retirement mecca for all retiring Canadians wishing to escape the harsher winters that they may have elsewhere. Which means all Island communities will find themselves in a race to attract this demographic, and according to this study, Nanaimo needs to improve in a few areas, unfortunately weather is not one we can do anything about. Or can we??