Relocate
Relocating to Calgary
Moving to Calgary from elsewhere in Canada or abroad — how to choose an area before you arrive.
Start with the commute
Calgary is laid out in quadrants and the difference between a fifteen-minute and a fifty-minute commute is usually which side of the city you land on. Pick the area around where you will actually work.
Then the housing type
Inner-city communities skew older and denser; the outer ring skews newer and larger. Both have their case.
Then visit
If you can, spend a weekend here before committing. I can put together a driving route through the three or four communities that best match what you have described.
Reading a Calgary address
The city has four quadrants — NW, NE, SW and SE. Centre Street is the east–west dividing line, and the Bow River corridor roughly splits north from south. Always check the quadrant: 17 Avenue SW and 17 Avenue SE are on opposite sides of downtown.
Roads and transit
Deerfoot Trail is the main north–south route, Glenmore and Crowchild Trails carry a lot of cross-town traffic, and Stoney Trail circles the edge of the city. On the CTrain, the Red Line links the northwest with the far south, and the Blue Line links the northeast with the west, meeting downtown. The airport sits in the northeast.
School boards
Calgary has a public board (CBE), a Catholic board (CCSD), francophone schools, and a range of charter and private schools. I can show you which ones serve a given address — start with the school pages.
Climate
Expect sunny, cold winters with chinooks that can lift the temperature fast, and warm, short summers with occasional hail. Most drivers here run winter tires.
Day trips
Banff and the mountains are about ninety minutes west. If you would rather live just outside the city, look at Airdrie or Cochrane.