Calgary vs Tampa: which should you move to?
Calgary or Tampa? 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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Calgary and Tampa both sell themselves as the affordable big city, and the monthly numbers are close enough that the decision turns on what sits around the mortgage. Calgary's benchmark is $569,200 CAD with a $2,480 payment; Tampa's is $380,283 USD with a $1,957 payment, but Tampa's property tax ($6,712 against $3,785) and home insurance ($390 a month against $210) claw most of that back. Tampa has no state income tax and a 4.7% unemployment rate against Calgary's 6.8%. Calgary has public health care, a 5% sales tax and no hurricanes. Choose Tampa if you are a high earner who wants warmth and will buy above the flood line. Choose Calgary if a family's health coverage, schools and winter sun matter more than January at 16.7 C.
Calgary prices are in CAD and Tampa 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 | Tampa | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,306,784 (2021) | 413,554 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 1,836,012 (2025) | 3,418,895 (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) | 7.3% (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 | Tampa | 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) | $380,283 (June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Detached house benchmark Tampa publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $743,900 | $380,283 | Not directly comparable |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $297,600 | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,908/mo (average, October 2025) | $1,999/mo (median, June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,581/mo | $1,719/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 | 28.5% of a year's income | Calgary |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 25 years in Calgary against 30 in Tampa, 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% | $1,957/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× | 4.5× | Tampa |
| 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) | $6,712/yr (1.765%, 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 | $2,662 (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. Tampa: About 1.77% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.8428 mills Tampa is charged, 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 Hillsborough County school board, which levies 6.3400 of the 19.8428. 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 $6,712 on the $380,283 typical home value here. That 19.8428 is the figure Hillsborough County publishes for this taxing district rather than a total assembled here, and Tampa's own council sets 6.2076 of it. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county 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 | Tampa | 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) | 376 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 3,328 (2025) | 1,465 (2024) | 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) | 17 (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.
Violent crime in the city fell from 2,031 offences in 2023 to 1,862 in 2024 and 1,553 in 2025 (TPD 2025 Annual Report), with homicides halving in 2025 to 17. Total crime fell 21.3% in 2025 and TPD reported a 22% mid-year drop the year before, so the direction over three years is clearly down, though the figures remain preliminary until certified under NIBRS.
What the rates cover: Computed: Tampa Police Department 2025 Annual Report counts 1,553 violent crimes (robbery, aggravated assault/battery, murder, sexual battery) in 2025, down from 1,862 in 2024 and 2,031 in 2023; divided by the 413,554 Vintage 2025 city population. FBI UCR-based 2024 figure for comparison: 1,817 offences, 445 per 100k. TPD notes Florida moved to NIBRS in 2022 and figures are preliminary until certified by FDLE and the FBI.
Homicides: City of Tampa, 2025: 17 homicides, a 52.8% drop from 36 in 2024 (FBI UCR 2024 count 36, 8.8 per 100k). Works out to about 4.1 per 100k in 2025. TPD calls it the lowest annual total in more than 50 years. One January 2026 FOX 13 report quoted 19; the 52.8% figure in TPD's annual report is consistent with 17.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Calgary | Tampa | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | -7.6 °C | 16.7 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 16.9 °C | 28.8 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 445 mm | 1,176 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 139 cm | 0 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 2,396 hours | Not published | Not directly comparable |
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 normals, Tampa International Airport (USW00012842): January mean 62.0 F, July mean 83.8 F (August is the warmest month at 84.0 F), annual precipitation 46.30 in, annual snow normal 0. About 30 of those inches (762 mm) fall June through September. Sunshine hours are not part of the 1991-2020 normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge are the defining hazard: Helene's surge in September 2024 flooded coastal Tampa Bay neighborhoods, then Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on October 9, 2024 as a Category 3, and 2024 alone generated 10,261 NFIP flood claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts in Hillsborough County. Flood insurance is effectively required in much of the city and has grown costlier under NFIP Risk Rating 2.0; summer heat indices above 100 F and daily lightning storms are routine from June to September.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Calgary | Tampa | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $98,000 CAD (2020) | $84,114 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) | 4.7% (June 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Sales tax | 5% | 7.5% | 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% | Tampa |
| 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.
BLS counted 1,583,300 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in December 2025, up 0.9% over the year, with education and health services (+4.2%) and leisure and hospitality (+2.0%) leading and the May 2025 mean hourly wage of $31.96 sitting below the US average of $33.54. The largest industries by employment in the metro in 2024 were health care and social assistance, retail trade, and professional, scientific and technical services (Census ACS via Data USA).
