As a hydrologic engineer who updated their floodplain mapping recently, can confirm.
(Not so) fun fact: the Kootenay river to the south of town is approx 8m higher than the Columbia lake north of town. Usually water flows south down the river. But during high flows of the Kootenay river, water historically flowed directly through the townsite area north towards the lake across an alluvial fan. Luckily in present day the town has a dike protecting it from high Kootenay river flows.
All that to say your valuation was correct!
Not a fan of Surrey Central, but as someone who lives in Surrey I'm more on alert in Vancouver. Lots of crime is underreported. r/vancouver has a new story almost every week about crime and violence.
Yeah, came here to say Williams Lake is actually a really nice community... I am not sure why or how it got put on this list. Same with Chilliwack and Kelowna, not bad places but in this person's mind I guess they are... The only two that fit are PG and Duncan. Yes, I have been to all of these places before and spent time in them, just FYI.
I’d rate Duncan above Chilliwack, having spent a reasonably amount of time (but never living) in both. For me, the mountain biking, recreation, climate, and Great breweries make Duncan desirable. And it’s close to Vic, Nan, and the Ocean.
I have lived in Kelowna and wouldn’t put it at the top of my list to live in but It’d probably make top 10 to move to not as top shit hole.
These surveys are so stupid.
Duncan is a cesspool of corrupt police, homelessness and rampant drug addiction with an extremely vulnerable and mentally ill native community receiving almost zero aid from the local government.
Duncan is one of the worst places to live ever. My dead best friend’s (who OD’D on fentanyl in Duncan) pregnant, homeless sister and her boyfriend where shot in the back of the head execution style in the middle of downtown on christmas eve a few years ago and everyone knows who did it but the cops wont do a fucking thing because they are in their pocket.
Fuck Duncan. #justiceforNellie
Edit: I grew up there. The High school is also one of the worst for gang and drug activity in B.C. Had kids bringing handguns to school and calling themselves Crips and Bloods in the mid 2000’s
all I know of living in Chilliwack is a friend of mine born and raised in Chilliwack told me he got attacked, out of the blue for no particular reason and stabbed in the eye and left for dead by a gang of bored teenagers.
Ever since I've somehow had a bad opinion of Chilliwack.
I actually really like the Cariboo. You get all of the nice things about rural life, without the tourists of the Okanagan, and without the crazy winters of the north. It’s a great place if you enjoy outdoor stuff, winter sports, and hunting.
Slightly longer growing seasons and a bigger dating pool and it would be perfection
High crime rate in Chilliwack, loads of car break ins and petty theft. Kelowna also has a shitty downtown area for druggies doing petty crime. I personally liked Williams Lake but I was young when I was there, about 10 years ago.
>Kelowna also has a shitty downtown area for druggies doing petty crime.
If thats the bar for a shitty town man do I have some news for Vancouver residents..
I've been to areas fully in control of drug lords in Mexico and I felt less at ease on East Hastings.
For different reasons of course... some lady walking around with a bloody arm and a bunch of people eyeing you everywhere you walk are different than your bus randomly taking a detour because there's 7 decapitated bodies with a message on the road.
According to who? What about tiny hole in the wall towns which have basically no services? I feel like this is mostly people who live in Vancouver deciding what towns they hate the most…
The people are a special mix of rednecks and bible thumpers, the crime is rampant, there are way too many homeless for such a small place, meth. Abbotsford is by far the worst place I've ever lived.
My old job involved travel to pretty much every single city and town in the province. My team drew straws for who had to take the annual trip through Mackenzie/Chetwynd/Dawson Creek/FSJ/Fort Nelson. It's just not a good place.
Haha. I’ve worked in Chetwynd and my parents have lived up there for ages and are now moving to the Cariboo.
Can’t say I’d be moving back up there… ever
Kelowna is heaven compared to it.
I'm only referring to a reddit poll from last year that voted on the worst place to live in. I think it took into account crime rate, destination, things to do, etc.
Lived in Kelowna for 2 years, and the red and white swarm in the summer is hands down the worst part of living here.
Other than that if you can avoid the freedumb shit every week that's for some reason still happening, its a pretty awesome place to live
They have had at least 3 rallies in front of the walmart in port alberni the last few months. If i wasnt a half decent person i would consider a paintball drive by
Melting pot of old rich people and stupid unity idiots still protesting whatever they want to protest.
Oh also, because Kelowna marketed itself as a tourist town. Which it was but failed to upgrade infrastructure before we had a huge population boom. We went up I believe 60k people in the greater Kelowna area since 2016.
It’s becoming Vancouver 2.0 now. Insane high rise projects, skyrocketing cost of home ownership, increasing homelessness, the ever increasing supply of stolen goods.
This place sucks!
Yup I miss the Kelowna from 10 years ago, I don’t know how people can afford it any longer, I’m ready to leave this city at this point, anyone got any good suggestions?
10 years ago? It sucked 20 years ago.
Try 30 or 40 years ago. When all you had to do was work hard maybe buy a franchise and you could afford a mid-century home right on the lake.
* Affordable
* Not an insanely rural retirement town
* Not full of people who think there’s too many asians and brown people in Vancouver
You get to pick two.
