After a precipitous drop in 2013, the Energy City has enjoyed a comeback in Moneysense magazine's annual Best Places to Live in Canada rankings.
Released last Wednesday, the list said Estevan is the 96th best community to reside in among the 201 included in the poll. The city was ranked 140th in 2013.
Mayor Roy Ludwig said he was pleased to see Estevan move up in the rankings and feels it is validation of their work to make the City a more inviting community.
"We were thrilled that we are moving up that slippery slope," he said. "We have been putting a lot of monies into beautification and trying to make our city more attractive and trying to take care of the needs of our citizens at the same time."
In an article that accompanied the list, it was noted that Western Canada and smaller communities fared especially well.
Evidence of the emergence of smaller cities was St. Albert, Alta., which finished first overall. Calgary was second and Strathcona County, Alta. was third.
"Who says size matters? If you're looking for the best place in Canada to live, perhaps it's time to think small. Really small," wrote Mark Brown of Moneysense.
"It's easy to think residing in a modest-sized town means giving up access to all the services and amenities you need or desire, but that doesn't have to be the case. Satellite communities around major centres are evolving to deliver small-town flare with big-city conveniences. In that way, many of these communities aren't just great places to live: they're Canada's best-kept secrets."
Regina was the top-ranked Saskatchewan community in ninth place. Saskatoon was 13th, Moose Jaw was 66th, Lloydminster was 71st, North Battleford was 88th, Yorkton was 93rd, Swift Current was 114th and Prince Albert was 184th.
To compile their list, Moneysense looks at roughly 34 different factors such as unemployment, number of doctors in a community, crime, housing prices and weather. Each category is weighted by importance and added up to 103 points overall.
St. Albert finished with an overall score of 71.51 points. The lowest ranking city was Port Alberni, B.C., with just 36.54 points.
"In total, we consider 34 different factors before arriving at our winner. To do this, we collect reams of hard data on each city from Environics Analytics and other partners," the article stated. "Then we tease out factors that make a community a truly great place, thereby creating a level playing field. The result is a completely unbiased look at the biggest 201 cities in Canada."
Estevan's overall score was not available on the Moneysense website, but it was clear the community fared well in the various economic categories, placing high in such areas as average household income, discretionary income and household net worth.
Areas in which the city likely lost points would be weather, number of doctors per 10,000 people and crime.
Some additional statistics from the Moneysense report:
Population: 13,906
Population growth 2008 to 2013: 10.20%
Unemployment rate: 5.2%
Average household income: $115,348
Average discretionary income: $57,764
Average household net worth: $526,233
Average house prices: $378,923
Average years to buy a home: 3.29
Average property tax: $2,636
Total rainfall (mm): 331.56
Days per year with precipitation: 116.39
Days per year with rain: 73.73
Days above zero degrees Celsius: 169.2
Days above 20C: 113.46
Days below: -20C 40.44
Mean daily temperature: 3.43C
Doctors per 1,000 people: 0.65
Five-year change in crime rate: 17.71%
