On Monday I’ve got a teleconference to schedule a trip to Edmonton for a job interview. I’ve already had two interviews with them, so an onsite interview is a pretty good sign. The problem is, I’ve never been further into Canada than a weekend in Vancouver.
Yeah, I hear it gets pretty cold up there. And yeah, that far up north the day length is going to change pretty drastically throughout the year. I’m pretty sure I can handle those situations… what I’m concerned about is stuff like the housing market, traffic, restaurants, the culture, that sort of thing.
I lived in Edmonton for a few years. While I was living there, somebody asked the same question. I answered, as did others who were familiar with the city.
Although it’s from 11 years ago, you might find it useful:
I have lived in Edmonton for 25 years. It’s a fine city. Traffic is generally not bad, but it depends where you live. I live on the northern outskirts of the city, and can drive downtown in 15 minutes flat. A few years ago I worked on the far south side of the city and had about the longest commute you can have in the city. It was about 45 minutes at rush hour, and about 30 minutes otherwise.
We have a large university here and a large government sector, being the capitol and all. The result is that Edmonton tilts left, and another result is that it had a vibrant arts and nightlife scene.
The weather ranges from great to terrible. Yesterday it was 16C. I’ve been riding my motorcycle and still haven’t put it away. A couple of years ago we didn’t even get our first snow until Christmas. But other years have been deep freezes with long stretches of -20 or worse temperatures and heavy snow buildup. You takes your chances with the weather.
Crime is low, we have the largest interior city parkland in North America, etc. Real Estate prices are on the high side of normal - not crazy like Toronto or Vancouver. A starter home here would be an 1800 sq foot two story or something like that, and would probably run 400,000-$500,000 on an average lot in an average neighborhood. Condos and townhouses are probably around $200K, give or take. Taxes on a $500,000 house would probably be around $3500/yr or so.