Main sectors: Health care and social assistance, Finance, insurance and professional services, Retail and leisure/hospitality, Port, logistics and defense (Port Tampa Bay, MacDill AFB), Higher education and research (USF, Moffitt).
Florida has no state income tax, estate tax or inheritance tax. Property tax is the main local levy; homesteaded owners get a $50,000 exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% annual assessment cap, which means long-time owners pay much less than a new buyer of the same house.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Calgary | Tampa | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | Calgary Transit (CTrain light rail Red and Blue lines, MAX bus rapid transit, bus network); Green Line LRT under construction | HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit) buses, the TECO Line Streetcar between downtown and Ybor City, and HART's MetroRapid and on-demand HARTFlex services | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 8.8% (2021) | 1.2% (2024) | Calgary |
| Walk or cycle to work | 5.1% (2021) | 3.4% (2024) | Calgary |
| Airport | Calgary International Airport, YYC, 19.4 million passengers in 2025 (record; 18.9 million in 2024), 108 destinations | Tampa International Airport (TPA), 24,811,007 passengers in calendar 2025 (+0.22% on 2024), 27th busiest US airport, 635 daily flights, Southwest the largest carrier at 24% (TPA Fact Sheet, June 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.
HART carried about 11.94 million unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA Transit Ridership Report, Q4 2025). The 2.7-mile TECO Line Streetcar, fare-free since 2018, carried 1,323,715 riders in 2024, its record year.
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 plans, ACA marketplace plans, Medicare and Medicaid; Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so low-income adults without children often fall into the coverage gap, and out-of-pocket costs depend entirely on the plan. Tampa General Hospital (the USF Health teaching hospital, ranked the top hospital in the Tampa Bay region by U.S. News for 11 straight years through 2026-2027, with OB-GYN ranked fifth nationally in 2025-2026), Moffitt Cancer Center (an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center), AdventHealth Tampa, St. Joseph's and the James A. Haley VA are the major hospitals; specialist waits are usually weeks rather than months but vary by insurer network.
Education
The University of South Florida (about 48,700 students across Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee in 2025-26, an AAU member since 2023) and the private University of Tampa anchor higher education, with Hillsborough Community College for two-year programs. Schools are run by a single county district, Hillsborough County Public Schools, the seventh-largest in the US, whose 40-day enrollment fell 3.9% to 213,513 in 2025-26 as families took state vouchers and charters; it runs 42 magnet schools (about 17,500 students in 2024-25) with admission by lottery, so the school you get depends as much on the choice application as on the address.
Living there
Tampa is a flat, hot, car-first city where a 26-minute average commute hides the reality that I-275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge back up daily and transit carries about one commuter in a hundred. The walkable parts are concentrated: the Riverwalk, Hyde Park, Seminole Heights and Ybor City, with the streetcar linking downtown to Ybor for free. Flood zone and elevation now matter as much as school zone when picking a house, after Helene's surge in 2024 showed which streets go under; summers mean afternoon lightning storms and heat indices over 100 F from June into September.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
The sticker prices look far apart but the monthly cost does not. Calgary's July 2026 benchmark was $569,200 in Canadian dollars, Tampa's June 2026 figure $380,283 in US dollars, and the two are not convertible into one another here. What is comparable is the shape of the bill. With 20% down, Calgary's payment at 4.34% is $2,480 a month; Tampa's at 6.67% is $1,957. Then Tampa adds $6,712 a year in property tax for a new homesteaded buyer (1.77% of price, because a purchase resets the assessment) and $390 a month in home insurance, against $3,785 and $210 in Calgary. Alberta charges no land transfer tax; Florida's is paid by the seller. Rents run closer than prices suggest: a two-bedroom averaged $1,908 in Calgary in October 2025 and a median $1,999 in Tampa in June 2026. Neither place caps rent increases, though Alberta limits them to once a year.
Comparing crime across the border is harder than comparing prices, because the two countries count differently. Canada's violent category is broad, includes uttering threats and minor assaults, and Calgary Police count victims rather than incidents, so the city's 1,086 violent victims per 100,000 in 2025 is not the same thing as Tampa's 375.5 violent offences per 100,000 (robbery, aggravated assault, murder and sexual battery, and still preliminary under NIBRS). Homicide is the one figure that crosses cleanly. Calgary recorded 15 homicides in 2025, 1.0 per 100,000 and its lowest count in ten years; Tampa recorded 17, about 4.1 per 100,000, after 36 in 2024. Property crime was 3,328 per 100,000 in Calgary in 2025 and 1,465 in Tampa in 2024, again on different definitions. Both cities are trending down from 2023, and Calgary's Crime Severity Index of 61.7 sits well under Canada's 75.0.
