Calgary and Edmonton
The biggest two cities in Alberta, Canada
Heck, two of the biggest in ALL of Canada- I’m not joshing you. Calgary is the 4th
biggest and Edmonton is the 5th. About 300 kilometers apart, or a 3 hour drive.
Combined they make up more than 70% of the population
of Alberta and 8% of the population of Canada.
Both are part of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor,
the most urbanized part of Alberta and one of the wealthiest regions in the country.
And there’s a rivalry. Oh you better believe there’s some trash talkin’ goin’ on between the
two. The rivalry even has a name- the “Battle of Alberta,” although that’s, more often than not,
just used to describe the sports rivalries of the two cities. Like the football rivalry between the
Edmonton Elks and the Calgary Stampeders. Or one of the greatest hockey rivalries in history
between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. Heck, there’s even a rivalry between the
major universities in each city, the University of Alberta, which is in Edmonton, and the
University of Calgary. (yeah that’s in Calgary) So perhaps to fan the flames of this rivalry
even further, I am making this completely fact-based comparison video so you can make
up your OWN mind about which city is better, ok? As always, sources are in the description, buddy.
So what else do they have in common?
First of all, Calgary and Edmonton are also two of the fastest growing major cities in Canada.
And yet, both are kind of isolated. Like,
WHY would people choose to live so far from the rest of civilization? Well,
because both surprisingly have a lot going on and actually are quite desirable places to live.
Both have a relatively low poverty rate. Both attract a lot of tourists.
Both have low air pollution and great drinking water.
Both cities have invested heavily in bike infrastructure and are quite bike friendly.
Both have comparable traffic and commute times.
Both have a relatively lower cost of living compared to other major Canadian cities,
especially compared to Vancouver and Toronto.
Both have less crime than most other North American cities of comparable size. That said,
Calgary has less violent crime than Edmonton.
Both have relatively young populations,
although Edmonton has a lower median age. (C-38 E- 36.3) Both are ethnically diverse.
Christianity is the biggest religion in both. In fact,
almost the exact percentage of both identify as Christian. (C- 44.5%, E- 44.6%) Dangness.
Both have similar climates. Specifically, a humid continental climate, with nice summers
but really cold winters. Being further north, Edmonton does get slightly colder
in the winter. It once recorded a windchill of -61° Celsius, for real. Despite the cold,
both are the two sunniest big cities in Canada. Calgary gets a bit more sunshine
and Edmonton gets more precipitation overall, but…strangely enough, Calgary gets more snowfall.
Both can get severe thunderstorms with big hail. Hail yes. Both can get tornadoes.
Both are far enough north to experience quite a bit of daylight in the summer. In fact, on the
first day of summer in Edmonton, it gets 17 hours and three minutes of daylight. On the flip side,
both cities go through quite a bit of darkness in the winter months. But hey, you also have a decent
chance of catching the northern lights during that time in both cities, so that’s pretty cool.
Both have thriving arts scenes.
Both don’t have rats. Seriously,
the entire province actually doesn’t have any thanks to a strict rat control program.
Even pet rats are forbidden. But you can still listen to the band, Ratt. I think.
For the rest of this video, let’s just look at the differences between the two.
First of all, Calgary has more people, but uh…barely. (C- 1.6 million, E- 1.5 million) And
while Calgary is Alberta’s largest city, Edmonton is its capital city. That said,
Edmonton is North America’s northernmost city with a population over one million.
Calgary has a higher population density. (C- 1,592.4 sq km, E- 1,320.4 sq km)
Overall, Calgary just feels more cosmopolitan.
A higher percentage of students in Edmonton graduate from high school.
Maybe that’s because Calgarians party more? Indeed, Calgary has a more active nightlife.
Edmontonians are generally more religious.
Edmontonians generally lean more to the left, politically.
