North Battleford cannot seem to catch a break with the editors of MoneySense magazine.
The magazine's annual ranking of Best Places to Live 2015 has been released.
Despite a drop in crime in 2014, increased efforts at downtown revitalization with the business improvement district up and running, and a record year of private-sector construction activity, somehow North Battleford dropped to 106th place in the MoneySense ranking of 209 cities across Canada.
The community is down from 88th last year, but still better than a 150th place finish the year before.
If there is any consolation for North Battleford it is that they still ranked ahead of 103 other places in Canada in the survey.
In its assessment of the city, MoneySense gave North Battleford nods for being in the top 25 percentile for low unemployment as well as for access to health care.
Boucherville, Que. topped the 2015 list. Ottawa and Burlington, Ont. followed in second and third place while St. Albert, Alta., last year's winner, dropped to fourth.
In other categories, Ottawa topped the Best Places to Retire list, St. Albert was first for Best Places to Raise Kids and Saanich, B.C. was first in Best Places for New Immigrants. Six cities had an average net worth over $1 million and West Vancouver, B.C. topped that list of Canada's Richest Places.
In general, it was a down year for Saskatchewan cities in the MoneySense survey. Regina fell to 44th, Saskatoon 51st, Moose Jaw 70th, Yorkton 86th (an increase), Estevan 128th, Swift Current 147th, Lloydminster 148th and Prince Albert 175th. The lowest score in the country belonged to New Glasgow, N.S. at 209th.
The methodology used includes such criteria as employment rates, household and discretionary incomes, housing, population growth, taxes, crime rates, health care and amenities, among others.
The full results can be found at http://www.moneysense.ca/planning/canadas-best-places-to-live-2015-overview/.
