Calgary vs Miami: which should you move to?
Calgary or Miami? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
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On the sticker these are almost the same purchase: a $569,200 CAD benchmark in Calgary in July 2026 against $582,621 USD in Miami in June 2026. Everything after closing pulls them apart. Miami's annual property tax on that home is $10,808 against $3,785, insurance is $505 a month against $210, and a two bedroom rents at a median $3,004 against an average $1,908. Miami gives you a January mean of 20.3C, a metro of 6.4 million and no state income tax. Calgary gives you a house that is far cheaper to hold, a homicide rate of about 1.0 per 100,000, and care that does not depend on an employer. Renters in particular should look hard at Miami's numbers.
Calgary prices are in CAD and Miami prices are in USD. The tables leave them in their own currency and compare ratios and rates instead; a conversion would be stale by the time you read it.
| Measure | Calgary | Miami | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,306,784 (2021) | 489,812 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 1,836,012 (2025) | 6,391,072 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 5.5% (2016-2021) | 10.8% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Calgary | Miami | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $569,200 (July 2026) | $582,621 (June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Detached house benchmark Miami publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $743,900 | $582,621 | Not directly comparable |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $297,600 | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,908/mo (average, October 2025) | $3,004/mo (median, June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,581/mo | $2,583/mo | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 23.4% of a year's income | 54.3% of a year's income | Calgary |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 25 years in Calgary against 30 in Miami, each compounding the way its own country's lenders do. The rates are not a spread you can shop: they are what each market charges. | $2,480/mo at 4.34% | $2,998/mo at 6.67% | Not directly comparable |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 5.8× | 8.8× | Calgary |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $3,785/yr (0.665%, 2026) | $10,808/yr (1.855%, 2025) | Calgary |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | None | $3,496 (seller pays) | Calgary |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | No cap on the amount | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Calgary: The 2026 municipal rate of 0.38906% plus the provincial education rate of 0.27593%, applied to the assessed value. Miami: About 1.86% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.9878 mills charged here, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the school district, which levies 6.4990 of the 19.9878. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $10,808 on the $582,621 typical home value here. Miami runs its own fire department, so it pays none of the county's 2.3965-mill Fire Rescue district levy. One of only five municipalities in Miami-Dade in that position, and worth more than most municipal rates on this table. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Calgary | Miami | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | 61.7 (2025) | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 Canada counts every violent Criminal Code incident; the FBI counts four offences. The Canadian figure is always the larger one for that reason alone. | 1,086 (2025) | 359 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 3,328 (2025) | 2,241 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 15 (2025) | 26 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
The CMA Crime Severity Index fell again in 2025 (61.7, down 3%) and sits well below the national 75.0, and homicides hit a ten-year low of 15. Police-counted violent crime still rose 4% over 2024 and 16% over the five-year average, driven by assaults, and property crime rose in 2025 on theft and fraud while staying below 2019 levels.
What the rates cover: Calgary Police Service 2025 crime report, city of Calgary, violent crime victims per 100,000 (16,973 victims; 1,082 in 2024). CPS counts violence by victims, not incidents.
Homicides: Calgary Police Service, city of Calgary, 2025; rate 1.0 per 100,000. Prior years: 21 (2024), 24 (2023), 27 (2022), 21 (2021), 34 (2020). Lowest count in ten years; fatal shootings fell to 2 from 7.
FBI CDE counts for Miami PD show violent offenses falling from 2,245 in 2023 to 2,225 in 2024 and 1,787 in 2025 (a 20 percent one-year drop), property offenses from 13,928 to 11,178, and homicides from 61 in 2020 to 26 in 2025. Mid-2025 the department reported robberies down 17 percent and auto thefts down 37 percent against the first half of 2024.
What the rates cover: Miami Police Department (ORI FL0130600), FBI Crime Data Explorer NIBRS summarized data, 1,787 violent offenses in calendar 2025 against a CDE agency population of 498,792. 2024: 2,225 offenses, 483.1 per 100k. Miami PD moved to NIBRS mid 2022, so 2021 is blank and 2022 is a partial year in the CDE.
