Kelowna has been ranked the second-best small city in Canada by Resonance Consultancy, a multinational advisory company that specializes in real estate, tourism and economic development.
The Okanagan centre trails only the province乌鸦传媒檚 capital, Victoria, which came in first.
For the purposes of the rankings, a small city was described as one that had a metropolitan population of less than 200,000.
The scoring was based on 32 factors which were placed into one of six core categories 乌鸦传媒� place, product, programming, people, prosperity, and promotion.
乌鸦传媒淧lace乌鸦传媒� evaluated the city乌鸦传媒檚 physical characteristics including weather, traffic, and air quality; 乌鸦传媒減roduct乌鸦传媒� looked at institutions and infrastructure such as bike paths and education systems; 乌鸦传媒減rogramming乌鸦传媒� surveyed entertainment and dining across a variety of target markets; 乌鸦传媒減eople乌鸦传媒� accounted for the population and demographics taking note of factors such as diversity and educational attainment; 乌鸦传媒減rosperity乌鸦传媒� considered household income levels and inequality, employment statistics, and poverty rates; lastly, 乌鸦传媒減romotion乌鸦传媒� was based on how people engaged with the city on the internet.
The city was celebrated for its opportunities, shopping, and affordability.
乌鸦传媒淧eople are coming to a hometown knowing that they won乌鸦传媒檛 just be able to buy anything they need, they乌鸦传媒檒l also have plenty of new finds to explore,乌鸦传媒� read Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 ranking.
Unlike Victoria, Kelowna did not finish first in any of the core categories (or any of the subcategories for that matter), however, its consistency across multiple subcategories is where Kelowna got its strength.
The city finished second in the core category of programming, second in the subcategories of self-employment and shopping, fourth in nightlife, and fifth in growth rate.
According to the city, there are nearly 4,000 residential units that are either currently under construction or due to be built soon in the downtown core.
Kelowna has also been attractive to tech companies which have 乌鸦传媒渟eeded an ecosystem for startups that has since produced successful job engines like FreshGrade and Hyper Hippo.乌鸦传媒�
The capital, meanwhile, was revered for its mild temperatures and diverse geography which allows its residents to 乌鸦传媒渟urf, mountain bike, and put in eight hours at the office all in one day.乌鸦传媒�
It was ranked first in the 乌鸦传媒減rogramming乌鸦传媒� category and second in the 乌鸦传媒減lace乌鸦传媒� category, acknowledging its range of activities as well as its unique geography.
The COVID-19 pandemic lent itself to Victoria乌鸦传媒檚 advantage, as many of the city乌鸦传媒檚 strongest features became even more important to its residents when pandemic restrictions were put in place.
The rankings described Victoria as 乌鸦传媒渟eemingly engineered for the post-pandemic, seize-the-day, work-from-home lifestyle.乌鸦传媒�
For all of its strengths, Victoria was recognized as having a high cost of living and it was highlighted that the population skews older than other cities.
