FOOD
There are lot's of different brands and qualities of food, but with the list below, I did my best to provide current price averages for items, so you can compare this to where you currently live and get a good idea of what groceries cost here.
Gallon of milk: $5.50 - $6.00
Dozen eggs: $4.00 - $5.00
Bananas: $0.79 / lb
Strawberries: $7.00 - $8.00 / lb
Potatoes (10lbs): $8.00
Chicken breasts (4): $15.00
Bacon (500g): $6.00 - $8.00
Ground beef (500g): $8.50
Bag of Lays potato chips: $4.00
Rice (8kg): $19.00
Bread: $3.00
Cheese (500g): $8.00
For eating out, there is a huge range depending on the type of restaurant. You can still get fast food for a relatively inexpensive amount and a Costco hot dog for $1.50, but you can also get a $60 steak dinner if that's more your style. How much you spend will be really up to you, but in general dining out costs in Airdrie tends to be a tad less expensive than Calgary, with similar items going for a few dollars less.
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TRANSPORATION
Gas prices are always changing, but right now they are $129.9 per litre at most gas stations in town, and $122.9 at Costco which is always a bit cheaper.
As for auto insurance, he current average is around $1,600 per year. This does vary a lot though, as this is rely on the car, driver, and amount of coverage.
For the local bus routes that stay inside Airdrie, you’re looking at $2.90 for a one way fare, or $67.50 for a monthly pass. For route 900, which is a service to Cross iron mills and North Calgary, and runs onces every hour, 7 days a week, will be $5.30 for a one way ticket, or $88 for a monthly pass. Lastly, for routes 901 & 902, which are the bus routes to downtown Calgary, Monday to Friday, a one way far will be $7.70, and a monthly pass will run you $131.50.
Let's look at taxi & Uber costs. To keep it simple we’re just gonna look at the prices from central Airdrie to the Calgary airport, which is about a 24km trip. From there you’ll be able to reasonably figure out what other distance trips might cost. For a taxi, I checked with 3 different companies and they were all $40 and to get back from the airport to Airdrie will be $45. As for Uber, getting to Airdrie from the same location will cost you about $33 right now, so at the moment looks like Uber is the slightly cheaper way to go.
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UTILITIES
Starting first with gas & electricity costs, and for all of these we’re going to use the benchmark of the average family home here in Airdrie, and assuming a family of 4 or 5 people live in the home. This will be about an 1,800 square foot 2 story home here in our city. So keep that in mind, because if you have a smaller or bigger home, or more or less people in the house, then this could vary quite a lot.
For gas and electricity you can expect to pay a yearly average of around $300/month for that benchmark home. In the summer you may be around $250, and in the winter more like $350, and maybe getting to around $400 in a really cold month.
For our city utilities, and this is one that some people especially those moving from Ontario or BC may not be expecting. That's our monthly fee here in Airdrie for our water, and garbage/recycling and compost collection. Again for that average home, you can expect to pay anywhere between $120-$150 per month depending on your water consumption. If you fill up a huge pool in the summer, or your kids play in the sprinklers every day, then this can definitely be higher some months.
Next up we’ll look at internet costs. We’re gonna look at Telus, and a 3rd party discount provider to give you an idea. Currently Telus here in Airdrie is offering 250MB for $75 per month, 500MB for $85 per month, and 1GB internet for $95 per month. Looking at a discount provider now, lightspeed.ca, they are offering 250MB for $60 per month and 1GB for $75 per month.
Lastly for utilities we’re gonna look at home insurance. Again looking at that benchmark home we discussed earlier, you’ll find yourself in the $150-$200 likely for home insurance on that home, with it going up or down from there depending on your home!
TAXES
We have a few different taxes to go over here, and depending on where you’re currently living, there’s a good chance you’ll be paying less taxes here in Alberta. Starting off with the good ol goods and services tax or GST. Here in Alberta we just have a 5% GST, compared to many other provinces where your sales tax will be in the double digits.
Next up, our provincial income tax will range anywhere from 10-15% depending on your income for that tax year. Ultimately, if you make less than about $50,000 per year, then you’ll be taxed a little more here than in other provinces. If you make more than around $50,000 per year, then you’ll going to be taxed slightly less than most other provinces!
Now moving onto property taxes, which is a good one to know if you plan to buy a home here in Airdrie. The tax rate is currently 0.00669777%, but that exact rate does change from year to year. In order to find your tax amount that you owe, you take the assessed value of the property and multiply it by that tax rate. A few examples would be a property that’s assessed at $300,000, would pay $2,009 in taxes that year. For $500,000 you’d pay $3,348, for $750,000 you’d have a tax bill of $5,023, and if you own a property thats assessed at a million dollars here in Airdrie, your yearly property tax will be $6,697.
Last but not least, everybody's favourite, the land transfer tax. If your from BC, you know that you’re taxed 1-3% on the purchase price when you buy a home and if you’re from Ontario, that tax can be anywhere from 0.5% to 2.5%. Which can add up when we’re talking about a fulll percent of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Well here in Alberta, our land transfer tax is 0%. You don’t pay any additional transfer tax when you buy a home here in our province!
If you want to find out how much your home is worth in today's market, click the button below to go fill out my home evaluation request form!
HOUSING
Starting first with rental prices. We don’t have good data here in Alberta on actual rented prices, so we can just take an average of what we see listed for rent right now. Starting with smaller units and going up, , a 1 bedroom basement suite will be about $1,200-$1,500 and a 1 bedroom apartment will be more like $1,600-$1,700. For a 2 bedroom apartment you’ll be looking anywhere from $1,700-$2,000, and a 2 bedroom townhouse could be $1,800-$2,100. For a 3 bedroom townhouse you’ll likely be in the $2,200-$2,500 range. Moving onto detached homes, for a 3 bedroom you’ll likely be in the $2,500-$3,000 range, and a 4 bedroom or more will be around $2,800 on the low end, but going up well into the $3,000’s for bigger homes. In most cases the tenant pays the utilities on top of the rent price too.
Now moving onto house prices for purchasing a home. We’re going to look at the benchmark price for each housing style, and what type of property that will get you. Starting first with apartments, our benchmark price right now in Airdrie is $269,600, this would be a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit, with 1 underground parking stall, likely in a building thats about 10 years old or so.
Looking at townhouses, our benchmark price here is $359,900, and for this price you’ll get a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse, with a condo fee. If you prefer a freehold unit without a condo board, then you’ll be looking more in the $420,000-$450,000 range for a 3 bedroom.
Onto our benchmark detached home, which is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home, likely about 10 years old or so, and around $1,750 square feet, and the benchmark price for this right now is $610,700.
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- Brad Walker
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