Homicides: Miami PD, FBI CDE: 26 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025, 5.2 per 100k. 2024: 29 (6.4 per 100k), 2023: 32 (7.1), 2020: 61 (12.8). Miami PD said in July 2025 the city might beat its record low of 24 set in 1946.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Calgary | Miami | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | -7.6 °C | 20.3 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 16.9 °C | 28.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 445 mm | 1,712 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 139 cm | 0 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 2,396 hours | 3,154 hours | Miami |
Environment and Climate Change Canada 1991-2020 normals, Calgary Int'l A (climate ID 3031093): January daily mean -7.6 C, July 16.9 C, 445.4 mm precipitation, 138.7 cm snowfall. Sunshine is not published in the 1991-2020 set; 2,396.3 hours is from the 1981-2010 normals for the same station. Chinook winds bring abrupt winter thaws.
Hazards: Summer hail is the costliest recurring hazard (major storms in 2020 and 2024), the Bow and Elbow rivers flooded the core in June 2013, wildfire smoke now degrades air quality most summers, and hard cold snaps reach below -30 C.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals at Miami International Airport (USW00012839): January mean 68.6 F, July 84.1 F (August is warmest at 84.2 F), annual mean 77.4 F, annual precipitation 67.41 in, snow 0. Sunshine about 3,154 hours a year comes from NOAA Comparative Climatic Data (older period), not the 1991-2020 normals. Hazards: hurricanes and storm surge, seasonal king tide and rainfall flooding, heat and humidity from May to October, frequent thunderstorms (roughly 80 thunder days a year).
Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge every June to November, with chronic tidal and rain flooding; windstorm and separate NFIP or private flood cover are a real carrying cost and coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Calgary | Miami | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $98,000 CAD (2020) | $66,337 USD (2024) | Not directly comparable |
| Unemployment rate Statistics Canada and the Bureau of Labor Statistics define unemployment slightly differently; the Canadian measure runs about a point higher on the same labour market. | 6.8% (July 2026) | 3.0% (June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Sales tax | 5% | 7% | Calgary |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 48% | 37% | Miami |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method. | $21,733 CAD | $13,449 USD | Not directly comparable |
Calgary's unemployment rate has run above the national rate through 2025 and 2026 even as Alberta posted the largest proportional year-over-year employment gain among provinces (+91,000, +3.5%) to July 2026; fast in-migration keeps the labour force growing faster than hiring.
Main sectors: Oil and gas head offices and energy services, Finance, engineering and professional services, Logistics and distribution (YYC cargo, rail, inland port), Technology and agri-food, Health care and education.
Alberta has no provincial sales tax, no payroll tax and no land transfer tax; Calgary levies municipal property tax on assessed value.
Nonfarm employment in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division was 1,351,000 in June 2026, up 8,800 (0.7 percent) over the year, led by education and health services (+6,100) and professional and business services (+4,800); Broward shed 5,000 jobs over the same period. MIA handled nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo in 2025, the most of any US airport.
Main sectors: Trade, transportation and logistics (port and airport), Tourism and hospitality, Finance and professional services, Health care and education, Real estate and construction.
No state or local income tax. Property tax and insurance are the taxes and costs that bite in Miami: homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3 percent assessment cap favour long-time owners over new buyers.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Calgary | Miami | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | Calgary Transit (CTrain light rail Red and Blue lines, MAX bus rapid transit, bus network); Green Line LRT under construction | Miami-Dade Transit (Metrorail, Metromover, Metrobus); Brightline and Tri-Rail regional rail | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 8.8% (2021) | 7.7% (2024) | Calgary |
| Walk or cycle to work | 5.1% (2021) | 5.7% (2024) | Miami |
| Airport | Calgary International Airport, YYC, 19.4 million passengers in 2025 (record; 18.9 million in 2024), 108 destinations | Miami International Airport, MIA, 55.3 million passengers in 2025 (about 1 percent below 2024's record 55.9 million), per Miami-Dade Aviation Department release of May 4 2026 | Not directly comparable |
93.1 million trips in 2025 under the new automated passenger counting method, versus 93.7 million restated for 2024 (RouteAhead Annual Status Report 2025, May 7, 2026). Earlier published totals used a different method and are not comparable.
Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA ridership report, as cited on Wikipedia): Metrorail 14,971,300, Metromover 7,683,800, the rest on Metrobus. Q4 2025 weekday averages: Metrorail 50,300, Metromover 25,600, system 259,400.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan, which is free at the point of use for residents and covers physician and hospital services but not most prescriptions, dental or vision, so employer plans matter; the province split Alberta Health Services into separate acute care, primary care and continuing care agencies in 2024 and 2025, and finding a family doctor and waiting for specialists and elective surgery are the common complaints. Major hospitals are Foothills Medical Centre, Peter Lougheed Centre, Rockyview General, South Health Campus and Alberta Children's Hospital.
Education
The University of Calgary is the city's research university, with Mount Royal University, SAIT and Bow Valley College alongside it. K-12 is run by two publicly funded boards, the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District, plus francophone boards and a sizeable provincially funded charter school sector; enrolment growth has outrun school construction in the newer suburbs.
Living there
Calgary is a spread-out, car-oriented city of single-family suburbs around a compact office core that still has high vacancy from the oil downturn, with the Rockies an hour west and a river-path network that people actually use. Winters are long but sunny and broken by chinooks, and the economy and housing market both swing with oil prices and with the in-migration surges that have made it one of Canada's fastest-growing metros since 2022.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so the uninsured share runs above the national rate and emergency rooms carry the gap. Jackson Memorial, the public safety-net hospital with more than 1,500 licensed beds, is the teaching hospital of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Baptist Health South Florida, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Miami VA are the other large systems.
Education
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the third largest district in the country but enrolled 313,220 students in 2025-26, down about 13,000 in a year as charters and vouchers grew, and the board approved school closures and consolidations in 2026. Florida International University enrolls roughly 50,000 students and the private University of Miami about 20,000; magnet programs such as Design and Architecture Senior High and the choice-heavy system mean school assignment is something families actively manage.
Living there
The city proper is dense, young and majority Hispanic, with Spanish as common as English in daily business, and it has grown almost 11 percent since 2020 on finance and tech arrivals who pushed rents and condo prices up fast. Summers are long, wet and hot, winters are the reason people stay, and every household budgets for hurricane season, windstorm insurance and flooded streets at king tide. Driving is the default outside the Metrorail and Metromover corridors, and traffic is the complaint residents raise most.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Calgary's benchmark home was $569,200 CAD in July 2026 and Miami's was $582,621 USD in June 2026. Different currencies, but the two prices sit in the same range, which is the trap. The payment on 20% down is $2,480 in Calgary at 4.34% and $2,998 in Miami at 6.67%. Property tax on that benchmark is $3,785 in Calgary for 2026 and $10,808 in Miami for 2025, and that Miami figure already assumes the homestead exemption. Insurance runs $210 a month against $505, and condo fees average $500 against $850. Alberta charges no land transfer tax, so a Calgary buyer owes the province nothing at closing, while Miami's $3,496 transfer tax is the seller's. Renting shows the gap plainly: a two bedroom averaged $1,908 in Calgary in October 2025 and Miami's median was $3,004 in June 2026.
Calgary's metro Crime Severity Index was 61.7 in 2025, down 3% and well below the national 75.0. City police counted 1,086 violent crime victims and 3,328 property crime incidents per 100,000, with 15 homicides, about 1.0 per 100,000 and the lowest count in a decade. Miami police, reporting NIBRS data to the FBI, recorded 358.6 violent and 2,240.8 property offences per 100,000 in 2025, and 26 murders at 5.2 per 100,000, down from 61 in 2020. Two cautions before anyone does the arithmetic. Canada's violent category includes common assault and uttering threats, and Calgary counts victims rather than incidents, so 1,086 and 358.6 are not the same measurement. The Miami rates also use the FBI's agency population of 498,792 rather than the census estimate. Property crime is the fair comparison and Miami's rate is lower; homicide is the one where Calgary is clearly ahead.