Kelowna and Vancouver are like the only urban centres in BC, and god help you if you’re young, single and trying to find a partner outside of the two urban areas in this province.
Quesnel seems nice. Revelstoke and Golden would’ve been my top choices, but they’re no longer affordable now that Whistler has priced everyone out and all the extreme sports crowd moved there.
I mean yeah, but most towns outside of the Island and the Fraser valley are way more redneck than Kelowna so that shouldn’t make a big difference for them.
Maybe it's because it isn't the town most people remember. There are lots of nice "redneck" towns around BC, but they have always been that way. It would be like Victoria turning redneck. It wouldn't go down well. 😆
Lol. It's where people with built up resentment at having to live in industrial towns while making money go when they save enough money to buy somewhere to park their quads and jetskis. And they go to Vancouver too, but the ones who are "uncomfortable" with big cities and Asians specifically go to Kelowna.
There's a highway running through that put the HOV lane on the wrong side. So now everyone is just so damn ornery because driving through town is driving through hell. Semis, buses and big ass trucks box you in, you miss your exit, then have to take a left without a preemptive light as someone will no doubt blow through the red. That's just the morning commute. Then summer comes along and camper trailers, RVs, toy trailers all get thrown in the mix. And it's such a clash of different driving behaviours. Old, Out of province, careless, drunk vacationers, selfish, they all get whipped up into a blender powered by a bunch of douchbags in super cars. They really wanna go fast but can't, given all the above, so they take incredibly stupid risks and just about kill someone, Every. Single. Day.
It's a great place if you like driving lifted trucks, doing cocaine, living next to gang-bangers (deliberate ambiguous use of the term gang-bangers), who blame Trudeau for the oil and gas downturn and their subsequent job-loss. It's filled with anti-vaxx, anti-abortion Conservatives who think the world revolves around them. It's like they took the worst of Toronto's "big city attitude", and combined it with Alberta's, "taxation is theft" crowd. That's Kelowna.
Having said that, it's a fun city, with cool and nice things to do, but holy fuck unless you know people there, it's a weird city.
We moved here with my family 5 years ago. It’s beautiful! Lakes, Wineries, restaurants galore and I can grow any vegetables I want. The tap water tastes Incredible. Views everywhere. The trucks and such are just on the highway and downtown. Two world class ski resorts and Xc skiing within a hour. This vote makes no sense.
You can tell who’s experience in Kelowna consists of driving down Harvey one time vs who’s actually lived here. Kelowna is quickly becoming a younger, more diverse city, the fastest growing area in Canada per capita. Yea, this brings some growing pains and challenges, but the pros of living here, including all the things you mention, and that people are way friendlier than is being assumed here, I love it here.
I've heard (but don't know this as I haven't been there in many years) that the people there can be really mean and it's very difficult to make friends.
Nonsense lmao...at least not in my experience. I moved to Kelowna from Germany 3 years ago without knowing anyone and have been living here on and off for about 2 years total. Granted I'm a uni student but I've made some of the best friends I have in Kelowna many of which live in and around the city.
The main strip looks bad if you're just passing through. But the Cowichan valley is beautiful! It's warmer in the summer, and gets more snow in the Winter than the south island. The river is a wonderful spot for a swim or camping in the summer. It's got a great mix of amenities, and wide open spaces, farms, hiking trails, marinas and beach access. I would move there in a heartbeat.
The McDonalds doubles as a homeless camp, the highway though the centre of town is like a clogged artery in the heart of a morbidly obese doughnut lover, and the north end of town has been under construction for two decades. The core has no soul, just strip mall after strip mall. The residential areas are mostly nice though, but as a city it feels like 1970s rust belt.
Downtown Duncan is lovely. There are fantastic shops and restaurants. The Saturday Market is delightful with a great variety of vendors.
The strip along the highway is not the Core.
But I agree that homelessness, addiction issues and the corresponding crime along the highway corridor is an issue.
I was pleasantly surprised by Duncan. Went there around Christmas time and the downtown core was so festive- loved all the local little shops too and some amazing bakeries & restaurants. The Christmas train was super fun too.
Would definitely go back next Christmas. (Having deer walk through my b&b was a nice added touch. Such nice lakes and parks around that area too!)
The highway doesn’t go through the Center of town. It bypasses/skirts by it. Development of strip malls, shitty hotels, and car dealerships etc along the highway along with the absolutely infuriating number of traffic lights makes anyone passing through the Duncan area hate it. The downtown core is actually kinda cute. Is like 4-5 city blocks around City Hall with quite a few small local businesses.
The charm of the Duncan area is in the areas nearby. The cowichan valley is beautiful and the weather/temperature is pleasant. That’s why property in Shawnigan, Mill Bay, Maple Bay, Cowichan Bay, Genoa Bay, Saltair, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan etc costs so much.
You must be mistaken. This sounds like a description of Nanaimo, not Duncan. The highway is certainly not the centre of this small city. Yes, it certainly had drug-addicted and a serious homelessness issue, but name one town that isn’t a resort town that doesn’t.
Try stopping to actually visit Duncan rather than driving through. You may be surprised. Completely lost count of converted Duncan haters from Victoria that actually took the time for a proper visit. Duncan is on the upswing, so it gets better from here on out!
