A Canadian financial magazine has ranked Estevan among the top 50 cities to live in the country.
MoneySense magazine released its annual Best Places to Live in Canada rankings last week and Estevan has taken a big jump up the standings, moving from 93rd in 2011 to 43rd this year. Estevan was also ranked first in the jobless rate category, a nod to the city's red hot economy.
Mayor Gary St. Onge said although he feels the rankings are not something people put a lot of stock in, he was happy to see Estevan move up the standings.
"They are so subjective. How are you really going to decide this place is better than that place?" St. Onge said. "They put things in that might not be important to you. But, I guess I'd rather be high than down at the bottom."
Subjective or not, the rankings take a look at the many facets of a community when coming up with their list and do provide an interesting look at Canadian cities.
The city ranked high in the categories one would expect it to. Aside from placing first for jobless rate, Estevan was 22nd for household income and and it was also 28th in population growth.
Conversely, the lowest rankings came in the categories that are well-known issues in the city. In particular, Estevan was among the bottom cities for access to doctors, ranking 185th out of 190 cities. The city was also 171st for crime rate and 134th for walking or biking to work.
Two areas of surprise were discretionary income and affordable housing. Estevan ranked 116th in the discretionary category despite the fact it was 22nd for household income. The city also placed 43rd for affordable housing which contrasts somewhat with reports that the city has the highest average rental prices in all of Saskatchewan.
"They do look at a number of areas that talk about quality of life and one that has certainly been hurting us is the lack of doctors," said city manager Jim Puffalt. "But there were a couple of areas we improved in and that was good to see and having the lowest unemployment rate in the country is incredible to see and no surprise because there are tons of jobs out there.
"It's a nice little test to see how we rate in specific areas across the country and being rated 43rd in Canada is pretty good, I think."
This year's ranking also included three additional lists - best places to raise a child, best places to retire and best places for jobs.
On the retirement list, Estevan placed way back in 162nd place due in large part to the lack of access to doctors and crime rate.
However when it came to best places to raise a child, Estevan was 51st overall. The city also placed 31st in best places to find a job and likely would have been higher had it not for the lack of doctors and limited access to public transportation.
Saskatchewan fared very well in the overall rankings as a number of cities were in the top 50. Regina placed fifth overall while Swift Current was in 24th. Saskatoon, which had been a perennial top 10 city, dropped to 30th. Yorkton was 34th overall, Moose Jaw was 39th and North Battleford was 45th.