These are opposite climates and each one costs money. Calgary's January averages minus 7.6 C and the year brings 138.7 cm of snow, broken by chinook thaws, and 2,396 hours of sun. Its costly hazard is summer hail (major storms in 2020 and 2024), with the 2013 Bow River flood and most-summers wildfire smoke behind it. Tampa's January averages 16.7 C and July 28.8 C, with 1,176 mm of rain, most of it June to September in afternoon lightning storms, and heat indices above 100 F. Its defining hazard is the hurricane: Helene's surge flooded coastal neighbourhoods in September 2024, Milton followed in October, and Hillsborough County filed 10,261 flood claims worth about $1.1 billion that year. Flood insurance is effectively required across much of the city and has grown costlier under Risk Rating 2.0. In Tampa, elevation now matters as much as school zone when choosing a street.
Tampa's labour market is tighter and Calgary's households earn more on paper. Tampa's unemployment rate was 4.7% in June 2026 against Calgary's 6.8% in July, the second highest among large Canadian metros, a product of in-migration outrunning hiring even as Alberta led the country in job growth. Median household income was $98,000 CAD in Calgary in 2020 ($85,000 after tax) and $84,114 USD in Tampa in 2024; Tampa's mean hourly wage of $31.96 trails the US average. Tax is where Tampa pulls ahead. Florida has no state income tax, so a single filer on $100,000 pays about $13,449 in federal tax (plus 7.65% FICA) against $21,733 in Calgary. Sales tax is 7.5% in Tampa and only 5% in Calgary, Canada's lowest. What Calgary's extra income tax buys is the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan: physician and hospital care with no premium and no deductible, though not drugs or dental.
A car is close to mandatory in both, but Calgary gives you a real alternative along one corridor. The CTrain light rail and bus network carried 93.1 million trips in 2025, 8.8% of city commuters used transit in the 2021 Census (12.3% by the 2024 Labour Force Survey), and the Green Line is under construction. Tampa's HART buses carried 11.94 million trips in 2025 and 1.2% of city commuters used transit; the free TECO streetcar covers 2.7 miles between downtown and Ybor City. Walking and cycling shares are 5.1% in Calgary and 3.4% in Tampa. Daily driving in Tampa means I-275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge backing up behind a 26-minute average commute. Calgary's airport handled 19.4 million passengers in 2025 with 108 destinations; Tampa International handled 24.8 million and is the 27th busiest in the US.
Health care is the largest non-housing difference. Calgary residents are covered by the provincial plan at no charge at the point of use, with employer plans for drugs and dental, and the complaints are about finding a family doctor and waiting for specialists after Alberta split its health authority in 2024 and 2025. Tampa's care runs through employer plans, the ACA marketplace, Medicare and Medicaid, and Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so low-income adults without children can fall into a coverage gap. The hospitals are strong: Tampa General is the region's top-ranked hospital and Moffitt is an NCI comprehensive cancer centre, with specialist waits usually in weeks. Schools differ in structure. Calgary has two public boards plus charters, and growth has outrun school construction in new suburbs. Hillsborough County runs one district of 213,513 students, down 3.9% in 2025-26 as families took vouchers, with 42 magnet schools filled by lottery.
The thing people miss is how much of the Tampa discount is spent before the mortgage is paid. Put the pieces together on the benchmark: Tampa's $1,957 payment plus $559 a month in property tax plus $390 in insurance comes to about $2,906, and flood cover on a low-lying street is on top. Calgary's $2,480 plus $315 in tax plus $210 in insurance is about $3,005, in a different currency and with health coverage included. The monthly gap is small. The bigger difference is exposure: Calgary's housing market swings with oil prices and in-migration, Tampa's with hurricane seasons and insurers' appetite for Florida. Over the 30 years of a mortgage, which of those you would rather be exposed to is the real question.
Better here
- Sales tax is 5%, the lowest of any city on this site, against 7.5% in Tampa.
- Property tax on the benchmark is $3,785 a year against $6,712, and home insurance averages $210 a month against $390.
- Homicides fell to 15 in 2025, 1.0 per 100,000, against Tampa's 17 on less than a third of the population.
- Physician and hospital care are covered by the provincial plan with no premium, where Tampa depends on employer or marketplace insurance.
- The CTrain and buses carried 93.1 million trips in 2025; HART carried 11.94 million.
- No hurricanes, no storm surge and no flood-insurance mandate; hail is the costly hazard.
Worse here
- Unemployment was 6.8% in July 2026 against 4.7% in Tampa, the second highest among large Canadian metros.
- A single filer on $100,000 pays about $21,733 in income tax against $13,449 in federal tax in Florida.