Calgary is on the edge of the foothills of the epic Rocky Mountains. Being closer to
the Rocky Mountains, Calgary is located at a higher elevation. Edmonton is on the prairie,
but also is surprisingly heavily forested. Still,
it’s just a 3 and a half hour drive from Edmonton to the mountains.
The Bow River runs through Calgary, while the North Saskatchewan runs through Edmonton.
Edmonton has been around longer. (C- founded in 1875, E- founded in 1813) Oh yeah,
let’s get into some history here.
Humans have lived in the area of modern-day Calgary and Edmonton for thousands of years.
Both were home to several First Nations peoples. The Blackfoot Confederacy and
Metis Nation mostly settled the area of modern-day Calgary, while the Cree,
Ojibwe, Nakota Sioux, and Tsuut’ina mostly settled the area of modern-day Edmonton.
The first European likely reached the area of modern-day Edmonton first. Anthony Henday,
an explorer for the Hudson’s Bay Company, possibly got there as early as 1754.
David Thompson, a cartographer with the Hudson’s Bay Company,
got to the area of modern-day Calgary in 1787. In the late 1700s and early 1800s,
many fur traders came to the area to trade with the various First Nations peoples.
The British established Fort Edmonton way back in 1813. This fort was named after a
trading post further south, which itself was named after the hometown of a prominent family
in the Hudson’s Bay Company, located back in England. The British had actually already built
a fort in present-day Edmonton back in 1801, but it didn’t last. Over the following decades,
Fort Edmonton became a center for the fur trade in a territory known as Rupert’s Land.
Few British actually lived in this area when the Canadian government bought Rupert’s Land in 1870.
It wasn’t until 1875 when the North-West Mounted Police, now known as the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police, built Fort Calgary to “protect” the area. It was actually called Fort Brisebois back then.
It officially became a town in 1884, named “Calgary” after the Calgary in
Scotland because an Alberta officer thought that place was cool. Two years after it was founded,
it suffered a great fire, but quickly recovered. The Canadian Pacific Railway, which linked Calgary
to the Canadian east and west coasts in the 1880s, ended up being a huge boon to not only
Calgary but also Edmonton, as it connected to it in 1891. That said, originally the railroad was
supposed to go through Edmonton, not Calgary, so Calgary had an early economic advantage.
In the early 1900s, both cities began to slowly grow. Calgary became known for cattle ranching,
while Edmonton became known as an agricultural distribution center. Calgary got settled more
by people of Scottish background, and Edmonton got settled more by indigenous
and French Canadian folks. It also had a bunch of Ukrainian settlers nearby. Calgary,
being closer to the American border, was much more influenced by the United States,
especially due to those dang American cowboys coming up there all the time.
When Alberta became a province in 1905, there was a big debate regarding which would become
the province’s capital- Calgary or Edmonton. Well, I’m sorry I forgot
to give you a spoiler alert earlier, but you already know if you’ve been paying attention
that Edmonton won that battle, for three reasons that I could find at least. First,
the federal government at the time was more left leaning, and liked that Edmonton was
more left-leaning and Calgary was not. Second, Edmonton was more centrally located, and third,
by this time two transcontinental railroads now went through it. So it was a no brainer.
In 1914, folks discovered oil near Calgary, and that began to make the city a bunch of money.
Due to this, by 1930 it had nearly 100,000 people while Edmonton had less than 78,000.
Still, Edmonton’s location remained better strategically, earning it the nickname “Gateway
to the North.” During World War Two, the city was a staging ground for military operations,
as well as the construction of the Alaska Highway. It also had a more important
military role throughout the Cold War as Canada aided the United States. In 1947,
Edmonton began to compete with Calgary in the oil industry after folks discovered oil near IT.
In fact, by the 1960s, Edmonton was now known as the “Oil Capital of Canada'' since the oil
industry was so big there. This led to Edmonton’s population skyrocketing right past Calgary’s,
despite Calgary also still making lots of money from the oil industry. However,
since the 1960s, Calgary has done a better job at diversifying its economy,
and since the 1980s it has created more economic opportunities than Edmonton.
