Overview
- Numbeo’s 2026 index places Ottawa first in Canada and North America, assigning an overall score of 198.1 and ranking the city 28th globally among 304 cities.
- Mayor Mark Sutcliffe promoted the result on X, calling Ottawa the most livable city in North America and sharing a link to a CIC News blog post.
- PressProgress reports the ranking comes from Serbia-based Numbeo, which relies on user-submitted data and carries a disclaimer that its content may not be expert-reviewed.
- Fact-checkers and researchers have criticized Numbeo’s methodology, noting prior misuse of its crime figures and demonstrations of how its data can be manipulated.
- PressProgress highlights Ottawa’s documented housing crisis and increased food insecurity and notes Sutcliffe’s office offered no substantive statement, with a spokesperson saying they were unfamiliar with Numbeo or its accuracy; separate coverage shows Vancouver at 87th with a score of 180.7 and a long-term decline in the index.