January averages minus 7.6C in Calgary and 20.3C in Miami, which settles the question for a lot of people on its own. July is 16.9C against 28.9C, and the difference is more than the numbers: Calgary's summer is short and dry, Miami's runs humid from May to October with roughly 80 days of thunder a year. Calgary gets 445.4mm of precipitation and 138.7cm of snow, Miami 1,712mm of rain and none. Chinook winds break the Calgary winter for a few days at a time, and cold snaps still drop below minus 30C. Both hazard profiles cost money. Calgary's are hail, which did major damage in 2020 and 2024, the June 2013 flood of the Bow and Elbow, and wildfire smoke most summers. Miami's are hurricanes and storm surge from June through November plus routine king tide flooding, which is what the $505 monthly insurance figure is paying for.
Miami-Dade's unemployment rate was 3.0% in June 2026, not seasonally adjusted, against 6.8% for the Calgary metro in July 2026, second highest among the large Canadian metros. Calgary's figure is not a hiring collapse. Alberta added 91,000 jobs in the year to July 2026, a 3.5% gain and the largest proportional increase of any province, but in-migration has grown the labour force faster than employers absorb it. The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division counted 1,351,000 nonfarm jobs in June 2026, up only 0.7% on the year. Incomes run the other way from the unemployment rates: the City of Calgary's median household income was $98,000 CAD in 2020, while the City of Miami's was $66,337 USD in 2024 with the wider metro at $80,625. Each city is its country's low-tax option. Alberta levies no sales tax beyond the 5% GST; Florida levies no income tax at all, so $100,000 attracts $13,449 federally against roughly $21,733 in Calgary.
Calgary Transit carried 93.1 million trips in 2025 across two CTrain lines, MAX bus rapid transit and the bus network, with the Green Line under construction. Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 in the same year on Metrobus, Metrorail (14,971,300) and Metromover (7,683,800), for a county with more than twice Calgary's population. The commute shares land closer than that suggests: 8.8% of Calgary commuters took transit in the 2021 Census, a pandemic count, with the Labour Force Survey putting the metro at 12.3% in May 2024, against 7.7% of City of Miami workers in 2024 and only 2.6% across the Miami metro. Walking and cycling are 5.1% and 5.7%. A car is the default in both, outside the CTrain corridors and the Metrorail and Metromover ones. Both airports are real: 19.4 million passengers at Calgary in 2025, 55.3 million at Miami.
Alberta's health insurance plan covers physicians and hospitals with nothing to pay at the desk, while drugs, dental and vision generally come through an employer plan; the province spent 2024 and 2025 splitting Alberta Health Services into separate agencies, and the standing complaints are finding a family doctor and waiting for elective surgery. Foothills, Peter Lougheed, Rockyview, South Health Campus and Alberta Children's carry the region. In Miami the first question is whether you are covered. Florida has not expanded Medicaid, the uninsured share sits above the national rate, and Jackson Memorial, a public hospital of more than 1,500 licensed beds tied to the University of Miami's medical school, absorbs much of what falls through. Schools differ in structure as much as quality: Calgary has public and Catholic boards plus a provincially funded charter sector, while Miami-Dade, the third largest district in the country, enrolled 313,220 in 2025-26, about 13,000 fewer than a year earlier as charters and vouchers grew.
Two things catch buyers out in this pair. In Miami, the seller's tax bill tells you nothing about your own. Florida assesses at full market value, the Save Our Homes cap resets to your purchase price the January after the sale, and the homestead exemption behind that $10,808 figure has to be claimed with the property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. A long-tenured neighbour can be taxed on a fraction of what you will pay for an identical house. In Calgary, the surprise is what Alberta does not have. No land transfer tax, which saves thousands at closing, and no rent control either: the province limits increases to once every 365 days with three full tenancy months' notice and says nothing about how large they can be. A Calgary tenant has roughly the protection a Miami tenant has, which is close to none.
Better here
- Property tax on the benchmark home is $3,785 a year against Miami's $10,808, and home insurance is $210 a month against $505.
- Alberta charges no land transfer tax, so a buyer owes the province nothing at closing.
- Calgary recorded 15 homicides in 2025, about 1.0 per 100,000, against 26 in Miami at 5.2 per 100,000.
- The city's median household income was $98,000 CAD in 2020 while a two bedroom rents for $1,908, against $66,337 USD and a $3,004 median rent in Miami.
- The metro Crime Severity Index was 61.7 in 2025, below the national 75.0 and down again on the year.
- Health coverage comes with residency rather than with a job, and there is nothing to pay at the hospital desk.
