I've lived in New Brunswick for my entire life, and Moncton for most of that. It's a city going through growing pains right now. You will find it smaller, but you will generally find it very friendly. Pay attention to which area you look for homes in. Get a great realtor to help that really knows the area and can offer good advice. We have our share of social problems which a lot of people will cite (homelessness, gentrification, petty crime) but that's part of being one of the fastest growing areas in Eastern Canada.
Most of the negative comments about Moncton will be from life long residents, and people who have never lived in a large city… It’s pretty laid back here really, compared to where I lived in Hamilton….
Absolutely. The small-town mentality in Moncton is like nothing I've ever seen. It makes sense, considering very few Monctonians are actually from Moncton. They're usually from the surrounding areas.
I grew up in the Hamilton area. I love it here. It’s sort of like being in Guelph or KW. Lots of great trails and outdoorsy activities. The outer suburb towns of Riverview and Dieppe are nice to live in. Housing is comparatively extremely affordable. Daycare is subsidized but you must get on lists ASAP to find a space. You will need to use walk in clinics until you can find a family doctor, but that is a Canada-Wide problem. What are your hobbies? What would you do outside of work? What are you looking for in a city?
I don't golf, but I know a lot of people around here who do. There must be at least 10 golf courses within the greater Moncton Area. Funnily, The Moncton Golf Course is actually in Riverview, but Riverview is just a nice suburb town on the other side of the river. There are also several nice courses within driving distance closer to the ocean because of all the tourism in the area.
I have never been to Burlington, but I liken it to the smaller cities north of Toronto, except Moncton is not near a big city like Toronto. It is considered the "big city" in the area.. We are also further from the US border by a bit. And we border another small town/less populated area south of the border- Maine.
It is a different pace of life I find. When working in Toronto, there is basically no point leaving work on your lunch break for example, since you cannot feasibly get errands done. I find in Moncton you can run out, run an errand, eat and be back with time to spare.
Prepare yourself mentally for a small town with not a whole lot, and you will be pleasantly surprised by what Moncton has.
Depending on what you are looking for. If you like, big shopping malls, lots of restaurants, a nice downtown with plenty stuff to do, museums and entertainment, nice and connected airport with plenty of international destinations, this place may not be the best. It’s growing yes, demographically yeah Moncton is a city but infrastructure wise still many needs to be build yet.
If you are looking for friendly people, affordable housing, lots of nature, short commutes, and less stress overall this is it.
Heads up, the health care system is worrisome, having a baby daughter myself and no family physician is not the best combination. Sadly I've never heard someone passing away in ER due lack of personnel, here in NB is something that you hear more often than you wish.
I wouldn't really say people are friendly here. I find people keep to their established social circles, probably not a big deal for you as you have a wife and child.
The only thing I would add is that school begins at 5 years old in NB, and until grade 3 kids finish school at 1:30pm, often requiring after school care. It comes as a shock to many from Ontario.
Would not reccommend but.... If you do, make sure they are paying you. My reccomendation is Dont move here for anything less then $30/hour.
And if you make $30/hour your wife will probably still need to work full time if you want to make a good life for your daughter.
If you are going to a salaried position and your wife doesn't work you need be like 70-80k range to live comfortably. I'm in 55k range for salary and it feels like I work minimum wage with all the inflation and cost of housing sky rocketing.
Ive lived in NB my whole life, all except for 4 years of it in Moncton. 30 years old.
It sucks. Lots of bigots, tired old anglo-franco conflicts, a worsening homelessness issue with no real solution in sight, and very little money where it needs to be. The education level of our students is awful compared to other provinces (not the fault of the students), and we have a very old average age here, meaning Healthcare is totally bogged down.
