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Cost of Living in Winnipeg
Summary about cost of living in Winnipeg:
- Four-person family monthly costs: 2,749.42$ (3,552.69C$) without rent (using our estimator).
- A single person monthly costs: 776.67$ (1,003.58C$) without rent.
- Cost of living rank 246th out of 533 cities in the world.
- Winnipeg has a cost of living index of 64.11.
| Restaurants | [ Edit ] | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant | 15.00 C$ | |
| Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course | 60.00 C$ | |
| McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) | 9.60 C$ | |
| Domestic Beer (1 pint draught) | 5.00 C$ | |
| Imported Beer (11.2 oz small bottle) | 6.50 C$ | |
| Cappuccino (regular) | 3.83 C$ | |
| Coke/Pepsi (11.2 oz small bottle) | 2.03 C$ | |
| Water (11.2 oz small bottle) | 1.63 C$ | |
| Markets | [ Edit ] | |
| Milk (regular), (1 gallon) | 6.53 C$ | |
| Loaf of Fresh White Bread (1 lb) | 1.93 C$ | |
| Rice (white), (1 lb) | 1.61 C$ | |
| Eggs (regular) (12) | 3.38 C$ | |
| Local Cheese (1 lb) | 4.04 C$ | |
| Chicken Breasts (Boneless, Skinless), (1 lb) | 5.21 C$ | |
| Beef Round (1 lb) (or Equivalent Back Leg Red Meat) | 4.71 C$ | |
| Apples (1 lb) | 1.69 C$ | |
| Banana (1 lb) | 0.91 C$ | |
| Oranges (1 lb) | 1.31 C$ | |
| Tomato (1 lb) | 1.56 C$ | |
| Potato (1 lb) | 1.09 C$ | |
| Onion (1 lb) | 1.07 C$ | |
| Lettuce (1 head) | 2.29 C$ | |
| Water (1.5 liter bottle) | 2.13 C$ | |
| Bottle of Wine (Mid-Range) | 15.00 C$ | |
| Domestic Beer (0.5 liter bottle) | 2.48 C$ | |
| Imported Beer (11.2 oz small bottle) | 3.70 C$ | |
| Cigarettes 20 Pack (Marlboro) | 16.00 C$ | |
| Transportation | [ Edit ] | |
| One-way Ticket (Local Transport) | 2.95 C$ | |
| Monthly Pass (Regular Price) | 100.00 C$ | |
| Taxi Start (Normal Tariff) | 3.50 C$ | |
| Taxi 1 mile (Normal Tariff) | 2.75 C$ | |
| Taxi 1hour Waiting (Normal Tariff) | 30.00 C$ | |
| Gasoline (1 gallon) | 4.35 C$ | |
| Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) | 25,000.00 C$ | |
| Toyota Corolla 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) | 23,415.42 C$ | |
| Utilities (Monthly) | [ Edit ] | |
| Basic (Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Water, Garbage) for 915 sq ft Apartment | 168.30 C$ | |
| 1 min. of Prepaid Mobile Tariff Local (No Discounts or Plans) | 0.30 C$ | |
| Internet (60 Mbps or More, Unlimited Data, Cable/ADSL) | 73.26 C$ | |
| Sports And Leisure | [ Edit ] | |
| Fitness Club, Monthly Fee for 1 Adult | 46.47 C$ | |
| Tennis Court Rent (1 Hour on Weekend) | 20.17 C$ | |
| Cinema, International Release, 1 Seat | 12.00 C$ | |
| Childcare | [ Edit ] | |
| Preschool (or Kindergarten), Full Day, Private, Monthly for 1 Child | 553.28 C$ | |
| International Primary School, Yearly for 1 Child | 10,915.00 C$ | |
| Clothing And Shoes | [ Edit ] | |
| 1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar) | 65.78 C$ | |
| 1 Summer Dress in a Chain Store (Zara, H&M, ...) | 40.89 C$ | |
| 1 Pair of Nike Running Shoes (Mid-Range) | 103.93 C$ | |
| 1 Pair of Men Leather Business Shoes | 118.50 C$ | |
| Rent Per Month | [ Edit ] | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre | 955.84 C$ | |
| Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre | 888.35 C$ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre | 1,462.50 C$ | |
| Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre | 1,317.30 C$ | |
| Buy Apartment Price | [ Edit ] | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment in City Centre | 273.09 C$ | |
| Price per Square Feet to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre | 221.56 C$ | |
| Salaries And Financing | [ Edit ] | |
| Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) | 2,826.78 C$ | |
| Mortgage Interest Rate in Percentages (%), Yearly, for 20 Years Fixed-Rate | 3.66 |
Prices in Winnipeg
These data are based on 1653 entries in the past 18 months from 249 different contributors.