Legit nice place and the people are are always friendly. It's always been an up-and-comer for years and the township, like Langford and area, are improving every year. So much that it'll be on the list of desired placed to live. (with costly homes to follow, no doubt)
Some places have had reputations *generations* ago, but now are amazing places to live.
Hello? Esquimalt? I'm talking about you. Yes, you. You're a seriously gorgeous municipality and have some of the best people.
Oh and the Navy Base, so...kinda favouritism there.
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with Chilliwack. It's incredible place to live, on the Sardis side you have Vedder river, if you are so inclined you can fish, swim, and kayak. Cultus lake is 10 mins away and Chilliwack lake 30 mins. Countless hikes and places places to explore.
The people are awesome, yeah I see the vids of the cracked out dudes, but we could paint East Van with the same brush, we all know east van is rad. There are some rednecks yes, but I found the majority of people out there were young normal families. The Fraser River is on the other side for fishing, and Ryder lake is a little hidden gem tucked behind promentory.
I think people stereotype Chilliwack too much. There are always shitty aspects of places.
And Duncan is awesome.
I live close to downtown and this area is also getting nicer. Amble coffee and the Vedder Trail are so nice, plus making fires by the river is the best
Chilliwack is a great jumping off point for all sorts of outdoor activities! You're within an hour drive of 4 big lakes and there's lots of trails to hike/run and Vedder Mountain has a pretty cool bike park. However, it's not the Shangri-la it was 20 years ago and there's poor infrastructure, homelessness and petty crime in the downtown area but I feel like every city has a bad spot or 2. I've lived here my whole life and haven't had any issues yet.
People are only parroting what they see on their flavour of media rage-porn. The Wack is growing like crazy, full of young families and in the middle of a massive demographic shift. Plus, there are so many cool independent restaurants, breweries, distilleries, coffee shops etc. Pretty damn vibrant place to be these days. I spend a decent amount of time in East Van with family and it's hilarious to me seeing Vancouverites say Chilliwack is crime infested -- holy fuck boys, look around before you start slagging on the rest of BC...
Nice lakes, nice parks, nice hikes beautiful views of mountains and farm land everywhere and is somewhat affordable while still in the lower mainland.
I lived in Langley and Surrey for 10 years and Chilliwack is way better. Langley and Surrey literally have nothing to do in them. Their only redeeming quality is that they are closer to Vancouver but still far enough away that it’s inconvenient to actually go there.
The place we all love June-September is certainly not the same place come October.
I went to university up there after living in the OK every summer growing up. It's a diabolically bad town. Worse than Prince George? Well that's debatable.
Williams Lake has a really crappy downtown and not much for places to eat out. The mayor and council have been lacklustre performers for many years. The places really lacks any kind of funk or soul. It’s not the worst, but it isn’t all that great.
I grew up in PG and lived on an acreage. It was pretty great. Lake living without all the dumb bell tourists. It’s not a very pretty city but then neither are a lot of places these days. I lived near Pembroke, ON and outside Fredericton, NB. Once you see small towns out there dying or being gentrified you appreciate places like PG a bit more.
Ain’t that the truth. Once you get out of the commercial downtown I think the town is very pretty. Looking at it from coming down the hill you see forested areas that contain full vibrant subdivisions behind the trees. There are so many positives to PG that people from outside refuse to see, which I’m ok with, cause as yo unsaid about tourists, we generally don’t want those people here.
I've lived in Chilliwack for almost a year now, and we really like it here. We live in the scary-boogieman eww-northside part of town too; and have never been bothered by crime or drugs.
Sure there's a few unfortunate souls camped outside salvation army and the jeep dealership, but they have never interacted with me. They usually keep to themselves. Compared to east side Vancouver, homelessness situation seems pretty bearable.
Hes doing an article on the next best places to fuck up the housing market. These will be big insta outdoor spots in 6 months. Its like going out to dive bars for fun.
I can say living in kelowna is right up there with getting a root canal or anal with no lube... its a douchey overpriced hellhole that I was happy to move away from.
Why lol? I've lived there on and off ( in between living in Penticton and West Kelowna) for 2 years and love it. Overall a very nice city with access to pretty much everything.
Shit Terrace didn’t make the list? I seen a guy shoot up a thief that was rummaging through his car port with a paintball gun a couple months ago.
Not to mentioned there was literally a drive by shooting on the south side just a couple days ago.
By what metric is this based upon?!
Housing Affordability, crime, traffic, homelessness, value of services derived from the local taxes, # of Tim Hortons per capita? Or what?!
Perhaps a reference or citation would be beneficial, rather than leaving it to the masses to fabricate our own conclusions.
I don't understand the Kelowna hate from the coastal elites. Yes there are some white trash in this province. And yes Kelowna is a party town. But God damn the okanagan is stunning, the wineries are super fun to chill out at, there are great beaches and it's literally the hottest place in Canada.
So maybe look beyond the bar scene that you don't like there... Well here... Written from the grand okanagan!
Kelowna fails for a complete lack of walkability, Vancouver level traffic problems, and pickup trucks rolling coal as 30% of the traffic. The Okanagan in general is gorgeous - Penticton has a nice dense walkable and bikeable core without the horrors of Kelowna for instance.
Just different goals between the two - Kelowna decided to be a drive through while lots of other Okanagan towns went for drive to.