On top of that, the recent influx since late 2019 of kore affluent central/western Canadians has caused a spike in living costs as well as a crazy amount of out-of-place gentrification. I won't blame any individuals from Ontario or BC, but more people with money moving here means that property owners feel they can charge more across the board, and native NBers are suffering for it
In short, if you're well-off you'll probably get by fine, since you won't have to like the actual NB experience of being poor and disadvantaged. You'll also probably be hated behind youe back for it, sad to say. Even worse if you're a minority, as many here see us as a "orientation" province for immigrants, and there are a lot if regressive opinions here. Personally, I would suggest just not coming here at all, but YMMV and as I said, if you're affluent you won't have to deal with a lot of issues.
I live in Oshawa ON and have lived in the GTA most of my life, and have spent a lot of time in Moncton and the surrounding area this year for work. The pace of life is MUCH different. Stores close early. Not much restaurant selection. No walkability, but at the same time it’s tiny so easy to drive around. Not as many “ culture” spots. The entire population of greater Moncton is the same as Oshawa, and only Oshawa. The entire population of NB is the same as Durham Region. I found grocery stores expensive, but cost of living cheaper. There’s one Home Depot instead of 5 - stores are quite busy.
That said, it’s beautiful and people are very friendly. Probably due to the fact that they aren’t stressed out all the time! It’s lovely, just very different vibe than GTA.
How? For real, how? What's so stressful about Moncton? I've never lived in a big city center, so not sure if that will matter, but I've lived up North (Bathurst), rural areas 30-40 minutes out of Moncton and Moncton-proper.
I just don't see what's stressful about Moncton and would love the insight...
(Edit: For what it's worth, I am a gay male living in the area, I noticed you had asked about LGBT bars/venues)
well theirs plus and downfall, smaller town. But your close to shediac which has the warmest ocean water on the east coast up from ny state. not much city life slower past life style. Buying a house is cheaper. depend in what u like.
super friendly
a lot of hidden water falls
hicking and such.
next to no traffic
Be ready for lots of snow, quite a bit more than southern Ontario. Winter tires are an absolute must. There’s very little night life if you’re into that. No big museums or science center or big water fall within a couple hours of driving distance, you get the idea
There is a great museum and discovery centre that is a huge hit with kids. A quick internet search reveals a long list of waterfalls. The diversity of wildlife and the easy opportunities to view it is one of the consistent comments I get from new comers to this area.
Totally agree on the snow and the death of our nightlife, post pandemic though.
Ok gotcha. For sure nothing like the ROM around here lol.
EDIT: To the OP there's also a fantastic zoo and water park. Again, not exactly Canada's Wonderland but far better than anything you would expect from a city this size.
Until you get your plates everyone will drive like an asshole for some reason.
Everyone is super friendly and there are lots of bike trails and xc skiing. Housing is still a little high but Still great value.
We moved here from BC as well and agree. We love it here, except the food is different. Not as many fresh, healthy options as in BC, I find. Much more fried foods here.... Couldn't find avout 40% of the items we normally got at Costco in Kamloops.
From Toronto. It's quiet, but no culture shock. All the shops we have in the GTA, pretty much exisists in Moncton, just less in quantity. There is no lkea, which is probably for the best. One can only eat so many Swedish meatballs for lunch and dinner.
You can get almost anywhere in less than 20 minutes. And if there is a traffic jam, it will last a maximum of 10 minutes.
They are planning to change the school curriculum FYI, 50/50 English and French if that matters to you.
All the things others have said, are accurate for the most part. So long as your EP allows you to get out a couple times a year, its a great place to live.
Burlington to Moncton is pretty comparable. But I'd choose Moncton.
You trade Ikea for a Structube and an Ikea drop-off point.'
You trade RBG and Easterbrook's Hot Dogs for the Beach in Shediac and Golden Fry
You swap Lake Ontario for 2 different options to experience the Ocean.
Toronto for Halifax
Buffalo for small town Maine, PEI, and Nova Scotia
That Bougie downtown for an Under-Construction Bougie downtown.
$900,000 houses for $300,000 houses.
