Although they are only about 10 minutes apart edge to edge, each city absolutely has its own pros and cons. Depending on the type of person you are, your job, your family and interests, one may suit you better than the other.
POPULATION
Let’s start off with the most obvious one, population. Airdrie currently has a population of about 80,000 people, so quite a big difference compared to Calgary’s nearly 1.4 million. This could be the one that sways you one way or another right off the bat when making your decision. Naturally, being the bigger city, Calgary has a higher density than Airdrie. While Airdrie is around 950 people per square kilometre, Calgary has a density of about 2,200 people per square kilometre.
So of the two, Airdrie will definitely give you a bit more breathing room and less people than Calgary. Of course that being said, there are areas in Airdrie that are quite busy and densely populated, and there are areas in Calgary that are less populated, so this also depends where you are inside each city as well. This one of course is more personal preference than anything. Personally I prefer to be in a smaller city like Airdrie, but some people love the city life, and in that case, Calgary would be the better option.
AMENITIES
As you’d imagine, Airdrie and Calgary vary a lot in the amenities they provide, due to their population size. Of course, being the bigger city, Calgary has every single amenity you could ever need. For all your shopping, dining, and entertainment, of course you’re not going to be lacking in a place like Calgary.
In Airdrie on the other had, it may be missing some of the amenities that you would enjoy, and would need to drive into Calgary for those. For example, many of the entertainment options would be in Calgary instead of Airdrie. Airdrie does have a LOT of great restaurant options, but there’s still more in Calgary that you may want to explore. So, you have to consider if you want those amenities right in your city, or if you’d prefer to live in a less populated city, and drive to those extras.
AREA
Naturally in relation to the population, Calgary covers the most area of the two cities and the biggest thing it affects is your driving time. In Airdrie, no matter where you live in the city, you’ll be less than 15 minutes away from everything in the city, whereas in Calgary you could be up to 45 minutes away from something in the city. That would be during non-rush hour times, and those time can get longer in both cities during the busy times.
In terms of walkability, Calgary in areas of course is VERY walkable to everything you need, especially in the the downtown neighbourhoods. In other areas, more in the outskirts, it’s not really gonna be walkable at all. In Airdrie, everything more or less lands right in the middle, reasonably walkable to most things, but maybe not to everything you need.
RENTALS
As for rentals, in Calgary right now for a 1 bedroom condo, the average is right around $1,600-$1,800 per month. Of course being a big city there is a huge variense in the cheapest to the most expensive. With the cheapest unit currently being $1,100 per month, and the most expensive being $5,000 per month. In Airdrie you’re looking at an average of $1,500-$1,700 for those 1 bedrooms units, and much less variance as it is a smaller city.
Moving onto two bedrooms, Calgary on average will be between $1,900 and 2,100. With of course many lower or much higher than that, and Airdrie on average is in the $1,800-2,000 range for 2 bedrooms units.
For 3 bedrooms, both cities average right around the $2,500 mark for 3 bedrooms, but in this category there is a large variance of homes as we can see townhouses, condos, duplexes and detached homes all mixed up here. So, in Airdrie we see a range from $2,000 up to about 3,500 for 3 bedrooms, and in Calgary we range anywhere from $2,000 up to $10,000 per month for a luxury inner city home.
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It's a similar story for 4 bedrooms and up. Both cities averaging about the same at around $3,000. In Airdrie the few options with 4 bedrooms are all close to that $3,000 mark and in Calgary it's a big range from $2,000 to $12,000 per month depending on the home and area.
Overall, taking a similar home, in a similar type neighbourhood, an Airdrie rental would typically be a couple hundred dollars per month cheaper than a similar property in Calgary.
HOMES
To purchase a home, starting with apartments, Calgary’s benchmark price is $289,600, compared to Airdrie’s $233,400. For townhomes, Calgary is at $390,000 compared to Airdrie’s $327,700. Moving onto duplexes, Calgary has a benchmark price of $600,500, versus Airdrie’s benchmark price of $457,200. Lastly if we look at detached home prices, Calgary has a benchmark of $674,000, compared to Airdrie which is at $587,200.
Now, these spreads do seem pretty substantial, but keep in mind that there’s a big spread of pricing within the city of Calgary itself, and the inner city and super luxury properties tend to push Calgary’s overall numbers up higher than the reality.
TAXES
For taxes, federal and provincial taxes are the same in both areas, so what we’re mostly looking at here is property taxes. For Calgary, the total property tax rate is currently 0.65718% and in Airdrie the current total rate is 0.66978%. It’s fairly typical to see property taxes higher in smaller cities and towns compared to bigger cities, and thats exactly what we see here.
For a home assessed at $300,000, in Calgary you’d pay $1,972 and in Airdrie you would pay $2,009. So $37 dollars more in Airdrie for the year. For a $500,000 home, in Calgary you’d pay $3,286, compared to Airdrie where you’d pay $3,349. Jumping up to a million dollar home, in Calgary your taxes would be $6,572, and in Airdrie it would be $6,698 for the year.
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LOCATION
Even though the two cities on the map are close together, they each have advantages and disadvantages when it comes to location.
First off, knowing that a lot of people travel often, and like to be close to an airport, there are some neighbourhoods in the NE of Calgary that you’ll be just a few minutes from the airport. In Airdrie you’ll be more like 20-25 minutes from the airport, but this is still closer than some areas of Calgary where it could take you 30-40 minutes or more to get there.
Next we’ll look at proximity to the Rocky Mountains. Calgary definitely wins this one, especially if you’re on the west end of Calgary. Here, you could be as close at 40 minutes to the mountains, compared to Airdrie which will take you a little bit over an hour to get there.
In terms of access to the rest of the province, Airdrie probably wins this one. With the number 2 highway passing right though Airdrie, You can be in Calgary in just a few minutes, or drive up to Edmonton in just a couple hours.
CRIME
For non-violent crimes Airdrie scores worse than Calgary does. This would be things like unlocked cars being rummaged through at night. We often see this number higher in smaller cities, as the non-violent crime has a higher chance of being reported in a smalller city versus a bigger city. As for violent crimes, both Calgary and Airdrie are more safe than the national average which is always good to see.
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- Brad Walker
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