Last update: September 2018
Last update: September 2018
34 Comments so far
Currently gas is hovering around $1.20/L and rents in the downtown area tend to be grouped into two main categories: for around 900-1000 you can get an older character buiding. Sometimes these include parking and heat and or water. You won't get much storage or have air conditioning (unless you get a window unit). for ~ $1200+/mo you can get a nice place with modern appliances, flooring, lighting etc. You can rent many beautiful apartments if you are willing to pay. House prices are also grouped into two main categories: for around 220k you get an older character house centrally located. Many of these are really nicely renovated and you can get a great house if you like older houses (built ~1910 - 1940). Then there are the new-builds which are between 350 and 400k. These are more often in the outer areas of the city and are in the typical planned communities which are not similar to what cities like Calgary have in their planeed communities. In Winnipeg these are nothing more than collections of houses around a school and a few parks. Some have man-lade lakes.
Winnipeg is an immigration destination and as such the city is growing. I have seen in the last 25 years, incredible changes in the population. Not all good, not all bad. Time will tell if all these groups form a larger-knit community like what I remember from my younger days. Right now, not unexpectedly, the various ethic groups largely stick to themselves. If you've heard of the concept of "white-flight", I'd say it's a thing here.
At least one other poster mentioned there are no "no go" zones here in Winnipeg. There are now. The central park area of Winnipeg, right downtown, can be very dangerous. Winnipeg has the largest amount of violent crime in Canada. Largely gang driven it seems.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4347007/manitoba-has-highest-homicide-rate-in-canada-violent-crime-up-in-both-winnipeg-and-manitoba/
This story about a young man and his girlfriend who were vicuously attacked (stabbed over 20 times) in the area I mentioned is troubling. Particularly so is the mayor's lack of concern about it:
https://globalnews.ca/news/4413899/winnipeg-dad-calls-out-mayor-silence-crime/
The larger downtown area, while not a 'no go' zone, is truely embarassiing for a captial city. There is no reason at all to go downtown unless there is some type of event you are interested in. After 6pm everything is closed except for bars and restaurants. Our downtown is very run-down, and not family friendly at all. I avoid it at night when alone. I would advice everyone, male or female to do the same.
Winnipeg has many festivales and events in the summer that are downtown. When these are happening, it's completely fine. Also there are some fine restaurants that are downtown that you can go to but it's kind of an in-and-out thing; There's no 'going for a walk after dinner' at these places. There's nothing really to see if you've seen it a couple times.
The roads in Winnipeg are legendary in terms of disrepair. The city is trying hard to fix them, but with urband sprawl there are more and more roads and costs to repair them go up. It's not a sustainable situation in my opinion - but they are trying.
As others have said, every city has homeless people. Winnipeg has many. Winnipeg is much smaller than Toronto or Vancouver but when you are downtown, you'd swear you were there given the numbers of homeless. Our shelters are full all the time. I have heard they are builing another one downtown and it's urgently needed.
We have a program here called Winnipeg Harvest and it's designed to fill the gap when people lose their livelyhoods until they get back on their feet. 10+ years ago it fed 5k people per month. Today the demand is over 50k people per month.
In terms of the good:
The Winter's here are not as bad as everyone says. Like others have said, people under-dress. Summers are hot and we get lots of sun all year round. We have many lakes and you can be at the beach, door-to-door, in an hour. Less if you know where to go. Manitoba has great outdoor trails and scenery if you like the outdoors. Traffic in spite of our terrible roads, is nothing like other cities. You can get anywhere in an hour during rush hour and when it's not rush hour, 30m easily. Buses are aweful and dangerous now though.
Winnipegers like their hockey, curling and football. It gives people something to do when there's nothing to do.
I would not agree that people are unfriendly here. People are cliquey. It is hard to move between social groups and hard to meet new people here. Places like meetup (an online app) look like there are many things going on but there isn't really.
We are getting more and more bike lanes during all the contructions, which is great. The road conditions do many biking hard in many areas and people drive rudely and poorly here. But, there are many parks (Assinaboine, St Vital, Birds Hill, Bunn's Creek to name just a few).
We have a lot of greenspace here which is nice.
I think of Winnipeg like a large town that wants to be a city.
The smaller towns just outside the city, and the outskirts of the city are where Winnipeg really shines in my opinion.
I have a job proposition with salary over 100K, coming from Europe in the next 6 months.
Have being once in Winnipeg for only 2 days. I did not have time to visit downtown. it's worthy to buy house in the first 2 years of settlement or just rent ? what places are better to live in ? thank you
Balmoral (girls, non-denominational) - average $12,000/yr
St Mary's (girls, Roman Catholic) - $7165/yr
St John's Ravenscourt (co-ed, non-denominational) average $average 17,000/yr)
St Paul's (boys, Roman Catholic) - $8,300/yr
St Mary's and St Pauls are high schools only.
