New StatCan tool compares quality of life in Waterloo Region municipalities

Ever wondered how Waterloo Region cities and townships compare when it comes to quality of life? A new Statistics Canada online tool allows users to do just that with municipalities across the country.

The Municipal Quality of Life Dashboard has data from 2021 on acceptable and core need of housing, poverty, education and even the ability to speak English and French.

Using it to compare all the municipalities and our region as well as Guelph, there were some notable findings.

Waterloo had the highest poverty rate at 11.9 per cent, with the next closest municipality being Kitchener at 8.1 per cent. Provincial rate is 8.3 per cent.

However, Waterloo also ranked in the top spot for proportion of population with a post-secondary education at 64.6 per cent. Wellesley had the fewest, with only 40.2 per cent of their population attaining a certificate, diploma or a degree.

Looking at the percentage of households in acceptable housing, all cities were in the same range, all within 68.1 to 70.4 per cent, above the provincial rate of 67.2 per cent. Wilmot stands out above the other townships in this category at 84.1 per cent, while Wellesley, Woolwich and North Dumfries are all just under 82 per cent.

Waterloo had the lowest percentage of households in core need at 8 per cent while Guelph had the most, marginally over Kitchener, but still below provincial rate, which is 12.1 per cent.

According to Statistics Canada, “core housing need refers to whether a private household’s housing falls below at least one of the indicator thresholds for housing adequacy, affordability or suitability, and would have to spend 30 per cent or more of its total before-tax income to pay the median rent of alternative local housing that is acceptable.”

Overall, quality of life is looking good for our area, but the dashboard leaves out several significant indicators like wages, crime and health.

You can use the dashboard to draw your own conclusions here.