Worse here
- January averages minus 7.6C with 138.7cm of snow a year and cold snaps below minus 30C, against 20.3C and no snow in Miami.
- Metro unemployment was 6.8% in July 2026, second highest among large Canadian metros, against 3.0% in Miami-Dade in June 2026.
- Property crime ran at 3,328 incidents per 100,000 in 2025, above Miami's 2,240.8 offences.
- Income tax on $100,000 is roughly $21,733 CAD, against $13,449 of federal tax in Florida, which charges no income tax of its own.
- Alberta has no rent control: increases are limited to once every 365 days, with no cap on the amount.
- Hail is the expensive recurring hazard, with damaging storms in 2020 and 2024, and wildfire smoke now arrives most summers.
Choose Calgary if
- you care more about the monthly cost of holding a house than about its purchase price
- you work in energy, engineering or logistics, or bring your own job with you
- you want the Rockies an hour west and can take a long winter with sunshine in it
- you would rather never think about health insurance again
The Calgary guide · Neighbourhoods · Calgary rent vs buy · Calgary mortgage calculator
Better here
- January averages 20.3C with no snow and roughly 3,154 hours of sunshine a year.
- Miami-Dade unemployment was 3.0% in June 2026 in a metro of 6,391,072 people.
- Florida charges no income tax, so $100,000 of employment income attracts $13,449 federally against about $21,733 in Calgary.
- Homicides fell from 61 in 2020 to 26 in 2025, and violent offences dropped 20% in 2025 alone.
- Property offences ran at 2,240.8 per 100,000 in 2025, below Calgary's 3,328 incidents.
- Miami International moved 55.3 million passengers in 2025 and more air cargo than any other US airport, with Brightline and Tri-Rail on the ground.
Worse here
- Property tax on the benchmark home is $10,808 a year even after the homestead exemption, close to three times Calgary's $3,785.
- Home insurance costs $505 a month and condo fees average $850, against $210 and $500 in Calgary.
- A two bedroom rents at a median $3,004 in a city whose median household income was $66,337 USD in 2024.
- Hurricanes and storm surge run from June to November, on top of chronic king tide and rainfall flooding.
- Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so the uninsured share is higher than the national rate and emergency rooms carry it.
- Nonfarm employment in the Miami division grew only 0.7% in the year to June 2026, and state law blocks any local rent control.
Choose Miami if
- you never want to see snow again and will pay for that in insurance premiums
- you earn in US dollars at a level that outruns a $3,004 median two bedroom
- you want a metro of 6.4 million, Spanish in daily use, and direct flights across Latin America
- you are buying with a large deposit or cash, so the 6.67% mortgage rate matters less
The Miami guide · Neighborhoods · Miami rent vs buy · Miami mortgage calculator
Calgary or Miami, in short
Is Calgary or Miami cheaper to live in?
Calgary, and not because of the purchase price, which is similar: $569,200 CAD against $582,621 USD. It is the holding cost. Property tax on that home is $3,785 a year in Calgary and $10,808 in Miami, insurance is $210 a month against $505, and condo fees average $500 against $850. Renting is worse still, with a Calgary two bedroom averaging $1,908 in October 2025 against a Miami median of $3,004 in June 2026. Miami wins on income tax, since Florida charges none, but the annual housing gap is larger than the tax saving for most households.
Is Calgary or Miami safer?
Calgary on homicide, 15 in 2025 at about 1.0 per 100,000 against 26 in Miami at 5.2, though Miami's count has fallen steadily from 61 in 2020. Miami is lower on property crime, 2,240.8 offences per 100,000 against Calgary's 3,328 incidents. The violent crime rates, 1,086 and 358.6, measure different things: Canada's violent category is broader and Calgary police count victims rather than incidents. Calgary's metro Crime Severity Index of 61.7 in 2025 sits below the national 75.0, so by Canadian standards it is a low crime city.
Which has the better climate, Calgary or Miami?
Miami if winter is what you are escaping: 20.3C in January, no snow at all, and about 3,154 hours of sunshine. Calgary if humidity and storms are the problem, with a July mean of 16.9C, 445.4mm of precipitation a year and 2,396 sunshine hours on the older normals. The trade is in the hazards. Calgary gets hail, wildfire smoke and cold snaps below minus 30C, broken by chinooks. Miami gets hurricanes, storm surge and king tide flooding from June through November, and the $505 monthly insurance bill is the price of that.
