Red Deer has been ranked 12th in Canada’s Best Places to Live 2018 and fourth overall in Alberta according to MoneySense.

Nearby to Lacombe, which ranked first place overall in Alberta, Red Deer is growing quickly, with low and rapidly dropping unemployment rates according to the magazine.

MoneySense is a Canadian online personal finance and lifestyle magazine published by Rogers Publishing Limited.

According to MoneySense, Red Deer’s economy is diversifying, with the arts, culture, recreation and sport among the industries accounting for the best job growth in the City in recent years.

Deputy Mayor Frank Wong said he was happy to hear the news of Red Deer’s ranking and was surprised as he said that it’s an improvement in terms of its higher ranking.

“I think we’ve been doing a lot of construction on new facilities such as the two hockey rinks at the College and downtown and we’re improving a lot of our trail systems and our recreation facilities, mostly to accommodate the Winter Games,” said Wong.

He added that the crime rate has also been decreasing.

With data gathered on 415 cities across the country, MoneySense ranked and measured them up in 10 categories including wealth and economy, affordability, population growth, taxes, commute, crime, weather, access to health care, amenities and culture.

The top 50 places to live span across the country, with Ontario cities accounting for half of the top 50.

The top features for Red Deer’s good placing were the wealth and economy, the demographics and the amenities.

For a complete breakdown of the statistics, check out www.moneysense.ca.

-With files from MoneySense