What do you think about Edmonton, Alberta?

[heartxxblood]

I'll be moving there for university next year and I've only ever visited for a few days, so I don't know the city well at all. How is the weather? People? Jobs? Crime? Is it very expensive to live there? Any info and opinions would be awesome Thanks all ^_^ Also if anyone has any opinions on the university there that would be great too!

[tazzybeer06]

figure things out when u go it is a nice city. it is like most Canadian cities.

[AL]

The university is great, lots of new research areas. It has a lot of international students, so it must have a great reputation, especially in Engineering and Sciences.

The city is about 1 million people and growing fast due to people moving in from many other place for jobs in Alberta. Crime is average for a Canadian city, that is few shootings compared to USA. The police puts out a map website for crime (link)

Rents can be high, $800-1000 for a single bedroom. Houses go for an average of $350,000. Much less than Vancouver or Toronto, but a lot more than some US cities. There is a shortage of workers with want ads everywhere. Wages are very good for skilled workers.

Weather can be hard to get used to, -25C is not unusual for winter, +20 in summer. Daylight is great in summer with sunset past 10PM, reverse is dark winters, sunset at 4PM. So depend on when your visit was :-) . People in Edmonton adapt, there are some who will bicycle at these temperatures in snowstorms!

Keep up with Edmonton via media websites, Cbc.ca/edmonton or ctvedmonton.ca to get a feel for social and other events in town. Be ready from isolation for a couple years as your family/friends will be likely thousands of miles away.

Good luck.