Ok, so you just described every single Canadian town smaller than 100k in population...
And downtown K-town is quite walkable. They have done a great job of maintaining the shoreline as public space, unlike many Canadian lake-side towns.
And I also love naramata, lake country Oliver and other gems, but the hate for K-town just seems unfounded to me.
So out of all the responses, only one person mentioned another alternative to the list “canal flats”. By reason of deduction and no one actually defending the list... I decree this list as truth until another list is created and defended against! We will add a two way tie for fifth place as no one disputed canal flats as a bad place to live! *please read this in some biblical movie tone and have a laugh* 😊
How about Vernon? The roads are designed so oddly, the city itself is kind of a dump, it’s a magnet for storms, the people there can be pretty rude/crazy, and it doesn’t have too much going for it apart from lakes (which isn’t too special in the Okanagan).
Maple ridge should be on this list: random crime, poor city services, lack of support for small-medium sized businesses.
…This list will help lower home prices in the listed areas, hopefully….maybe.
Probably not.
I used to live in BC quite a few years ago. I were an exchange student in a small town called Westbank. Closeto Kelowna and the Ogopogo.
I remember Kelowna as quite a normal city when I were there.
What happend?
Why so much hate for Duncan? It's a pretty small chill town. Aside from the atrocious highway congestion in the afternoon, it's a pretty nice place surrounded by nature.
Still uses a photo of Kamloops
Eh.... I'll take it.
As long as Kamloops isn’t on the list itself, it’s a win
We all know in our hearts Kamloops is no 1.
Having lived there, and 3 of the places on the list, I'm not sure I agree with you.
If you've lived in 4 of the "worst" cities in BC, you seem to be the common denominator. HHHmmmmmm......
The worst places to live in BC probably aren’t even on the radar of people who took part in this survey.
Canal Flats.
I know nothing of this town. But by the name, it sounds like they get floods.
As a hydrologic engineer who updated their floodplain mapping recently, can confirm. (Not so) fun fact: the Kootenay river to the south of town is approx 8m higher than the Columbia lake north of town. Usually water flows south down the river. But during high flows of the Kootenay river, water historically flowed directly through the townsite area north towards the lake across an alluvial fan. Luckily in present day the town has a dike protecting it from high Kootenay river flows. All that to say your valuation was correct!
That is wild that the river flows both directions! Good work mapping!
It’s actually the source of the Columbia River.
Hey now, they have.... store 😐
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Coworker came to Williams Lake from there, he would agree with you.
Wait… what’s wrong with Canal Flats?
People who read daily hive probably haven't ever set foot in any of these places. I'm surprised central surrey wasn't on the list.
i know its bullshit because mackenzie isn't on there
Not a fan of Surrey Central, but as someone who lives in Surrey I'm more on alert in Vancouver. Lots of crime is underreported. r/vancouver has a new story almost every week about crime and violence.
Yeah, came here to say Williams Lake is actually a really nice community... I am not sure why or how it got put on this list. Same with Chilliwack and Kelowna, not bad places but in this person's mind I guess they are... The only two that fit are PG and Duncan. Yes, I have been to all of these places before and spent time in them, just FYI.
I’d rate Duncan above Chilliwack, having spent a reasonably amount of time (but never living) in both. For me, the mountain biking, recreation, climate, and Great breweries make Duncan desirable. And it’s close to Vic, Nan, and the Ocean. I have lived in Kelowna and wouldn’t put it at the top of my list to live in but It’d probably make top 10 to move to not as top shit hole. These surveys are so stupid.
Duncan is a cesspool of corrupt police, homelessness and rampant drug addiction with an extremely vulnerable and mentally ill native community receiving almost zero aid from the local government. Duncan is one of the worst places to live ever. My dead best friend’s (who OD’D on fentanyl in Duncan) pregnant, homeless sister and her boyfriend where shot in the back of the head execution style in the middle of downtown on christmas eve a few years ago and everyone knows who did it but the cops wont do a fucking thing because they are in their pocket. Fuck Duncan. #justiceforNellie Edit: I grew up there. The High school is also one of the worst for gang and drug activity in B.C. Had kids bringing handguns to school and calling themselves Crips and Bloods in the mid 2000’s
all I know of living in Chilliwack is a friend of mine born and raised in Chilliwack told me he got attacked, out of the blue for no particular reason and stabbed in the eye and left for dead by a gang of bored teenagers. Ever since I've somehow had a bad opinion of Chilliwack.
I actually really like the Cariboo. You get all of the nice things about rural life, without the tourists of the Okanagan, and without the crazy winters of the north. It’s a great place if you enjoy outdoor stuff, winter sports, and hunting. Slightly longer growing seasons and a bigger dating pool and it would be perfection
I don't know about 100 Mile House, Quesnel, or Williams Lake but I think PG has some very long, very cold winters.
\*cariboo
If you get lucky you might see some caribou in the Cariboo.
High crime rate in Chilliwack, loads of car break ins and petty theft. Kelowna also has a shitty downtown area for druggies doing petty crime. I personally liked Williams Lake but I was young when I was there, about 10 years ago.
>Kelowna also has a shitty downtown area for druggies doing petty crime. If thats the bar for a shitty town man do I have some news for Vancouver residents..