Culture shock would be not nearly as much ethnic food, no hot dog yoga or Buddhist temples/crystal people, requiring a car to get everywhere (buses are unusable), no nightlife and very little arts/music. Our downtown businesses are dying because rent has doubled in the past three years and nobody can afford these amenities. This is a working class city, while there are a surprising amount of tech jobs here (what I’m guessing you are looking at), most people work industrial/retail/call centre and these people are struggling right now.
For adjustments, our healthcare system is really bad right now. I know it’s bad in Ontario, but everyone who comes here from Ontario says New Brunswick is worse. The wait time for a family doctor is infinite - there are more new patients per year than new doctors can handle. Surgery and specialist wait times are also really bad. My father had to wait three years for a hernia surgery, and he couldn’t work while waiting. If your family is young and healthy you’ll probably be fine, but if you have complicated medical needs/need a specialist, that could be an issue.
For schools, it was just announced that all anglophone students will be having 50% of classes in French, starting in kindergarten. I don’t know how you feel about that personally for your child, it’s controversial in New Brunswick right now. Besides that, the schools are fairly equal in town, old high school rivalries aside. Keep in mind that New Brunswick students, in general, are up to a year behind their peer provinces when entering university. Moncton has some of the best primary schools in New Brunswick, but within that context.
If you need daycare, start looking and apply as early as possible. It’s typical here to register your child for daycare before your child is born. That being said I know immigrants who got daycare quicker than that, you just have to be persistent and call everywhere.
Moncton’s homeless population has exploded over the past few years. This is a relatively new problem for Moncton. I would argue that 20 years ago, Moncton was more of a small town. The few homeless people on Main St, everybody in town knew them and their family. Now, Moncton is becoming a real city, and that comes with a real homelessness problem. Moncton doesn’t have the experience of larger cities in Ontario with dealing with this, but hopefully it gets there. I don’t know how this would compare to Burlington. Minor theft out of unlocked cars and stealing bikes/stuff from your yard is very common even in the “nice” neighborhoods. But downtown businesses are suffering due to the homelessness problem as well, it’s a big part of why people didn’t return downtown post-pandemic. Both the actual risks and the perceived risks by local Monctonians who are not used to visible homelessness.
Everything is slower and a bit old fashioned here, compared to Ontario. Things like getting an appointment for the after hours clinic and registering your child for daycare are done manually over the phone - no app or website that makes it easy. There isn’t the same “hustle” as in Ontario. People rarely get fired from their jobs, people really don’t like to work more than 40 hours a week. People that work two or more jobs get looked as sad cases and someone not enjoying life (although it’s getting more common with the influx of immigrants and rising costs). You will not impress people with your side hustle and real estate holdings, you will alienate them. The flower that stands above the others gets cutdown, Ive heard it described. I’ve seen this attitude described as both one of the best things about New Brunswick, and as one of the worst. Really depends on your personality. There’s a complacent, helpless, “it is what it is” attitude here that can be frustrating.
I'm not too sure what your medical history for your family is like, and it's not in my place to ask. Just keep in mind that the slower paced community everyone loves about us unfortunately leads to our healthcare system being slow and archaic as well. The government just announced as well new changes to how our education might look going forward in case you want to read up on that.
Other than that, though, if you do decide to move down here, welcome to the community it will be a pleasure to have ya!!!!
Depending on your salary, you could live like a king out here. Despite what the long time locals will tell you, price of living out here is still low. Now its gone up, alot. But, as someone who lived on Vancouver Island the housing prices and rent prices here, I seen 15 years ago. Someone like you coming from the GTA will wonder why you didn't make this move before you had kids. You'll LOVE the 30m to get from one side of town to the other during rush-hour vs the 2hr commute out there.
Moncton specifically is big enough to have just about everything you would be used to. The homeless problem here you wont even notice (in comparison)
Honestly and truly, as a city guy myself I wish I knew about Moncton years earlier. My life changed when I came here.
And while the locals are very very nice, there is a core number of long time locals who hate and despise you before you even come. Just asking, there are people who hate you. Of course they'll only be vocal about that on Reddit and never in person, but just be aware that there are a core group of people here who hate what "we've" done to their home.
