Areas in Edmonton Canada?

Question

My husband has been offered a job in Edmonton and we are a little unsure of the area, we were looking at Calgary before and did all our research in that area. Does anyone know whats the best place to live and bring up a small family? thanks

Answer 1

I love the south end. It is more of a family community in the south, particularly in Heritage and in Riverbend area. My all time favorite areas are in Bearspaw neighbourhood and in Terwilligar (both located in Heritage and Riverbend, respectively). They are not very central though, so depending on where you are working, there may be a bit of a commute to work. Also, you'll probably find this area is more expensive.

Areas to stay away from I would say are areas in the northend, particularly Clairview. Millwoods can be nice, but the further east and further south you go, the nicer the area.

If your looking for a more central location Boonie Doon is an ok neighbourhood, and the prices are modest.

Also, I love Sherwood Park. It's only 10 minutes away from Edmonton and the community is amazing! You can escape the city life but still be conviently not too far away from Edmonton. Also, very expensive to live here though. I was raised here, and it was an amazing town to grow up in.

If you have a chance, could you add a detail on where you are moving from? Just curious...

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

The first thing you'll become aware of is the shortage of apartments for rent. Those you do find will top the $1000 mark for a 2 bedroom in a decent neighbourhood. While there are lots of houses on the market right now for sale you can still expect to pay in the range of $350,000 for one. Even though the market has kind of levelled off don't expect to get an really awesome deals.

As to where you want want to look and places you may want to stay away from.

You may want to stay from the Chinatown, Boyle, MaCauley areas - what's called the Inner city area even though gradually the area is being cleaned and newer and retrofit condos are moving in. I also wouldn't recommend any of the areas bordered by 137Ave to 111 Ave and 110 St to 34 St (East side) it consists of gangs, prostitutes and you certainly wouldn't bring your family into this area. There are of course many NE communities that are safer than others but generalizing the entire area - many people would prefer to stay away from there.

Families would do well to make the Southeast a home - an older area with homes geared to the middle class - lots of schools and community recreational centers and shopping centers especially around the Bonnie Doon. to Capilano areas. The southwest area though generally called a "great" area is getting to be beyond the middle class worker's reach with the home prices skyrocketing. Millwoods though having something of a reputation does have areas that are generally not bad. Millwoods is very multicultural both in community groups and shopping. The west side of the city is very busy but is saturated with apts, strip malls and of course West Edmonton mall. Again you'll need to search to find something whether it's an apartment or a house in an affordable range.

You might even want to consider some of what are called "bedroom communities" smaller towns almost attached to Edmonton (within 10 - 15 minutes) but are their own municipalities. Ones to consider might be Sherwood Park to the east, St. Albert to the northwest or Beaumont to the southeast - little higher tax base and real estate values but still have that smaller town feel and a safer feeling. They also don't have as many rental units therefore finding one might take a bit of more energy and extra cash for them. Houses in these areas also tend to be a little more expensive than many areas of the city itself.

St. Albert and Sherwood Park both have all the amenties that the city has to offer - shopping, transit, libraires,etc. Beaumont is the smallest of the three and though growing doesn't yet have all the same amenties but is so close to Millwoods and South Commons it's not much of an inconvience.

You can go a little further to Spruce Grove, Stony Plain (both to the west of the city) or even Fort Saskachewan (northeast of the city) which are in the 20 - 30 minute drive range depending on which part of the city you need to get to. Houses prices are just a little more reasonable though not by much. Again all three have all the amenties that you would find in the city pretty much. Nice communities if you don't want the actual city life. You will need a vehicle to get to the city from these.

If you're planning on purchasing a home do your research - grill the Realtor about the area's safety or better yet call the police station and ask them about the crime rate in that area - that's what I did. Ask at the convenience stores and gas stations about the safety issue as they are the ones who usually get "hit".

You've probably done some research on Edmonton already to know that it has tons and tons of green spaces and trails around the city.

Here are some websites that might be of interst to you.

A good way to get to know the city is by reading the local newspapers so here are a few.

Edmonton > www.edmontonjournal.com http://www.edmontonexaminer.com/marketpl...

Spruce Grove > http://www.sprucegroveexaminer.com/

Stony Plain > http://www.stonyplainreporter.com/

Sherwood Park > http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/

Fort Saskachewan > http://www.fortsaskatchewanrecord.com/

St. Albertt > http://saintcitynews.advancedpublishing....

Some websites you may find intersting for Edmonton - offical city webiste has everything you'll need to know from garbage collection to permits, to transit to parks, etc

http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt?...

Looking for information regarding how the different communites and their crime rate.

http://www.police.edmonton.ab.ca/Pages/C...

Edmonton School District:

http://districtsite.epsb.ca/root/alpha-s...

By doing enough research before you should be able to make an informed decision as to where you want to live.

Hopefully these will be of help to you

Answer 3

The City of Edmonton has various communities that range in size, the largest being Millwoods which is home to approximately 90,000 people which is built up of sub communities. I recommend avoiding certain areas on the West End, or north end and downtown areas.  There are a lot of wonderful communities that have sprung up in Edmonton's SW Quadrant such as Summerside over the past few years,  Not to mention all the surrounding towns such as Beaumont, Leduc, Sherwood Park, St. Alberta, Fort Saskatchewan, etc.

Millwoods is very family oriented with many schools, and amenities, with a Shopping centre (Millwoods Town Centre) right in the middle of it all, and another one just to the West (South Edmonton Common)  I was raised in Millwoods and I am raising my family in Millwoods as well because it's convenient for where myself and my wife work, and not to mention we're near lots of park areas too.

If you provide more details as to where you or your husband will be employed I'd be happy to edit my response to give you a great example of where you might want to look at living.  I'd never recommend you living in Claireview if you were working at a place near West Edmonton Mall.

*I'm a born and raised Edmontonian, if anyone on Yahoo Answers knows this city, i'm one of them*