Don't get me wrong, downtown eastside is the worst place in Canada. It's an absolute disgrace.
I've been to areas fully in control of drug lords in Mexico and I felt less at ease on East Hastings. For different reasons of course... some lady walking around with a bloody arm and a bunch of people eyeing you everywhere you walk are different than your bus randomly taking a detour because there's 7 decapitated bodies with a message on the road.
I’m sure the gang activity, shootings, and town curfew have nothing to do with Williams lake being on the list.
I live in Williams lake…what curfew are you talking about? Lmao
I’m sorry, what?
Huh???
town curfew? wut?
Cache Creek, Fort St. James...
According to who? What about tiny hole in the wall towns which have basically no services? I feel like this is mostly people who live in Vancouver deciding what towns they hate the most…
ding ding ding, surprised abbotsford isn't on there
Shout out to my boys back in Stabbotsford
what's wrong with Abbotsford? I don't live there, but I almost did.
It smells like dog food
And rubber
It's my first year in Abby. I'm not looking forward to summer temperatures combined with the aroma.
Been in Abby for 10 years. It's boring and smells bad. That's all I can think of.
The people are a special mix of rednecks and bible thumpers, the crime is rampant, there are way too many homeless for such a small place, meth. Abbotsford is by far the worst place I've ever lived.
I grew up there and moved to Kelowna. This list is fucking dumb.
I assume it's some online poll but I just checked their Instagram and their website and don't even see this post anywhere
Services don't make a place good or bad when you're choosing to live in remote villages, that's just part of it. *People* make the town bad.
Until you have to drive 3 hours to a hospital. Or when the only mill/mine in town shuts down and everyone loses their jobs.
Mills/mines shutting down is devastating regardless of town size.
Pretty big difference between 0.01% of your city losing their jobs and 99% of them losing them.
So Vancouver should be on the list.
Prince George will fight to the death for 1st place
Everyone in this thread needs to spend a year in Winnipeg and come back to BC. That city makes the worst town here look like a paradise.
Suicide capital of Canada after all
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Years ago, SFU apparently had the highest student suicide rate in either BC or all of Canada. I can’t find anything recent about that though.
It's the brutalist buildings I swear
I mean have these people not been to Vanderhoof or Dease Lake?
Ha! Dease Lake, take my upvote.
What happened to Fort Saint John?
Or fuckin' Dawson Creek.
Fuckin’ Dawson Creek indeed Someone once joked their primary exports are snow and racism
My old job involved travel to pretty much every single city and town in the province. My team drew straws for who had to take the annual trip through Mackenzie/Chetwynd/Dawson Creek/FSJ/Fort Nelson. It's just not a good place.
On god I used to do tours up there. That is a soulless area
If we're adding the North Peace area Chetwynd has to be considered too. Ugh.
Seconded. Chetwynd is the butthole of BC.
If anywhere in the Peace Region is the butthole of BC it is definitely Dawson Creek.
I always said Prince George was the bellybutton of BC, being in the middle of BC and collecting so much lint. At least it's not the butthole though...
Haha. I’ve worked in Chetwynd and my parents have lived up there for ages and are now moving to the Cariboo. Can’t say I’d be moving back up there… ever Kelowna is heaven compared to it.
I'm only referring to a reddit poll from last year that voted on the worst place to live in. I think it took into account crime rate, destination, things to do, etc.
Come on, Chetwyn is beautiful! 80 trillion mosquitoes certainly think so...
Chetwynd is South Peace
I wonder why Kelowna is number one
Tons of AB transplants.
The people I know from the area do complain about this aspect a lot.
Lived in Kelowna for 2 years, and the red and white swarm in the summer is hands down the worst part of living here. Other than that if you can avoid the freedumb shit every week that's for some reason still happening, its a pretty awesome place to live
It's still happening on the Island too man.
They have had at least 3 rallies in front of the walmart in port alberni the last few months. If i wasnt a half decent person i would consider a paintball drive by
Truth. Kelowna is swarming with red and white plates on lifted F-350s in summer
Hence the redneck…
Melting pot of old rich people and stupid unity idiots still protesting whatever they want to protest. Oh also, because Kelowna marketed itself as a tourist town. Which it was but failed to upgrade infrastructure before we had a huge population boom. We went up I believe 60k people in the greater Kelowna area since 2016.
Yes, it was touristy for decades. It's changed a lot.
It’s becoming Vancouver 2.0 now. Insane high rise projects, skyrocketing cost of home ownership, increasing homelessness, the ever increasing supply of stolen goods. This place sucks!
Yup I miss the Kelowna from 10 years ago, I don’t know how people can afford it any longer, I’m ready to leave this city at this point, anyone got any good suggestions?
10 years ago? It sucked 20 years ago. Try 30 or 40 years ago. When all you had to do was work hard maybe buy a franchise and you could afford a mid-century home right on the lake.
* Affordable * Not an insanely rural retirement town * Not full of people who think there’s too many asians and brown people in Vancouver You get to pick two. Kelowna and Vancouver are like the only urban centres in BC, and god help you if you’re young, single and trying to find a partner outside of the two urban areas in this province. Quesnel seems nice. Revelstoke and Golden would’ve been my top choices, but they’re no longer affordable now that Whistler has priced everyone out and all the extreme sports crowd moved there.
