Weyburn, the “Opportunity City”, took the opportunity to accept some well-earned praise as the community was named best place to live in Saskatchewan by MoneySense magazine. Weyburn ranked number one in Saskatchewan just above Regina in second and Saskatoon fourth.
As a special mention, Weyburn also ranked second best city to live in on the prairies with the City of St. Albert edging Weyburn out for first place of all prairie cities (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba).
“This doesn’t come as any surprise to those of us who live in Weyburn. Even so, it is very humbling and flattering to receive this recognition form this prestigious national source,” said Mayor Debra Button.
The personal financial planning magazine compiles an annual ranking of Canadian cities. The magazine tracks a range of factors involving quality of life and affordability.
The MoneySense website describes their standards of assessing a community: “Above all else it should be prosperous, but affordable. It should also be safe and easy to get around, with plenty of amenities.”
In their analysis of Weyburn, MoneySense noted:
“The community offers almost every amenity you’d need, including a 100-bed hospital originally opened by Tommy Douglas… As you’d expect, homes are cheaper in this rural community than they are in bigger cities, but when paired with the town’s higher-than-average household income it means they are exceedingly affordable… That means families in Weyburn have more money for other things, like saving for retirement, taking vacations or investing, which helps explain why the average household net worth here is … the highest in the province.”
Nationally, Weyburn ranked 28th out of 219 cities in Canada.
“What makes this especially gratifying is that this is the first year that MoneySense graded us. I think we surprised them a little bit. They didn’t come out and look at us during a best-case scenario during a boom period. The fact that we ranked so highly during a rather average year shows that Weyburn’s advantages are long-term enduring characteristics of our community,” said Button.
