Alberta at the bottom for quality of life satisfaction: StatCan
Posted May 19, 2026 11:18 am.
Last Updated May 19, 2026 11:19 am.
A new Statistics Canada survey suggests fewer Albertans feel their quality of life is improving — with affordability, healthcare, and political stability emerging as key concerns.
According to the report released on May 8, only 38 per cent report a high level of life satisfaction. The province with the highest level of satisfaction in the country is Quebec at nearly 60 per cent.
The quarterly survey asked Canadians to rate their overall life satisfaction on a scale from zero to ten. Other provinces that followed Quebec include British Columbia and Ontario.
“It’s too expensive. I don’t know why. It’s like everything is going up, like the rent, food, the grocery, lots of things. Oh, even the oil,” said Calgarian Rudaina.
Some Albertans say rising concerns around safety and security are playing a role.
“It’s become a less safe place, especially if you’re in one of the major cities, like I’m downtown Calgary all the time, and I don’t always feel safe now, and I used to feel safe all the time,” said Richard in Calgary.
“We are struggling with new challenges that our cities haven’t seen before.”
The survey also found that younger working-age Canadians report the lowest levels of life satisfaction overall, while Canadians 65 and older report the highest. Some residents say pressures on the healthcare system are a key factor behind the numbers.
“Access to healthcare, I think it is a factor that’s bringing down our quality of life here, especially if you look at the guy in Edmonton who actually died waiting in the hospital to get in. That’s just one example of wait times,” said Sierra.
While Alberta continues to attract people for opportunity and jobs, this latest data points to a widening gap in how residents here feel about their quality of life compared to the rest of the country. Some also point to growing political tensions and separatist sentiment as adding to a sense of uncertainty.
“Yeah, I think our politicians need to get their minds right, need to come back together and have some common sense as people,” said Tash.
Canada as a whole recently slipped to 25th in the World Happiness Report — down from 18th last year, where life satisfaction is a key factor.
