Map shows Canada’s 15 most affordable cities, according to a new report

Lethbridge, in Alberta, tops the list of Canada's most affordable cities, according to Royal LePage. Photo by Kenton Alan Raney /Kent - stock.adobe.com

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Recent research by real estate company Royal LePage has revealed the 15 most affordable cities in Canada, and more than half of Canadians say they’d consider moving to one.

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Lethbridge, in Alberta, tops the list of the most affordable cities, followed by Saint John, in New Brunswick, and Thunder Bay, in Ontario, the latter of which has slipped from the top spot in 2024 down to third.

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Lethbridge, which didn’t rank in the 2024 version of the study, has an aggregate house price of $338,700 in 2026, according to Royal LePage, with an affordability factor of 18.9 per cent — meaning just under 19 per cent of of a household’s monthly income is needed to service mortgage payments.

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Red Deer, also in Alberta, and Regina, in Saskatchewan, round out the top five, where no more than 25 per cent of a household’s monthly income is spent on mortgage payments.

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The rest of the top 15 includes: St. John’s (NL), Edmonton (AB), Trois-Rivières (QC), Fredericton (NB), Winnipeg (MB), Windsor-Essex (ON), Saskatoon (SK), Sherbrooke (QC), Moncton (NB), and Charlottetown (PE).

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The report uses Statistics Canada 2024 provincial median total income and city-level aggregate home price data from the Royal LePage Q1 2026 House Price Survey to determine the affordability of each area.

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So, while Saint John had the lowest aggregate house price, at $265,900, it comes in second to Lethbridge because of a lower average household income, giving it an affordability factor of 19.6 per cent.

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Saint John also recorded an improved affordability factor compared to 2024, with the amount of household income spent on mortgage payments dropping by 5.4 per cent.

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Thunder Bay, despite dropping from first to third place, also improved on affordability, with a drop of 1.9 per cent.

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Saint John is the city with lowest house prices and is the second-most affordable in Canada, according to Royal LePage. Photo by Brice McVicar

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In fact, 61 of 62 major Canadian cities looked at by Royal LePage recorded an improved affordability factor in 2026 compared to 2024.

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Of the 15 most affordable cities, the biggest improvement in affordability was recorded for Windsor-Essex, where the per cent of household income spent on mortgage payments has dropped by 7.7 per cent since 2024.

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“Over the past two years, home prices in Canada’s major urban centres – particularly Toronto, Vancouver and their surrounding communities – have softened, as demand in these higher-cost regions has been tempered by geopolitical and economic uncertainty, reduced immigration levels and an unprecedented increase in supply,” said Phil Soper, president and CEO at Royal LePage, in a news release.

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“At the same time, cities where home prices are lower have seen more robust demand as buyers seek an entry point into the market, pushing prices up as a result.”

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And yet, despite softening house prices in urban centres, Canadians continue to feel the effects of the cost of living elsewhere.

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The government agency added that grocery inflation rose half a percentage point to 4.3 per cent year-over-year in May, outpacing headline inflation for 16 consecutive months.

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It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that a Royal LePage survey accompanying the affordability research found that more than half of Canadians would consider buying a home in one of Canada’s 15 most affordable cities if they were able to find a job locally or work remotely.

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Grocery inflation rose half a percentage point to 4.3 per cent year-over-year in May, according to StatCan.

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For Canadians living in the Greater Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver regions, 51 per cent of respondents expressed a desire to move, while 52 per cent of respondents who rent their homes said they would consider moving to one of the 15 most affordable cities.