Today, major industries in Edmonton include technology, agriculture, and yep,
still oil and gas. Edmonton is still known for being the base of operations for huge
oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta but also for being the base of mining operations
even further north. Major industries in Calgary also include agriculture,
but additionally aerospace and financial services. Ok oil and gas is still big there, too.
The cost of living is generally lower in Edmonton,
especially when it comes to home prices. That said, the median household income is higher in
Calgary. It has the most millionaires per capita of any major Canadian city. One in
four Edmontonians work in the public sector, and there’s definitely more blue collar jobs there.
Calgary has better public transit. It’s also more of a hub for international
air travel. Edmonton, though, is more of a hub for TRAIN travel.
Calgary has hosted the Olympics. Edmonton has not.
Calgary has more breweries.
Calgary is the home to the Calgary Stampede, the second biggest rodeo
event in the world. The festival draws nearly one million tourists every July.
Oh yeah? Well Edmonton is home to Canada’s biggest mall, the West Edmonton Mall. I’ve
been there and it’s a gem. Other major attractions in Edmonton include the North
Saskatchewan River valley parks system, the High Level Bridge Streetcar, and Fort Edmonton Park.
Other major attractions in Calgary include Heritage Park,
Studio Bell, and Prince’s Island Park.
While Calgary has the distinctive Peace Bridge, Edmonton has the Walterdale Bridge,
and is planning a unique pedestrian bridge that will offer a great view of the city.
And sorry, Edmonton, but the Calgary Tower is more iconic than the Edmonton Tower. In fact,
I’d argue Calgary’s architecture overall is way more unique. Just look at its New Central Library.
That said, Edmonton has way more parks. In fact,
its undeveloped parkland forms the biggest expanses of urban parkland in the country.
Edmonton is known as “Canada’s Festival City,” as it apparently gets a little carried away
with its festivals. Notably it has the Edmonton Folk Festival, the Edmonton Heritage Festival,
and the International Street Performers Festival. In my opinion, it has a better music scene, too.
The aforementioned University of Calgary is infamous for a paint-covered boulders
located all around its campus. Students constantly paint over it,
often turning it into informal message boards, sometimes painting controversial stuff.
Edmonton has these cool pyramids, located at the Muttart Conservatory.
Calgary recently ranked as the fourth most “liveable city” according to the
Global Liveability Index, making it the most “liveable city” in the
entire Western Hemisphere. That said, Edmonton recently ranked as the best
Canadian city to live in if a zombie apocalypse ever broke out, so ya know.
More Calgarians are hipsters.
Calgary has a bunch of cow sculptures because of course it does. Sadly they
got rounded up recently. Edmonton has this cool neon sign museum.
There used to be a passenger train that connected both cities, but that was shut
down in 1985. However, there are currently plans to build high speed rail…a hyperloop,
specifically…between the two that would make the trip just 45 minutes. Meh,
a lot of people don’t think it’s actually gonna happen.
Jordan Peterson is from Edmonton. Ted Cruz is from Calgary. Anyway…
In conclusion, I probably didn’t help you determine which city is better much, did
I…and frankly, who cares because they’re BOTH just plain awesome. They’re two of the best cities to
live in not just in Canada, but the entire world. Despite this, hardly anyone outside Canada even
knows about how amazing they are (or even knows they exist, for that matter). So uh…even though
this will annoy Calgarians and Edmontonians, share this video with everyone you know, ok?
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Which two cities should I compare next? Let me know somewhere I don’t know. I’d also especially
love to hear from you if you’re from Edmonton or Calgary. What did I pronounce wrong? Because
nothing jiggles my wiggles more than reading your hundreds of comments calling me an idiot
for mispronouncing a place that .0001% of the population has heard of. Thanks for watching!