I recently tracked down stats for the average cost of a 1-bedroom apartment in 6 Alberta cities: Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Lloydminster, and Red Deer.
| 1 bedroom rent | Avg monthly wage | Median monthly wage | Rent as % of avg wage | |
| Lethbridge | $923.00 | $3,733.75 | $3,000.58 | 24.72% |
| Edmonton | $1,014.00 | $4,566.75 | $3,589.08 | 22.20% |
| Red Deer | $983.00 | $4,428.25 | $3,338.50 | 22.20% |
| Calgary | $1,179.00 | $5,380.50 | $3,637.58 | 21.91% |
| Grande Prairie | $1,026.00 | $4,894.58 | $4,034.92 | 20.96% |
| Lloydminster | $838.00 | $4,968.08 | $3,765.75 | 16.87% |
Rent in Lethbridge is the second lowest of the 6 cities, at $923 per month.
I also happen to have income stats for those 6 cities. Lethbridge has the lowest average monthly wage of the 6 cities, at $3,733.75.
When we compare the cost of rent to the average monthly wage, it gives us an even starker story. Lethbridge renters pay the highest portion of their monthly income to rent, at nearly 25%.
Edmonton and Red Deer are tied for the second highest at 22.2%. Calgary is in third at 21.9%, Grande Prairie is in fourth at 20.96%, and Lloydminster is the lowest at 16.87%.
Keep in mind that this is based on 1-bedroom apartments, so larger housing would, of course, be more expensive. Also, keep in mind that this is average wages, which includes people who make, say, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Regardless, the data once again shows that it’s expensive to live in Lethbridge.
One reply on “Lethbridge has the highest rent as a percentage of monthly income in Alberta”
[…] Lethbridge has the most unaffordable rental costs in Alberta. If we hadn’t purchased our house before the 2006 boom, we wouldn’t have been able to buy at all. And even then, we ended up having to buy a 798 sq ft house that was 100 years old and had a dirt basement. […]