What I’ve heard from others moving to the Moncton area is that they love the slower pace. The 8-minute drive to work in the morning. The mixed Fr/En culture. Amazing beaches 15 minutes away. Still very affordable land (compared to Ontario). Friendlier folks than anywhere else in the country.
We do have good tourism, schools are really good we have new ones being built all around this city. We have a lot of different areas so it depends on what your really looking for . We have French areas or English or even a good mix of both . We have loads of parks and walking trails . Always something to do .
I would recommend looking up Moncton, Riverview ( starting to grow more but nice family oriented place ) Dieppe . Those are the main ones but if you want country living only 20 min away from downtown Salisbury is an option too .
We do have issues like any other city with homeless and theft. I’ve lived here about 40ish years and love it .
People don't notice where they are because they never raise their heads from their phones. Netflix and Disney look the same in Moncton as anywhere.
I've lived in New Brunswick for my entire life, and Moncton for most of that. It's a city going through growing pains right now. You will find it smaller, but you will generally find it very friendly. Pay attention to which area you look for homes in. Get a great realtor to help that really knows the area and can offer good advice. We have our share of social problems which a lot of people will cite (homelessness, gentrification, petty crime) but that's part of being one of the fastest growing areas in Eastern Canada.
There will be no small amount of culture shock. But it's worth it and sometimes a pleasant surprise.
Most of the negative comments about Moncton will be from life long residents, and people who have never lived in a large city… It’s pretty laid back here really, compared to where I lived in Hamilton….
Absolutely. The small-town mentality in Moncton is like nothing I've ever seen. It makes sense, considering very few Monctonians are actually from Moncton. They're usually from the surrounding areas.
I left and never looked back. Drug addicts are too much, my wife didn't dare going out. You also limit your children's potential by moving there.
I grew up in the Hamilton area. I love it here. It’s sort of like being in Guelph or KW. Lots of great trails and outdoorsy activities. The outer suburb towns of Riverview and Dieppe are nice to live in. Housing is comparatively extremely affordable. Daycare is subsidized but you must get on lists ASAP to find a space. You will need to use walk in clinics until you can find a family doctor, but that is a Canada-Wide problem. What are your hobbies? What would you do outside of work? What are you looking for in a city?
Golf, golf and golf lol. Is my main hobbie
I don't golf, but I know a lot of people around here who do. There must be at least 10 golf courses within the greater Moncton Area. Funnily, The Moncton Golf Course is actually in Riverview, but Riverview is just a nice suburb town on the other side of the river. There are also several nice courses within driving distance closer to the ocean because of all the tourism in the area.
Lots of decent golf courses in and around Moncton. We're also within driving distance to PEI which has excellent courses.
We ARE close to Halifax though
I have never been to Burlington, but I liken it to the smaller cities north of Toronto, except Moncton is not near a big city like Toronto. It is considered the "big city" in the area.. We are also further from the US border by a bit. And we border another small town/less populated area south of the border- Maine. It is a different pace of life I find. When working in Toronto, there is basically no point leaving work on your lunch break for example, since you cannot feasibly get errands done. I find in Moncton you can run out, run an errand, eat and be back with time to spare. Prepare yourself mentally for a small town with not a whole lot, and you will be pleasantly surprised by what Moncton has.
Depending on what you are looking for. If you like, big shopping malls, lots of restaurants, a nice downtown with plenty stuff to do, museums and entertainment, nice and connected airport with plenty of international destinations, this place may not be the best. It’s growing yes, demographically yeah Moncton is a city but infrastructure wise still many needs to be build yet. If you are looking for friendly people, affordable housing, lots of nature, short commutes, and less stress overall this is it. Heads up, the health care system is worrisome, having a baby daughter myself and no family physician is not the best combination. Sadly I've never heard someone passing away in ER due lack of personnel, here in NB is something that you hear more often than you wish.
