City snapshot
Cost of living in Winnipeg
Winnipeg offers affordable housing, diverse culture, and a central location in Canada.
3-category planning baseline
$1,804
Total annual: $21,648
Balanced salary needed
$40,400
Balanced
Population
951,758
2025 · Winnipeg (CMA), Manitoba · Statistics Canada
Crime Severity Index
113.4
Winnipeg CMA
Open this scenario in the income calculator ($40,400 in Winnipeg), then try your own salary, city or pay frequency.
Change salary or provinceOfficial Basic-Needs Budgets
Market Basket Measure totals and advertised rent answer different questions. Rent is not added to the budget total because the MBM already includes a shelter component.
Data coverage: 100% (A) · 2025
Advertised Rent
2026-04 · Winnipeg, Census metropolitan area (CMA)
2026-04 · Winnipeg, Census metropolitan area (CMA)
2026-04 · Winnipeg, Census metropolitan area (CMA)
2026-04 · Winnipeg, Census metropolitan area (CMA)
2025 · Manitoba
Local Indicators
Winnipeg, Census metropolitan area (CMA)
3-category planning baseline
Rent is the advertised 1-bedroom rent above (Statistics Canada Quarterly Rent Statistics), the same figure used on every page for this city. Groceries and transport are planning estimates.
Move-in costs
Generic planning assumption only. Provincial rules and your lease may permit a different deposit.
Plan the next step
City profile
Housing and rent
Often more affordable than Ontario and coastal markets, with older housing stock.
1-bedroom rent: $1,260 · Total monthly: $1,804
Commute and daily life
Bus network and car commuting across a wide urban footprint
Safety context
Winnipeg's safety snapshot uses the Crime Severity Index for Winnipeg CMA. CSI compares police-reported crime volume and seriousness; it is not a neighbourhood-level risk score.
- Crime Severity Index
- 113.4
- Violent CSI
- 170.1
- Non-violent CSI
- 91.7
How this city compares
Winnipeg ranks #39 of 47 tracked cities by the 3-category planning baseline and is -$313 versus the cross-city average.
Salary guide for this city
Use these gross salary ranges as planning targets before running a detailed after-tax scenario for Winnipeg.
Best for
Winnipeg is strongest for most affordable housing and a lower baseline than the tracked-city average.
Watch out for
1-bedroom rent is the largest cost driver in the baseline. Plan around $1,804 per month before discretionary spending, plus about $5,620 for a basic move-in setup.
Local reality check
Rent represents about 70% of the baseline essentials shown here. Compared with the tracked-city average, this city is -$313.
Living in Winnipeg: what to budget for
Use this page as a starting point for Winnipeg: monthly essentials, move-in cash, salary targets, local population context, housing notes and safety data are shown together so you can move from research to a concrete budget.
Winnipeg is Manitoba's capital, known for its extreme weather and affordable cost of living.
The city offers some of Canada's lowest housing costs while maintaining urban amenities.
Major industries include manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and healthcare.
The city celebrates its Indigenous and multicultural heritage through arts and festivals.
Highlights
- Most affordable housing
- Central Canadian location
- Diverse cultural scene
- Strong arts community
- Affordable daily costs
Common questions
- What is included in Winnipeg's monthly baseline?
- The baseline includes a 1-bedroom rent estimate, groceries and transport for one adult. It is a planning baseline, not a quote.
- Why do some metrics use a CMA or province?
- National public datasets often publish city data by census metropolitan area, census agglomeration, province or territory. The geography is shown beside each metric.
- How should I use the Winnipeg salary estimate?
- Use it as a gross-income target, then run the income calculator with your province, city and real costs.
Sources and methodology
- Population: Statistics Canada table 17-10-0148-01, latest annual estimate; Census Profile fallback when noted.
- Crime Severity Index: Statistics Canada table 35-10-0026-01, latest published year.
- Basic-needs budgets: MBM tables 11-10-0066-01 and 11-10-0104-01. Advertised rent: Quarterly Rent Statistics table 46-10-0092-01.
Data used on this page
Advertised rent, basic-needs budgets, and local indicators each retain their own period, geography, and method.