EDMONTON, Sept. 12, 2025 — New national rental data shows Calgary and Edmonton among Canada’s more affordable big-city markets, a result politicians in Alberta have seized on even as housing experts urge caution about what the numbers mean for everyday renters.
A chart circulated by the provincial government and based on Rentals.ca data puts Edmonton’s average asking rent for apartments and condos at about $1,585 and Calgary’s at roughly $1,911 for August, well below Toronto and Vancouver, which sit at about $2,606 and $2,820 respectively. Those figures come amid a longer slide in asking rents across the country.
“Not only do Albertans have the best average take home paycheques in the country, but Calgary and Edmonton continue to lead on rental affordability and help renters take their money further,” the province’s premier wrote on social media this week, sharing the graphic.
The gap between the priciest and most affordable large markets is striking. Vancouver’s average asking rent is about $909 higher than Calgary’s, an increase of roughly 48 percent, and about $1,235 higher than Edmonton’s, or about 78 percent. Calgary’s average rent is about $326, or 21 percent, above Edmonton’s. Those comparisons are drawn from the city-level averages in the Rentals.ca dataset.
Part of the story is simple geography and market pressure. Big coastal markets, especially Vancouver and Toronto, carried the highest asking rents through the pandemic and remain well above prairie and smaller urban centres. At the same time, asking rents in several large cities have eased recently. Rentals.ca and other market trackers say average asking rents in Canada have fallen month over month and registered a streak of year-over-year declines this summer.
Analysts point to rising supply and softer demand as the main factors behind recent falls. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s mid-year rental market update found that newly completed rental units and growing listings have put downward pressure on advertised rents in several major census metropolitan areas, including Calgary and Edmonton. That rise in supply has helped push advertised rents lower from the peaks seen in 2022 and 2023.
The wage argument is important to the provincial narrative. Alberta’s government dashboard shows the province with one of the highest average weekly earnings in mid-2025, reporting roughly $1,372 in June, a figure above the national average. That boosts the province’s case that rents and take-home pay together make Alberta comparatively affordable for many households.
But researchers and labour groups say that headline numbers hide important qualifications. Measures of wages vary by source and by whether they show means or medians, and whether they include overtime and high-earning sectors. Some analysts have noted that Alberta’s advantage in average wages has narrowed in recent years, and that median incomes and cost-of-living pressures tell a more complicated story about who benefits. Advocates also note that a city-level average covers wide differences by neighbourhood, household type, and tenure.
Reporters and policy analysts also caution that the Rentals.ca figures are asking rents for advertised units, not the same metric used by CMHC to measure the rent paid by the average household. Rentals.ca’s dataset includes secondary-market listings such as condos and houses for rent, which can push its average above CMHC’s household-based measure. That methodological difference matters when officials use a single chart to claim broad affordability gains.
For tenants hunting apartments, the immediate effect can be significant. In cities where asking rents have fallen and vacancy has trended up, prospective renters may find more choice and short-term incentives. At the same time, the long-term picture depends on whether new rental supply continues to arrive, whether migration and household formation increase demand, and how incomes move relative to prices.
For prospective movers and renters, the arithmetic is plain. In August market conditions, renting in Calgary or Edmonton would save an average tenant several hundred dollars a month compared with Toronto or Vancouver. For some households, that difference can change whether a city is affordable, or out of reach.
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