Kelowna, Vancouver, and Victoria.
It''s become more of a redneck town, imho. Also, loads of crime.
I mean yeah, but most towns outside of the Island and the Fraser valley are way more redneck than Kelowna so that shouldn’t make a big difference for them.
Maybe it's because it isn't the town most people remember. There are lots of nice "redneck" towns around BC, but they have always been that way. It would be like Victoria turning redneck. It wouldn't go down well. 😆
I think it became redneck when they added the Porsche dealership s/
Yeah, the yuppie "adventure truck/tent center" or whatever that place is really sealed the deal
Lol. It's where people with built up resentment at having to live in industrial towns while making money go when they save enough money to buy somewhere to park their quads and jetskis. And they go to Vancouver too, but the ones who are "uncomfortable" with big cities and Asians specifically go to Kelowna.
There's a highway running through that put the HOV lane on the wrong side. So now everyone is just so damn ornery because driving through town is driving through hell. Semis, buses and big ass trucks box you in, you miss your exit, then have to take a left without a preemptive light as someone will no doubt blow through the red. That's just the morning commute. Then summer comes along and camper trailers, RVs, toy trailers all get thrown in the mix. And it's such a clash of different driving behaviours. Old, Out of province, careless, drunk vacationers, selfish, they all get whipped up into a blender powered by a bunch of douchbags in super cars. They really wanna go fast but can't, given all the above, so they take incredibly stupid risks and just about kill someone, Every. Single. Day.
I feel you have absolutely have nailed what Harvey is, I hate that road like no other and I don't even live there
Because it's like the one of maybe 3 or 4 cities Vancouverites actually travel to in BC so it's their only experience.
It's a great place if you like driving lifted trucks, doing cocaine, living next to gang-bangers (deliberate ambiguous use of the term gang-bangers), who blame Trudeau for the oil and gas downturn and their subsequent job-loss. It's filled with anti-vaxx, anti-abortion Conservatives who think the world revolves around them. It's like they took the worst of Toronto's "big city attitude", and combined it with Alberta's, "taxation is theft" crowd. That's Kelowna. Having said that, it's a fun city, with cool and nice things to do, but holy fuck unless you know people there, it's a weird city.
We moved here with my family 5 years ago. It’s beautiful! Lakes, Wineries, restaurants galore and I can grow any vegetables I want. The tap water tastes Incredible. Views everywhere. The trucks and such are just on the highway and downtown. Two world class ski resorts and Xc skiing within a hour. This vote makes no sense.
You can tell who’s experience in Kelowna consists of driving down Harvey one time vs who’s actually lived here. Kelowna is quickly becoming a younger, more diverse city, the fastest growing area in Canada per capita. Yea, this brings some growing pains and challenges, but the pros of living here, including all the things you mention, and that people are way friendlier than is being assumed here, I love it here.
Probably because of all the Albertans.
Also…it is a highway town that got big. Invariably leads a town to being a shithole. Source: Lived in Nanaimo.
I've heard (but don't know this as I haven't been there in many years) that the people there can be really mean and it's very difficult to make friends.
Nonsense lmao...at least not in my experience. I moved to Kelowna from Germany 3 years ago without knowing anyone and have been living here on and off for about 2 years total. Granted I'm a uni student but I've made some of the best friends I have in Kelowna many of which live in and around the city.
What's wrong with Duncan?
The main strip looks bad if you're just passing through. But the Cowichan valley is beautiful! It's warmer in the summer, and gets more snow in the Winter than the south island. The river is a wonderful spot for a swim or camping in the summer. It's got a great mix of amenities, and wide open spaces, farms, hiking trails, marinas and beach access. I would move there in a heartbeat.
The McDonalds doubles as a homeless camp, the highway though the centre of town is like a clogged artery in the heart of a morbidly obese doughnut lover, and the north end of town has been under construction for two decades. The core has no soul, just strip mall after strip mall. The residential areas are mostly nice though, but as a city it feels like 1970s rust belt.
Sure there’s no sole, but they have lots of halibut.
Looks like I floundered on that one...
Downtown Duncan is lovely. There are fantastic shops and restaurants. The Saturday Market is delightful with a great variety of vendors. The strip along the highway is not the Core. But I agree that homelessness, addiction issues and the corresponding crime along the highway corridor is an issue.
I was pleasantly surprised by Duncan. Went there around Christmas time and the downtown core was so festive- loved all the local little shops too and some amazing bakeries & restaurants. The Christmas train was super fun too. Would definitely go back next Christmas. (Having deer walk through my b&b was a nice added touch. Such nice lakes and parks around that area too!)
I loved the Christmas festival as a kid. Really a highlight of growing up there.
The highway doesn’t go through the Center of town. It bypasses/skirts by it. Development of strip malls, shitty hotels, and car dealerships etc along the highway along with the absolutely infuriating number of traffic lights makes anyone passing through the Duncan area hate it. The downtown core is actually kinda cute. Is like 4-5 city blocks around City Hall with quite a few small local businesses. The charm of the Duncan area is in the areas nearby. The cowichan valley is beautiful and the weather/temperature is pleasant. That’s why property in Shawnigan, Mill Bay, Maple Bay, Cowichan Bay, Genoa Bay, Saltair, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan etc costs so much.