Balmoral and St John's Ravenscourt are K-12 and are also both day and boarding schools. The listed prices are for day students. Boarding is extra.
2. Gas went from 92.9 cents/litre yesterday to 86.9 cents/litre today. The price fluctuates a lot between 90 cents and one dollar a litre.
3. Heat, Water and Garbage are normally included in the price of the rent of an apartment. If you heat a free-standing house then you will normally pay for those utilities. A normal apartment dweller only pays for electricity which comes to about $25-40/month. Heat is normally natural gas or sometimes steam heat in older buildings. Very few apartments use electricity for heat.
There are tons of people on welfare in bc as well and its the people that have to get up and go to work everyday that pay for them to sit on their butts. This won't change in our country.
the western provinces are overpopulated and jobs are extremely scarce. If you educate yourself and believe that you will find a good paying job in bc you are sadly mistaken, since they are few and far between. I myself am a red seal certified hairstylist, and certified adult educator. My dream was to work in industry and then shift to instructing at the post secondary level. I can say without a doubt I will not secure a full time job anytime in the next 5-10 years at an accredited public institution. I would have to start as an auxiliary if I were lucky enough to get that and would have to work doing something else in the meantime. I think that you need to look at where the work is and when an opportunity presents itself you move on it!
The climate here is great for the most part, aside from the 7 months of rain and if you struggle with depression, the months of endless rain can really put some in a funk, so for me having it be cold but a beautiful sunny day sounds awesome .
Every Canadian city deals with homelessness, and it is just something that we have all become accustomed to and desensitized to, it is part of society and always will.
If you were looking at trying to rent an apartment of the same value in Vancouver rather than winnipeg, you are looking at a minimum of 2000$/month and upward. We are talking small, noisy, and a huge amount of crime, homelessness, drug related crimes and disputes.
The grass always seems greener on the other side, but after reading some of the posts, lots of people are moving west, hence the job shortages, and we also have a government that loves to allow as many immigrants as possible to come in and take these jobs away from resident canadians, and will work cheaper. This is our lives folks.
From what I can see Winnipeg seems like the unpretentious sister of Vancouver or Toronto, it sounds like the people are friendlier, the cost of living is cheaper, and is more affordable as a city than any of the others I have seen recently. So for those looking to get a head, perhaps this is the ticket?
Interesting to note that one poster claims to know what MB is like because he/she lived there. When, 20 years ago? And for how long, 6 months? Easy to say ‘suck it up’ when YOU DON’T LIVE THERE. You seem to have a lot of negatives about Calgary, so by all means move to Manitoba. And, this is an open board where people are allowed to comment. DON’T be telling people how to live their lives and how to act. Wow, talk about a control freak!
There are a lot of positives of being in Calgary, but don't think that it's all sunshine and rainbows. We have our problems too. As citizens you should work to promote your city so that people will want to come there. Bashing it won't help the situation. There is much worse out there, so instead of counting all the bad things, count your blessings.
Oh, just so you don't think I know what I'm talking about. I have lived in Winnipeg and Edmonton. I found beauty in both and know that it's there. You all just need to change your thoughts to be more positive. Thoughts become things!! Try to stay positive even in -45!
Cost of living is far less than Toronto , Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria...housing costs way lower, here.
Significant doctor shortage.
In summer , spring and fall , this is a great city to live in , lots of parks and green space, fabulous weather. surprisingly humid . Winnipeg is the second sunniest place in Canada. Winter time ,....normally dangerously cold with average daytime highs of -15 C in winter (November, December, January, February ). On a bad day wind chills can hit -40 C. This winter is very mild, though.
More restaurants per capita than any other city in Canada.
Multi -ethnic populous . Don't like a variety of religions ,or skin colours ,...don't move here ,...you will not like it.
Thank you ..
I am I the process of PR in Manitoba, I want to know about job availability, housing and schooling for children. If any body explain on this it will be grate help for me. Please also inform about minimum cost of living per month.
ie: Information as of ...
For example: gas prices listed as Avg of $1.23 , but today they are about $0.90
Why is it like this in all Western countries -- it's just unbelievable to me how EASY it seems to be for people from third world countries to immigrate and get work in first world countries (good for them).
Yet, as an American, it would be a huge hurdle for me to move to the UK, Australia or Canada. I don't get it.
My advice is if you live in Canada, don't move to Winnipeg, however if you are an immigrant, move here because they give better wages compared to 3rd world countries like India and Philippines.I just hope they increase the English requirements for all immigrants because I can barely understand the English of most Immigrants be it Indians, Filipinos, Chinese or other Asians.