Why does a Miami house cost so much more to own when the price is similar to Calgary's?
Three lines do it. Property tax is 1.86% of the purchase price in Miami against 0.665% in Calgary, which is $10,808 a year against $3,785. Insurance is $505 a month against $210, because hurricane and flood cover are separate and expensive. The mortgage rate is 6.67% against 4.34%. There is also a timing trap: Florida resets the assessment to your purchase price the January after the sale, so the previous owner's low bill does not transfer, and you must file for the homestead exemption by 1 March or pay the full rate.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population: Calgary, City (CY), Alberta · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0148-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Canada's population estimates: Subprovincial areas, 2025 · Statistics Canada, The Daily · retrieved Supports: Five-year growth, character
- Police-reported Crime Severity Index and crime rate, by census metropolitan area, 2025 · Statistics Canada, The Daily · retrieved Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
- 2025 Crime Report, Report to Calgary Police Commission · Calgary Police Service · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, City population
- Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020, Calgary Int'l A · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010, Calgary Int'l A · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours
- Labour Force Survey, July 2026 · Statistics Canada, The Daily · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
- Calgary unemployment rate dropped in July, but remains among highest in Canada · CBC News · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Alberta tax overview · Government of Alberta · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes
- Alberta 2025 & 2026 Tax Rates & Tax Brackets · TaxTips.ca · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Canada 2025 & 2026 Tax Rates & Tax Brackets · TaxTips.ca · retrieved Supports: Income tax on $100,000
- RouteAhead Annual Status Report 2025 (IP2026-0142, Attachment 2) · City of Calgary, Calgary Transit · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Transit system
- From home to work: Commuting in Canada's cities, May 2024 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Transit commute share
- YYC Calgary International Airport welcomed 19.4 million passengers in 2025 · Calgary Airports · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Calgary victim's family not celebrating Calgary's 10-year low homicide rate · CP24 / CTV News · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Data about Calgary's population · City of Calgary · retrieved Supports: City population, Median household income
- Miami, FL Population (2025) · Every City in the USA (republishing Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Miami city, Florida · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: population.city (page returned 403 on fetch; figure confirmed via search snippet and secondary republisher)
- Largest U.S. Metro Areas by Population 2026 (Vintage 2025 estimates) · statranker.org · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Florida MSA population estimates, April 1 2025 · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved Supports: population.metro (alternative state estimate)
- Miami, FL Metro Area and Miami city profiles, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter · retrieved Supports: Median household income, population.metro (ACS)
- ACS 2024 1-year table B08301 Means of Transportation to Work · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Miami Police Department (FL0130600) · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Miami Police Report 20% Decrease in Homicides for 1st Half of 2025 · Officer.com · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, Homicides
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly and annual, station USW00012839 Miami International Airport · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Comparative Climatic Data · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: climate.sunshineHours (approximate; figure taken from search summaries of CCD, not the table itself)
- Climate of Miami · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: climate.hazards (thunderstorm days, hurricane exposure)
- Broward County June 2026 Unemployment Data · CareerSource Broward (FloridaCommerce data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
- Discretionary Sales Surtax Information (DR-15DSS) 2026 · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2025 · Internal Revenue Service · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, taxes.incomeTaxAt100k (brackets)
- FAQ: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Tax Changes · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: taxes.incomeTaxAt100k ($15,750 standard deduction)
- Miami-Dade Transit · Wikipedia (citing APTA Ridership Report) · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Soaring cargo growth lifts MIA to #1 in the U.S., #3 in the world · Miami International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Labour market
- Miami (MIA) Airport & Passenger Statistics · RoadGenius · retrieved Supports: transit.airport (2024 comparison)
- A Guide to Florida Flood Insurance (2026) · Insurify · retrieved Supports: climate.hazards (insurance costs)
- Enrollment in Miami-Dade schools is lower at the start of this year. Why? · WLRN · retrieved Supports: Education