- January averages minus 7.6 C and the year brings 138.7 cm of snow and cold snaps below minus 30 C.
- The mortgage payment on the benchmark is $2,480 a month against $1,957.
- Wildfire smoke now degrades air quality most summers and major hailstorms hit in 2020 and 2024.
- Alberta has no rent control at all, and the 2024 and 2025 split of the health authority has not fixed family-doctor shortages.
Choose Calgary if
- you have children and want health coverage that does not depend on an employer
- you earn in Canadian dollars and want a detached house, benchmarked at $743,900
- you want an hour's drive to the Rockies and sunny winters more than warm ones
- you would rather carry oil-price risk than hurricane and insurance risk
The Calgary guide · Neighbourhoods · Calgary rent vs buy · Calgary mortgage calculator
Better here
- No state income tax: about $13,449 in federal tax on $100,000 against $21,733 in Calgary.
- Unemployment was 4.7% in June 2026 against 6.8% in Calgary.
- January averages 16.7 C and the annual snowfall normal is zero.
- The benchmark home is $380,283 with a $1,957 monthly payment with 20% down.
- Violent crime fell from 2,031 offences in 2023 to 1,553 in 2025 and homicides halved to 17.
- Tampa International handled 24.8 million passengers in 2025 and Moffitt is an NCI comprehensive cancer centre.
Worse here
- Property tax on the benchmark is $6,712 a year for a new buyer and home insurance averages $390 a month, with flood cover extra.
- Helene and Milton hit within a month in 2024 and Hillsborough County filed 10,261 flood claims worth about $1.1 billion.
- Only 1.2% of commuters use transit and HART carried 11.94 million trips in 2025, an eighth of Calgary's.
- Florida has not expanded Medicaid and health coverage depends on the plan you can get.
- July averages 28.8 C with daily lightning storms and heat indices above 100 F from June to September.
- Florida forbids any rent control, and the median two-bedroom was $1,999 in June 2026, above Calgary's $1,908 average.
Choose Tampa if
- you earn well above the median and the income tax saving outweighs buying your own health coverage
- you can buy on high ground outside the surge zones and carry the insurance
- you want to never see snow and can live with a summer spent indoors
- you work in finance, health care or defence and want a 4.7% unemployment market
The Tampa guide · Neighborhoods · Tampa rent vs buy · Tampa mortgage calculator
Calgary or Tampa, in short
Is Calgary or Tampa cheaper to live in?
Closer than the prices suggest. Calgary's benchmark was $569,200 CAD in July 2026, Tampa's $380,283 USD in June 2026, and the currencies do not convert here. The payments with 20% down are $2,480 and $1,957, but Tampa's new-buyer property tax is $6,712 a year against $3,785 and its home insurance $390 a month against $210, so the all-in monthly cost lands within about $100. Two-bedroom rents were $1,908 and $1,999. Tampa wins on income tax (no state tax) and Calgary on sales tax (5% against 7.5%) and on health care, which the province covers.
Is Calgary or Tampa safer?
The figures do not line up cleanly. Calgary Police counted 1,086 violent crime victims per 100,000 in 2025 under Canada's broad definition; Tampa counted 375.5 violent offences per 100,000 under the narrower US one, and those are preliminary. Homicide is comparable: 15 in Calgary (1.0 per 100,000, a ten-year low) and 17 in Tampa (about 4.1 per 100,000, down from 36 in 2024). Property crime was 3,328 per 100,000 in Calgary and 1,465 in Tampa in 2024. Both are falling. On the one clean measure, Calgary is safer; on property crime, Tampa reports less.
Which has the better climate, Calgary or Tampa?
They are opposites, and each has a season people avoid. Calgary's January averages minus 7.6 C with 138.7 cm of snow a year, softened by chinooks and 2,396 hours of sun; summers are mild at 16.9 C in July. Tampa averages 16.7 C in January and 28.8 C in July, with 1,176 mm of rain, most of it in summer storms, and no snow. Tampa's hazards are hurricanes and storm surge, which hit twice in 2024. Calgary's are hail, cold snaps below minus 30 C and summer smoke. Pick the season you can tolerate indoors.
How much does hurricane risk add to owning a house in Tampa?
Enough to erase a good part of the price gap. Home insurance on the benchmark averages $390 a month against $210 in Calgary, and flood insurance is effectively required across much of the city under NFIP Risk Rating 2.0, which has made it dearer. The 2024 season showed why: Helene's surge flooded coastal neighbourhoods in September, Milton made landfall as a Category 3 in October, and Hillsborough County filed 10,261 flood claims worth about $1.1 billion. Calgary's costliest recurring hazard is hail, which hit hard in 2020 and 2024, but it has no surge, no evacuation and no flood mandate.
