Editor’s Note
This article highlights Nanaimo’s top ranking in British Columbia for quality of life, according to Numbeo’s 2026 index. While the city leads provincially, its global position provides broader context for the achievement.
According to a website that collected user impressions, Nanaimo has the best quality of life in British Columbia. In Nanaimo, the mayor and residents are pleased with this ranking, which places Victoria and Vancouver behind it.
The website Numbeo published its Quality of Life Index for 2026 in January. The comparison includes 303 cities worldwide, with 17 Canadian cities included. Ottawa ranks 25th, followed by Nanaimo at 67th, then Quebec City (78th), Victoria (82nd), and Vancouver (83rd).
Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog is delighted with the ranking:
According to the mayor, the city’s assets are its temperate climate, historic downtown, easy access to outdoor recreation, and a more affordable lifestyle than Vancouver.
Nicole Langlois, who moved from Quebec to Nanaimo in 1990 due to her husband’s job, believes Nanaimo’s bad reputation is a thing of the past and that the city has managed to improve. She recalls her love at first sight arrival on the West Coast, which taught her to slow down.
While nostalgic for the 1990s, she notes that Nanaimo has become so big today, yet she still finds the city of about 100,000 inhabitants peaceful.
For Nawal Lasfar, coordinator at the Welcoming Francophone Community (CFA) of Nanaimo, the city is ideal for families. It was for her children and the living environment that she moved there three years ago. She says Vancouver had changed, with a lot of traffic, many more people, a lot of construction.
According to the CFA coordinator, there is work in Nanaimo, notably for healthcare and construction professionals. Moreover, especially for Francophones, there is a community.
Nawal Lasfar would perhaps like to see more local shops and more cafes along the waterfront. She is pleased with the community’s growing diversity.
Regarding safety issues, both Nicole Langlois and Nawal Lasfar consider that this is not exclusive to Nanaimo, but rather a problem in many cities.
Nicole Langlois would like to see more affordable housing to reduce homelessness.
Although Numbeo’s ranking is regularly covered by media, some criticize its methodology. A large number of its indicators, from purchasing power to safety and pollution, are based on surveys submitted by users on its website, asking them what they subjectively think about the evolution of their city.
Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, believes that relying on user impressions is always one of the main challenges of online surveys.
