Prince Rupert sits at 193rd place (out of 200) in Moneysense ratings

While we await the cusp of our hopeful future, our past it would seem is providing for a less than glowing reference mark for the number crunchers at Moneysense Magazine.

The publications annual examination of Canada's urban communities has ranked Prince Rupert in 193rd place out of 200 cities surveyed.

Compared to last year that is a significant drop in the rankings, last years survey provided for a finish of 179 out of 190 cities. (view last years findings here).

Over the last number years, Prince Rupert has found itself among the lower ranked of communities in the annual survey.

This  years findings, suggesting that while the prospects look good for the future, for the moment we are still very much a struggling community.

View the rankings here (click on each category to see where Prince Rupert placed in each)

Our placement marks the low point for British Columbia cities and parks us below Port Alberni (189), Quesnel (183), Campbell River (180) and Abbotsford (174) in the bottom range of BC communities.

Of note to local residents will be our ranking compared to that of Terrace, the only other Northwest Community ranked this year, Terrace pulled in a ranking of 155 in this years survey.

Prince Rupert's results in a variety of categories included:

Percentage of those who bike to work 1.1%
Days with Rain 228.2
Days Above 0 276.3
Population Growth 2011-12  .80%
Jobless Rate  13.23%
Average House Price $211,438
Average Household Income $67,439
Crime Severity Index 181.85 ( higher number indicative of higher crime rate)
Property Tax 1.84% (lower number is indicative of higher taxes)
Doctors per '000 1.53
Employed in arts and rec  1.02%
New Car ownership .28%

The most disturbing trends for Moneysense it would appear were our Crime Severity where we were 9th overall, Property Taxes where again we were 9th in highest taxes of communities surveyed.

Our Jobless rate is the 8th worst of the survey sample, while the always popular days with rain left us as the undisputed champs at number one!

You can review the methodology of the above number crunching here

You can review each section of the survey individually as well.

Overview
Map
The Ideal City
Infographic

In the past local politicians have been less than impressed with the Moneysense overview, considering this year's numbers we imagine that will be a theme moving forward this year

The Northern View had two items on the topic of the Moneysense survey.

March 27-- So what makes Rupert so bad? (e edition page 6)
March 26-- Magazine ranking rains on Prince Rupert's parade 

Moneysense review places Rupert near bottom once again

The Mayor, who doesn't appear fond of cold statistical reviews with bad news of his city, will not be a happy man with the latest listings on the annual Moneysense review of cities, Prince Rupert while not bottoming out in the survey is still within view of the lower reaches of the survey.

With a placement of 179th out of 190 cities surveyed, Prince Rupert is one of five British Columbia cities to trend at the bottom eleven of the rankings, Squamish (182), Campbell River (184), Port Alberni (186) and Williams Lake (189) all didn't pass the Moneysense test for 2012.

The results are kind of a half glass full, half empty scenario for local boosters, while not trolling the bottom of the annual listings this year, there were more communities included in the annual rankings, so it may not be that conditions are getting better, just that there may be a few other towns are in worse shape at the moment, at least in in the opinion of the Moneysense tabulators.

Prince Rupert's more negative reviews included job prospects where the city ranked second last in employment options, with only Bay Roberts Newfoundland keeping the city from the last spot on the list.

We also fared poorly in the safety category, with the third highest ranking of crime of ranked at 186 of the 190 listed cities,  only Williams Lake and Yellowknife (187), Thompson MB (189) and North Battleford SK (190) had more crime reported than us.

The full rankings and background information can be found on the Moneysense website.

The compilation was the topic of a few local reviews over the last little while, some of which can be found below.

The Northern View-- Prince Rupert ranked among the worst places in Canada to live
Terrace Standard-- Terrace ranks low on best places to live list