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
- Tampa, FL Population (2025), citing US Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025 · Every City in the USA (compiling US Census Bureau) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- Resident Population in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA), TMAPOP · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Florida Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 2025 Estimate · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Tampa Police Department Annual Report 2025: Strength in Partnerships · City of Tampa · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Property crime rate
- Tampa crime drops in 2025, outpacing national trend: TPD · FOX 13 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Tampa police sees drop in homicides, violent crime for 2025 · WTSP 10 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Tampa, St. Pete homicides, other crimes drop to lowest level in 50+ years · FOX 13 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Tampa Police Release Mid-Year Crime Stats Showing Significant Reductions · City of Tampa · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Tampa, FL Crime Rates: Stats & Map (FBI UCR 2024 data) · AreaVibes · retrieved Supports: Property crime rate, Homicides, Violent crime rate
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012842 Tampa International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Milton misses worst-case scenario, devastates Florida · Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Flooding the zone · UF Warrington College of Business · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- FEMA Exercises Borrowing Authority for National Flood Insurance Program · FEMA · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Tampa, FL profile, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Tampa city and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Unemployment Rate in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA), TAMP312URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- What is the unemployment rate in the Tampa, FL area right now? · USAFacts (BLS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: Southeast Information Office · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Occupational Employment and Wages in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL, May 2025 · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL · Data USA (Census ACS) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- TIP 25A01-12: Hillsborough County Surtax Rate Update · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (citing APTA Transit Ridership Report Q4 2025) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TECO Line Streetcar · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TPA Fact Sheet: Activity Report, Calendar Year 2025 · Tampa International Airport / Hillsborough County Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Tampa General Is the Top-Ranked Hospital in the Tampa Bay Region for the 11th Year in a Row, According to U.S. News & World Report · Tampa General Hospital via PR Newswire · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Tampa General again named the top hospital in Tampa Bay; OB-GYN rises to No. 5 in the U.S. · USF Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- State University System of Florida 2025-2026 Matrix · Florida Board of Governors · retrieved Supports: Education
- HCPS data shows total county enrollment has declined since last year · Plant City Observer · retrieved Supports: Education
- 2024 Annual Report, Growth Management · Hillsborough County Public Schools · retrieved Supports: Education
- 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 each municipality, computed on one method across all twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte, Orlando, Palm Beach and Miami pages use, Year-over-year change to June 2026, which is negative in twenty-three of the twenty-four
- Final 2025 millage rates by taxing district · Hillsborough County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Published totals of 19.8428 for Tampa, 19.5319 for Temple Terrace, 18.2926 for Plant City and 18.2515 for the unincorporated county, Every component behind them, including the 0.5583 library services levy Temple Terrace and Plant City are outside and the 0.5000 transit authority levy Plant City is outside, A county General Purpose MSTU of 4.6163 paid in the unincorporated area in place of a municipal rate
- Millage rates levied for 2025 taxes · Pinellas County Tax Collector · retrieved Supports: A published real estate total for every taxing district in Pinellas County, from Redington Shores at 15.1568 to Belleair at 20.4449, including St Petersburg at 19.9197 and Belleair Beach at 15.4466, Countywide components: general fund 4.5423, health department 0.0713, emergency medical services 0.8050 and school 6.2930, Other districts totalling 1.0256: planning council 0.0175, Juvenile Welfare Board 0.8250 and the Southwest Florida Water Management District 0.1831, The Transit District at 0.7300 and which districts are inside it, and the Pinellas Suncoast Fire District at 0.6700 and which are inside that
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26 · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: Independent confirmation of each municipality's own adopted 2025-26 levy in both counties
- 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, Tampa at 414,547 and St. Petersburg at 267,102; Indian Shores at 1,190
- Hurricane Helene storm surge and Pinellas County flooding, September 2024 · Latent Insurance, on National Weather Service and Pinellas County data · retrieved Supports: The largest storm surge on record for St. Petersburg, over six feet in the city and more than seven on the barrier islands, Thousands of Pinellas homes flooded, many of which had never flooded before, St. Petersburg single-family homeowners insurance of roughly $3,900 to $5,500 a year with wind coverage, and higher on the barrier islands
- Home insurance in Tampa, Florida: 2026 rates · InsuranceQuotes · retrieved Supports: Tampa homeowners insurance averaging about $2,400 a year in 2026, A Tampa Bay range of roughly $3,285 to $5,100 across Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents per $100 on a deed, in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents plus a 45-cent surtax, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note or other written obligation to pay money
- 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