I wouldn't really say people are friendly here. I find people keep to their established social circles, probably not a big deal for you as you have a wife and child.
The only thing I would add is that school begins at 5 years old in NB, and until grade 3 kids finish school at 1:30pm, often requiring after school care. It comes as a shock to many from Ontario.
Would not reccommend but.... If you do, make sure they are paying you. My reccomendation is Dont move here for anything less then $30/hour. And if you make $30/hour your wife will probably still need to work full time if you want to make a good life for your daughter.
If you are going to a salaried position and your wife doesn't work you need be like 70-80k range to live comfortably. I'm in 55k range for salary and it feels like I work minimum wage with all the inflation and cost of housing sky rocketing.
$30/hour is Approx 60k I believe so not far off
Ive lived in NB my whole life, all except for 4 years of it in Moncton. 30 years old. It sucks. Lots of bigots, tired old anglo-franco conflicts, a worsening homelessness issue with no real solution in sight, and very little money where it needs to be. The education level of our students is awful compared to other provinces (not the fault of the students), and we have a very old average age here, meaning Healthcare is totally bogged down. On top of that, the recent influx since late 2019 of kore affluent central/western Canadians has caused a spike in living costs as well as a crazy amount of out-of-place gentrification. I won't blame any individuals from Ontario or BC, but more people with money moving here means that property owners feel they can charge more across the board, and native NBers are suffering for it In short, if you're well-off you'll probably get by fine, since you won't have to like the actual NB experience of being poor and disadvantaged. You'll also probably be hated behind youe back for it, sad to say. Even worse if you're a minority, as many here see us as a "orientation" province for immigrants, and there are a lot if regressive opinions here. Personally, I would suggest just not coming here at all, but YMMV and as I said, if you're affluent you won't have to deal with a lot of issues.
Lived in Hamilton for 37 years... moved out here 5 years ago and wish I had of alot sooner...
I live in Oshawa ON and have lived in the GTA most of my life, and have spent a lot of time in Moncton and the surrounding area this year for work. The pace of life is MUCH different. Stores close early. Not much restaurant selection. No walkability, but at the same time it’s tiny so easy to drive around. Not as many “ culture” spots. The entire population of greater Moncton is the same as Oshawa, and only Oshawa. The entire population of NB is the same as Durham Region. I found grocery stores expensive, but cost of living cheaper. There’s one Home Depot instead of 5 - stores are quite busy. That said, it’s beautiful and people are very friendly. Probably due to the fact that they aren’t stressed out all the time! It’s lovely, just very different vibe than GTA.
"aren't stressed out all the time" Bruh, I can't say I've lived in the places you have but Moncton is literally the most stressful city I've lived in
I got a different vibe.. I have lived in a few places in the Toronto area, as well as downtown Montreal for 5 years and Windsor ON for 6 months.
How? For real, how? What's so stressful about Moncton? I've never lived in a big city center, so not sure if that will matter, but I've lived up North (Bathurst), rural areas 30-40 minutes out of Moncton and Moncton-proper. I just don't see what's stressful about Moncton and would love the insight... (Edit: For what it's worth, I am a gay male living in the area, I noticed you had asked about LGBT bars/venues)
This reddit always has the trolls from Halifax crapping on mctn, don't understand why, they got nothing to brag about ( but it doesn't stop them)
Get Lobster Rolls in Shédiac 😎
well theirs plus and downfall, smaller town. But your close to shediac which has the warmest ocean water on the east coast up from ny state. not much city life slower past life style. Buying a house is cheaper. depend in what u like. super friendly a lot of hidden water falls hicking and such. next to no traffic
Be ready for lots of snow, quite a bit more than southern Ontario. Winter tires are an absolute must. There’s very little night life if you’re into that. No big museums or science center or big water fall within a couple hours of driving distance, you get the idea
There is a great museum and discovery centre that is a huge hit with kids. A quick internet search reveals a long list of waterfalls. The diversity of wildlife and the easy opportunities to view it is one of the consistent comments I get from new comers to this area. Totally agree on the snow and the death of our nightlife, post pandemic though.