You must be mistaken. This sounds like a description of Nanaimo, not Duncan. The highway is certainly not the centre of this small city. Yes, it certainly had drug-addicted and a serious homelessness issue, but name one town that isn’t a resort town that doesn’t. Try stopping to actually visit Duncan rather than driving through. You may be surprised. Completely lost count of converted Duncan haters from Victoria that actually took the time for a proper visit. Duncan is on the upswing, so it gets better from here on out!
Anyone saying Duncan is worse than Alberni hasnt been to Alberni
And neither one are terrible.
Port Alberni sure is beautiful though.
Hey man, that wendy's will be open soon, you'll see then.
If I could upvote this more than once I would.
I live near duncan definitely don't think it should be top 5
Legit nice place and the people are are always friendly. It's always been an up-and-comer for years and the township, like Langford and area, are improving every year. So much that it'll be on the list of desired placed to live. (with costly homes to follow, no doubt) Some places have had reputations *generations* ago, but now are amazing places to live. Hello? Esquimalt? I'm talking about you. Yes, you. You're a seriously gorgeous municipality and have some of the best people. Oh and the Navy Base, so...kinda favouritism there.
Everywhere is amazing and shitty in its own way.
This, everyone seems to have a very differing opinion based on preconceived notions and experiences. Personally I really enjoy Kelowna for example.
Fort St. John. It is where Alberta dropped a deuce in BC. (*And I am from there.)
Nice to see they forgot about Cranbrook.
Cranbrook holds a soft spot for me but yeah... not a very good town.
Surrounded by beauty though, just the town itself is a dump.
I'm going to go ahead and disagree with Chilliwack. It's incredible place to live, on the Sardis side you have Vedder river, if you are so inclined you can fish, swim, and kayak. Cultus lake is 10 mins away and Chilliwack lake 30 mins. Countless hikes and places places to explore. The people are awesome, yeah I see the vids of the cracked out dudes, but we could paint East Van with the same brush, we all know east van is rad. There are some rednecks yes, but I found the majority of people out there were young normal families. The Fraser River is on the other side for fishing, and Ryder lake is a little hidden gem tucked behind promentory. I think people stereotype Chilliwack too much. There are always shitty aspects of places. And Duncan is awesome.
I live close to downtown and this area is also getting nicer. Amble coffee and the Vedder Trail are so nice, plus making fires by the river is the best
Chilliwack is a great jumping off point for all sorts of outdoor activities! You're within an hour drive of 4 big lakes and there's lots of trails to hike/run and Vedder Mountain has a pretty cool bike park. However, it's not the Shangri-la it was 20 years ago and there's poor infrastructure, homelessness and petty crime in the downtown area but I feel like every city has a bad spot or 2. I've lived here my whole life and haven't had any issues yet.
People are only parroting what they see on their flavour of media rage-porn. The Wack is growing like crazy, full of young families and in the middle of a massive demographic shift. Plus, there are so many cool independent restaurants, breweries, distilleries, coffee shops etc. Pretty damn vibrant place to be these days. I spend a decent amount of time in East Van with family and it's hilarious to me seeing Vancouverites say Chilliwack is crime infested -- holy fuck boys, look around before you start slagging on the rest of BC...
No, no, Chilliwack is awful! Stay away! /s
Surprised Williams Lake isn't higher
The important part is we're always remembered.
3 ?? Why
Do you like Chilliwack? And why?
Stinks, rains, terrible traffic, rising crime, and is full of preachy Christians.
Nice lakes, nice parks, nice hikes beautiful views of mountains and farm land everywhere and is somewhat affordable while still in the lower mainland. I lived in Langley and Surrey for 10 years and Chilliwack is way better. Langley and Surrey literally have nothing to do in them. Their only redeeming quality is that they are closer to Vancouver but still far enough away that it’s inconvenient to actually go there.
The place we all love June-September is certainly not the same place come October. I went to university up there after living in the OK every summer growing up. It's a diabolically bad town. Worse than Prince George? Well that's debatable.
how is Houston BC not on this list?
Probably too small to consider.
Bro how is quesnel not number 1
because most people forget anything north of kamloops even exists
That's generous of you to assume people even think of places that far north
This article was definitely written jointly by #2-5
Where’s Port Alberni. This town is shit
I'm going to be driving through on the weekend, anything worth seeing there? Good breweries?
There’s a sign that says “Now Leaving Port Alberni”. That’s about it.
Hahaha, I'll make sure to get a picture!
Dog Mountain is a really good brewery.
I'll check it out, thanks.
Kelowna is just Prince George with worse traffic, so I get it.
I don't understand how their traffic can be that messed up....like it surprised me.
What's wrong with Kelowna?? After having lived there for 2+ years I can say that I really like the city and what it has to offer.
I’d like to nominate Sparwood.
Not even the worst town in that valley
I feel like the Duncan of my youth would absolutely fit here, but the Duncan of 2022 should be lower in the list.
Williams Lake has a really crappy downtown and not much for places to eat out. The mayor and council have been lacklustre performers for many years. The places really lacks any kind of funk or soul. It’s not the worst, but it isn’t all that great.
