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Move & retire

Canada

Permanent residence up front, if the system picks you.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
90.6% of US prices
A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
1.525 · 14th of 163
Fourteenth globally and first in its region by a very wide margin
ResidencyUnder review
Skills, language, and an invitation
The selection categories were revised for 2026 and the department is consulting on replacing the three existing programmes with a single pathway and a reworked ranking model. Anyone planning around today’s scoring should expect it to move.
Healthcare
Universal and free at the point of use, with a queue
Out-of-pocket spending is 15.3% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site. Some provinces apply a waiting period of up to three months before coverage begins; Ontario removed its wait in 2020.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living90.6% of US prices

World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0: the PPP conversion factor for household consumption is 1.2409 local currency units per international dollar, against an official exchange rate of 1.3694 to the US dollar. Their ratio, 0.906, is the price level against the United States, whose own ratio is 1 by construction. Both figures are theirs; the division is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Safety1.525 · 14th of 163

Global Peace Index 2026, Institute for Economics and Peace: score 1.525, ranked 14 of 163. Both figures are theirs; we publish them as they are.

Fourteenth globally and first in its region by a very wide margin

Confidence
printed in the source
ResidencySkills, language, and an invitation

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "Work, family or business only": No retirement or passive-income category exists. Selection runs on skills, language and work experience through periodic invitation rounds. At the top of the band because what is granted is permanent residence itself rather than a permit to renew, and it is open to people with no prior connection to the country.

The selection categories were revised for 2026 and the department is consulting on replacing the three existing programmes with a single pathway and a reworked ranking model. Anyone planning around today’s scoring should expect it to move.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
Under review — do not plan around the current terms
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcareUniversal and free at the point of use, with a queue

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "Covered, with a private top-up in practice": Provincial insurance covers residents with no premium in most provinces and serious treatment is done in the country. Held in this band by three things: waiting times for specialists and elective procedures are the documented weak point, private alternatives are restricted so the queue cannot be bought out of, and prescriptions and dental sit outside the public plan, so most people carry supplementary cover.

Out-of-pocket spending is 15.3% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site. Some provinces apply a waiting period of up to three months before coverage begins; Ontario removed its wait in 2020.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

Canada does something almost nothing else here does: it grants permanent residence at the start rather than after years of temporary status, and health cover follows residence rather than employment. But there is no route for arriving with means — the system selects on skills and language through invitation rounds, and the whole ranking model is under public consultation for an overhaul.

How the process works

1

Get an education credential assessment and a language test

Both are needed before a profile can be scored at all.

⏱ 2–4 months
2

Enter the pool and wait for a round that fits

Selection is by invitation, and the categories change.

⏱ 6–24 months
3

Cover the provincial waiting period on arrival

Where a wait applies, private cover bridges it.

⏱ 0–3 months

Where people settle

Greater Toronto
The largest job market and the highest housing costs
Calgary / Edmonton
Cheaper housing, colder winters, a narrower economy
Halifax / Moncton
Small, affordable, and actively recruiting newcomers

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Canada by Dillan Payne, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.