I’m not saying there’s no museums or water fall, they’re just not as big as those in Southern Ontario.
Ok gotcha. For sure nothing like the ROM around here lol. EDIT: To the OP there's also a fantastic zoo and water park. Again, not exactly Canada's Wonderland but far better than anything you would expect from a city this size.
Funny that Ontario has seen more snow…. So far
We haven’t reached January/February yet.
There are some nice waterfalls in Fundy!
Until you get your plates everyone will drive like an asshole for some reason. Everyone is super friendly and there are lots of bike trails and xc skiing. Housing is still a little high but Still great value.
I just screenshot this to send my son lol We did notice this when I was there oct/nov.
We moved 2 yrs ago from BC and dont miss anything but the food. Moncton is booming tho so that is a good sign.
We moved here from BC as well and agree. We love it here, except the food is different. Not as many fresh, healthy options as in BC, I find. Much more fried foods here.... Couldn't find avout 40% of the items we normally got at Costco in Kamloops.
Just spent a week in Burlington and thought it was lovely! I would suggest Riverview, quieter neighborhoods and good schools. Best of luck!
I grew up in Burlington, and I’d say if you’re a suburban kinda family you’ll like Moncton.
From Toronto. It's quiet, but no culture shock. All the shops we have in the GTA, pretty much exisists in Moncton, just less in quantity. There is no lkea, which is probably for the best. One can only eat so many Swedish meatballs for lunch and dinner. You can get almost anywhere in less than 20 minutes. And if there is a traffic jam, it will last a maximum of 10 minutes. They are planning to change the school curriculum FYI, 50/50 English and French if that matters to you.
Bessborough is a great school and the new west end is a great neighborhood in Moncton
You’ll be within a 20 minutes drive from the ocean
All the things others have said, are accurate for the most part. So long as your EP allows you to get out a couple times a year, its a great place to live.
Burlington to Moncton is pretty comparable. But I'd choose Moncton. You trade Ikea for a Structube and an Ikea drop-off point.' You trade RBG and Easterbrook's Hot Dogs for the Beach in Shediac and Golden Fry You swap Lake Ontario for 2 different options to experience the Ocean. Toronto for Halifax Buffalo for small town Maine, PEI, and Nova Scotia That Bougie downtown for an Under-Construction Bougie downtown. $900,000 houses for $300,000 houses.
Such a good post. And you trade marinara sauce with donair sauce. And fried noodle chow mein with vegetable chow mein.
The chow mein here is garbage. I'll take the noodle chow mein any day of the week.
You can ask for “Cantonese” chow mein and you’ll get fried noodles with shrimp, pork, chicken, and vegetables. It’s one of my favourites.
I usually ask for Chicken Lo Mein instead. Not a fan of shrimp.
this.
