City ranked 21st of 25 in Canada's Best Small Cities report

THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay finds itself near the bottom of a recent report ranking Canada’s best small cities.

The Lakehead was 21st, out of 25 cities surveyed in the report, produced by Resonance Consultancy. According to the report, the cities are judged on the livability, competitiveness and appeal of each city and based it on six core categories – place, product, programming, people, prosperity and promotion.

Digging a little deeper, the rankings take into consideration things like weather, safety, traffic, education, household income, employment rate, Facebook check-ins, Google search totals, percentage of young adults, educational attainment, family friendly activities, restaurants, shopping and nightlife, to name just a few.

Thunder Bay was applauded for its parks and outdoor ranking, its museums, its airport, its health-care sector and finally, for affordable housing, where single-family homes average about $350,000. It fared lowest in the prosperity category.

However, only Airdrie, Alta., Saanich, B.C., Aurora Ont. and St. Catharines, Ont. fared worse than Thunder Bay on the list of 25 cities.

Victoria, B.C., Kelowna, B.C., Kingston, Ont., Niagara Falls, Ont. and Waterloo, Ont. were the top five cities, according to the report.