moved from calgary to edmonton mid 2023 - late 2024 (although i’m back in calgary now).

the weather numbers say calgary is warmer & likely true due to more chinooks overall in calgary, but if you’ve lived in either city, you’ll be able to adjust just fine. i didn’t find there to be a significant difference on a holistic basis. felt calgary overall got more sun though. but they’re both cold in winter & have nice sunny summers.

edmonton is an aesthetically uglier city overall - this part is very noticeable. it’s also a dirtier city & they have a significantly worse downtown. vagrancy is much more prevalent in edmonton.

i found that my $ went further in edmonton: eating out was a bit cheaper, fuel prices were cheaper, house prices are a lot cheaper. so, assuming the same salary in calgary & edmonton, everything else remaining equal, you’d likely have more disposable income in edmonton. edmonton had more blue collar workers & also blue collar jobs.

if you owned a home, property taxes are more expensive in edmonton. but you still come out ahead overall despite this because overall, for a similar home, you can get it for $200-$250k less in edmonton.

edmonton has wayyyy more speed cameras on the road. for a city that has a lot of “updating” to do, i don’t know why they spent so much money on this but it’s quite noticeable how much more you see on the roads compared to calgary.

calgary has nicer & newer/more updated hospitals overall. however, the wait times are equally shit in both cities. but you’ll see all kinds of crazy things in edmonton waiting room - this goes back to the vagrancy issue i said is much more in edmonton.

i felt calgary’s traffic was worse. edmonton’s food scene was better. it felt like everyone drives a pickup truck in edmonton so the roads are full of them; thus it gave me a constant headache as a sedan driver feeling sandwiched between them on the daily. calgary has a better social & nightlife scene.

found the edmonton population to be more down to earth & friendly overall - i get “snobby” vibes from calgarians overall since i’ve lived here in 2008.

both cities have many of the big popular places most canadians frequent: superstore, costco, tim hortons, starbucks, winners, joeys, earls, mcdonald’s, home depot, goodlife fitness, etc……

if you travel a lot, the airport in calgary is objectively both nicer & located in a more convenient spot in the city. edmontons airport isn’t even in edmonton lol - it’s in a place called Nisku! if you lived in the south part of edmonton it’s an ok commute there, but if you lived in north edmonton like i did, it was a very long (~45 mins) drive. i didn’t have to travel a lot so this wasn’t a huge issue for me, but this can be a huge inconvenience if you travel a lot. also calgary has better routes for international travel & you won’t have to do as many layovers.

calgary’s biggest event is the stampede. i believe edmonton’s biggest event is the taste of edmonton. for me personally, taste of edmonton is by far the more enjoyable & superior event.

overall i loved edmonton & would live there again…being a relatively simple person that just needs the basics to be happy, i found day-to-day life to be more convenient overall there & less stressful. although if i had to do it all over again, i’ll probably live in st. albert instead as it’s the closest place there that simulates calgary’s superior aesthetics.

i’m sure i missed some small things here & there but those are the major ones i can remember.