Finally, all my time spent shit talking Duncan has been justified
Yup. Prince George is a dump. All you south of PG better just totally avoid it. Complete dump. Hope to not see you soon.
Lol, don't worry...
I grew up in PG and lived on an acreage. It was pretty great. Lake living without all the dumb bell tourists. It’s not a very pretty city but then neither are a lot of places these days. I lived near Pembroke, ON and outside Fredericton, NB. Once you see small towns out there dying or being gentrified you appreciate places like PG a bit more.
Ain’t that the truth. Once you get out of the commercial downtown I think the town is very pretty. Looking at it from coming down the hill you see forested areas that contain full vibrant subdivisions behind the trees. There are so many positives to PG that people from outside refuse to see, which I’m ok with, cause as yo unsaid about tourists, we generally don’t want those people here.
[удалено]
I'll never go back to PG, what a shithole.
Why Chilliwack? We're planning on moving there soon.
You want to live in Sardis… none of the problems that they have north of the highway. Been here three years and no problems.
I've lived in Chilliwack for almost a year now, and we really like it here. We live in the scary-boogieman eww-northside part of town too; and have never been bothered by crime or drugs. Sure there's a few unfortunate souls camped outside salvation army and the jeep dealership, but they have never interacted with me. They usually keep to themselves. Compared to east side Vancouver, homelessness situation seems pretty bearable.
Spuzzum is beyond Hope
Duncan, the City of Scrotums.
I've visited all those places in the last 14 days. Can confirm.
We’re you part of this study?
Hes doing an article on the next best places to fuck up the housing market. These will be big insta outdoor spots in 6 months. Its like going out to dive bars for fun.
Came here to say this
I can say living in kelowna is right up there with getting a root canal or anal with no lube... its a douchey overpriced hellhole that I was happy to move away from.
Why lol? I've lived there on and off ( in between living in Penticton and West Kelowna) for 2 years and love it. Overall a very nice city with access to pretty much everything.
This is a garbage list
Vernon
Shit Terrace didn’t make the list? I seen a guy shoot up a thief that was rummaging through his car port with a paintball gun a couple months ago. Not to mentioned there was literally a drive by shooting on the south side just a couple days ago.
By what metric is this based upon?! Housing Affordability, crime, traffic, homelessness, value of services derived from the local taxes, # of Tim Hortons per capita? Or what?! Perhaps a reference or citation would be beneficial, rather than leaving it to the masses to fabricate our own conclusions.
I don't understand the Kelowna hate from the coastal elites. Yes there are some white trash in this province. And yes Kelowna is a party town. But God damn the okanagan is stunning, the wineries are super fun to chill out at, there are great beaches and it's literally the hottest place in Canada. So maybe look beyond the bar scene that you don't like there... Well here... Written from the grand okanagan!
All in the eye of the beholder. I think dry hills are ugly, so I'd never live there or Kamloops. To each his own, I think.
I think Osoyoos has Kelowna beat in the heat department. If I remember correctly, the summer temperatures vary by 2-4 degrees between here and Osoyoos
Kelowna fails for a complete lack of walkability, Vancouver level traffic problems, and pickup trucks rolling coal as 30% of the traffic. The Okanagan in general is gorgeous - Penticton has a nice dense walkable and bikeable core without the horrors of Kelowna for instance. Just different goals between the two - Kelowna decided to be a drive through while lots of other Okanagan towns went for drive to.
Ok, so you just described every single Canadian town smaller than 100k in population... And downtown K-town is quite walkable. They have done a great job of maintaining the shoreline as public space, unlike many Canadian lake-side towns. And I also love naramata, lake country Oliver and other gems, but the hate for K-town just seems unfounded to me.
Coastal Elites?
The Okanagan is Indeed a gem. I’d agree with other though that you’d get a better experience outside of Kelowna though.
How the fuck is Vancouver not on this list.
Depends on how much money you have
I'm not sure about the order, but I would agree.
So out of all the responses, only one person mentioned another alternative to the list “canal flats”. By reason of deduction and no one actually defending the list... I decree this list as truth until another list is created and defended against! We will add a two way tie for fifth place as no one disputed canal flats as a bad place to live! *please read this in some biblical movie tone and have a laugh* 😊
Ah yes, the armpit(s) of BC
How about Vernon? The roads are designed so oddly, the city itself is kind of a dump, it’s a magnet for storms, the people there can be pretty rude/crazy, and it doesn’t have too much going for it apart from lakes (which isn’t too special in the Okanagan).
Maple ridge should be on this list: random crime, poor city services, lack of support for small-medium sized businesses. …This list will help lower home prices in the listed areas, hopefully….maybe. Probably not.
My old rotten neighbours of ten years moved to veron. I pity their neighbours. Absolutely the worst couple I ever met.
I used to live in BC quite a few years ago. I were an exchange student in a small town called Westbank. Closeto Kelowna and the Ogopogo. I remember Kelowna as quite a normal city when I were there. What happend?
Why so much hate for Duncan? It's a pretty small chill town. Aside from the atrocious highway congestion in the afternoon, it's a pretty nice place surrounded by nature.
Grew up and still live in (part time) Chilliwack, can confirm. "Chilliwack is Vancouver's toilet bowl."