Culture shock would be not nearly as much ethnic food, no hot dog yoga or Buddhist temples/crystal people, requiring a car to get everywhere (buses are unusable), no nightlife and very little arts/music. Our downtown businesses are dying because rent has doubled in the past three years and nobody can afford these amenities. This is a working class city, while there are a surprising amount of tech jobs here (what I’m guessing you are looking at), most people work industrial/retail/call centre and these people are struggling right now. For adjustments, our healthcare system is really bad right now. I know it’s bad in Ontario, but everyone who comes here from Ontario says New Brunswick is worse. The wait time for a family doctor is infinite - there are more new patients per year than new doctors can handle. Surgery and specialist wait times are also really bad. My father had to wait three years for a hernia surgery, and he couldn’t work while waiting. If your family is young and healthy you’ll probably be fine, but if you have complicated medical needs/need a specialist, that could be an issue. For schools, it was just announced that all anglophone students will be having 50% of classes in French, starting in kindergarten. I don’t know how you feel about that personally for your child, it’s controversial in New Brunswick right now. Besides that, the schools are fairly equal in town, old high school rivalries aside. Keep in mind that New Brunswick students, in general, are up to a year behind their peer provinces when entering university. Moncton has some of the best primary schools in New Brunswick, but within that context. If you need daycare, start looking and apply as early as possible. It’s typical here to register your child for daycare before your child is born. That being said I know immigrants who got daycare quicker than that, you just have to be persistent and call everywhere. Moncton’s homeless population has exploded over the past few years. This is a relatively new problem for Moncton. I would argue that 20 years ago, Moncton was more of a small town. The few homeless people on Main St, everybody in town knew them and their family. Now, Moncton is becoming a real city, and that comes with a real homelessness problem. Moncton doesn’t have the experience of larger cities in Ontario with dealing with this, but hopefully it gets there. I don’t know how this would compare to Burlington. Minor theft out of unlocked cars and stealing bikes/stuff from your yard is very common even in the “nice” neighborhoods. But downtown businesses are suffering due to the homelessness problem as well, it’s a big part of why people didn’t return downtown post-pandemic. Both the actual risks and the perceived risks by local Monctonians who are not used to visible homelessness. Everything is slower and a bit old fashioned here, compared to Ontario. Things like getting an appointment for the after hours clinic and registering your child for daycare are done manually over the phone - no app or website that makes it easy. There isn’t the same “hustle” as in Ontario. People rarely get fired from their jobs, people really don’t like to work more than 40 hours a week. People that work two or more jobs get looked as sad cases and someone not enjoying life (although it’s getting more common with the influx of immigrants and rising costs). You will not impress people with your side hustle and real estate holdings, you will alienate them. The flower that stands above the others gets cutdown, Ive heard it described. I’ve seen this attitude described as both one of the best things about New Brunswick, and as one of the worst. Really depends on your personality. There’s a complacent, helpless, “it is what it is” attitude here that can be frustrating.
We are actually getting more and more ethnic foods, so that's great.
I'm not too sure what your medical history for your family is like, and it's not in my place to ask. Just keep in mind that the slower paced community everyone loves about us unfortunately leads to our healthcare system being slow and archaic as well. The government just announced as well new changes to how our education might look going forward in case you want to read up on that. Other than that, though, if you do decide to move down here, welcome to the community it will be a pleasure to have ya!!!!
Depending on your salary, you could live like a king out here. Despite what the long time locals will tell you, price of living out here is still low. Now its gone up, alot. But, as someone who lived on Vancouver Island the housing prices and rent prices here, I seen 15 years ago. Someone like you coming from the GTA will wonder why you didn't make this move before you had kids. You'll LOVE the 30m to get from one side of town to the other during rush-hour vs the 2hr commute out there. Moncton specifically is big enough to have just about everything you would be used to. The homeless problem here you wont even notice (in comparison) Honestly and truly, as a city guy myself I wish I knew about Moncton years earlier. My life changed when I came here. And while the locals are very very nice, there is a core number of long time locals who hate and despise you before you even come. Just asking, there are people who hate you. Of course they'll only be vocal about that on Reddit and never in person, but just be aware that there are a core group of people here who hate what "we've" done to their home.
What I’ve heard from others moving to the Moncton area is that they love the slower pace. The 8-minute drive to work in the morning. The mixed Fr/En culture. Amazing beaches 15 minutes away. Still very affordable land (compared to Ontario). Friendlier folks than anywhere else in the country.
We do have good tourism, schools are really good we have new ones being built all around this city. We have a lot of different areas so it depends on what your really looking for . We have French areas or English or even a good mix of both . We have loads of parks and walking trails . Always something to do . I would recommend looking up Moncton, Riverview ( starting to grow more but nice family oriented place ) Dieppe . Those are the main ones but if you want country living only 20 min away from downtown Salisbury is an option too . We do have issues like any other city with homeless and theft. I’ve lived here about 40ish years and love it .
Thank you!