- FIU enrollment approaches 50,000 as fall semester nears · Miami Today · retrieved Supports: Education
- Jackson Memorial Hospital · Jackson Health System · retrieved Supports: Health care
- City of Calgary Monthly Statistics Package, July 2026 · Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB®) · retrieved Supports: Benchmark price of $569,200, Benchmark prices by property type
- Rental Market Survey: Calgary, average rent by bedroom type, October 2025 · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: One-bedroom average rent of $1,581, Two-bedroom average rent of $1,908
- Current property tax rates · City of Calgary · retrieved Supports: 2026 municipal residential rate, 2026 provincial education rate
- Premium information for homeowner and small rental loans · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Mortgage default insurance premium rates by loan-to-value
- CMHC revises homeowner mortgage loan insurance premiums · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: The 20 basis point surcharge on a 30-year insured amortization
- Regulations amending the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations (SOR/2025-55) · Canada Gazette, Part II · retrieved Supports: The $1.5 million insured price cap, 30-year amortization for first-time buyers and new builds
- Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages · Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions · retrieved Supports: The qualifying rate of the contract rate plus two points, or 5.25%
- Interest rates charged for new and existing lending by chartered banks · Bank of Canada · retrieved Supports: The default mortgage rate of 4.34%, uninsured five-year-plus fixed, funds advanced May 2026
- How much will my home really cost? · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Closing costs of 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price, Home inspection and appraisal ranges
- Land Titles and Surveys common documents fee schedule · Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, Government of Alberta · retrieved Supports: Transfer registration fee, Mortgage registration fee
- During a tenancy: rent increases · Government of Alberta · retrieved Supports: No cap on rent increases, 365-day frequency limit, Notice periods
- Alberta's tax advantage · Government of Alberta · retrieved Supports: Alberta levies no land transfer tax
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted: city file, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value for the 35th to 65th percentile of each municipality's market, computed on one method across all twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte, Orlando and Palm Beach pages use, so all four American layers can be read against each other, Year-over-year change to June 2026
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26: Miami-Dade · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: The adopted 2025-26 millage rate for Miami-Dade County and every municipality in it, The county's own components: countywide 4.5740, Fire/Rescue 2.3965, Library 0.2812 and the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area at 1.9090, Municipal rates from Sunny Isles Beach's 1.7000 to Biscayne Park's 9.3000
- 2025 millage rates and taxing authorities, Miami-Dade County · Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: A published combined rate for unincorporated Miami-Dade of 16.9317 mills, Its components: school district 6.4990, countywide 5.7361, regional water districts 0.3911, Fire Rescue 2.3965 and UMSA 1.9090, which this layer's stack reproduces exactly, Millage code 0100, the City of Miami, at 19.9878 mills for 2025: 7.1080 of city operating levy and 0.2536 of city debt service on the countywide 12.6262, Opa-locka's municipal operating levy of 8.9797, and a 2025 total of 24.0024 for millage code 0800, A city debt service column, which nine of the twenty-four municipalities here carry: Miami 0.2536, Miami Beach 0.2779, North Bay Village 1.1666, Golden Beach 0.6000, Miami Shores 0.1331, North Miami Beach 0.2000, Miami Gardens 0.4331, Doral 0.4810 and Homestead 0.2446, A blank library district column for Hialeah, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Homestead, Miami Shores, Bal Harbour and Surfside, which are outside the county library district, A blank Fire Rescue column for Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne, which is the five this layer flags
- About Fire Rescue · Miami-Dade Fire Rescue · retrieved Supports: The Fire Rescue district covering the unincorporated county and twenty-nine municipalities, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne operating their own fire departments and lying outside the district
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A Miami-Dade deed rate of 60 cents per $100 rather than the 70 cents charged in every other county, A Miami-Dade surtax of 45 cents per $100, not due on a document transferring only a single-family dwelling, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note, statewide
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 estimates for each municipality, Miami at 487,014 and Hialeah at 235,388; Golden Beach at 1,034
- Average cost of home insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved Supports: A Miami-Dade County average of about $6,045 a year: below Palm Beach County's $6,614, A Florida average of about $3,815 and a national average of about $2,543
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
- Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
- Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency