MoneySense Magazine has released its rankings of the top places to live in Canada and compared to last year, Moose Jaw took a bit of a tumble. The 2018 ranking had Moose Jaw as the 239th best city in which to live but that's down 77 spots from the 2017 list that considers things like taxation, income, affordability, housing and access to health care.

The report says our population has grown by 2.1% over the last year, we have an average household income of just over $89,500, and an average household net worth of around $367,000. Other cities in the country have experienced better growth or ranked better in the accompanying categories, dropping our overall ranking.

However, Moose Jaw Economic Development Officer Jim Dixon says we shouldn't look too much into the ranking, as some key factors were missed.

"They don't always measure some of the things that may factor into someone wanting to live in a community," claimed Dixon. "What they don't take into consideration is the friendliest city, we have volunteers, people give to charities and all the characteristics that Moose Javians demonstrate on a daily basis."

According to the MoneySense report, the authors' methodology states that they put the most weight on the local economy and affordability when they rank cities for the Best Places to Live list, categories that Moose Jaw did fairly well in especially when taxes and housing costs were factored in.

One knock against the City of Moose Jaw could have been in the Demographics category that gives fewer points to cities that see slow population growth or, worst case scenario, population loss. Moose Jaw also lost points in the Commute category that gives points to cities where the population uses public transportation, bicycles or walking to get around. Just 4% of the population walks to work and less than 1% cycle or take the bus.

While Moose Jaw slid down the list nationally, the city is still ranked very well for the prairie region in the report, placing 8th with Weyburn topping the list of 22 communities in Saskatchewan or Manitoba; Saskatoon was second and Regina was fifth.