Cost of Living in Montreal 2026: Rent, Food, Transit and Taxes

Rent in Montreal costs less than in Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary. Montreal-area landlords were asking $1,480 a month for a one-bedroom on average in the second quarter of 2026, down from $1,530 a year earlier, against $2,090 in Toronto, $2,280 in Vancouver and $1,550 in Calgary (Statistics Canada). Quebec’s subsidized child care, Hydro-Québec’s electricity rates and the province’s own income tax system also set Montreal apart. Across June to August 2026, 6.3% of the Montreal-area labour force was out of work (Labour Force Survey, averaged over the three months).

The sections that follow gather Montreal’s official figures and turn them into two sample budgets. Ottawa vs Montreal covers the cross-river choice, Quebec City the province’s other large city, and Toronto the obvious big-city alternative; Quebec against the other provinces is on cost of living by province, and the cost of living hub indexes every guide.

Sample monthly budgets

Both budgets are assembled from published sources: Montreal asking rents and ARTM fares, Centre Alima’s food basket, Hydro-Québec bills and Quebec’s child care contribution, with Statistics Canada spending averages filling the gaps. The single person rents a one-bedroom and rides transit on the island; the family of four (two adults, two children) rents a three-bedroom, both adults hold monthly passes, and one child attends a subsidized child care centre for a full month . Left out: a car, clothes, personal care, eating out, insurance and saving.

Statistics Canada’s spending lines date from its 2023 Survey of Household Spending and haven’t been moved forward for inflation. Hydro-Québec’s figures come from its own comparison of rates in force on April 1, 2025, pre-tax. A one-person budget with everything included is on cost of living alone in Canada, and a whole year of household spending on average household expenses.

Rent in Montreal

A new tenant in Montreal is usually quoted the listed rent. Quebec’s rules on rent for new and sitting tenants:

• There is no fixed cap: the landlord proposes an increase when the lease is renewed.
• The tenant can accept or refuse it within one month after receiving the notice. In most cases a tenant who refuses keeps the dwelling, and the landlord can ask the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL) to set the rent.
• The TAL's calculation starts from a base percentage (3.1% for 2026) plus adjustments for taxes, insurance, energy and major work.
• For the TAL to set the rent, the landlord must apply to it within the month following the tenant's refusal; if the landlord doesn't, the lease renews at the same rent and on the same conditions.
• The exception: when the lease's section on restrictions to the right to have the rent fixed says the dwelling is in a housing cooperative, or in a building built or converted to residential use 5 years ago or less, a tenant who refuses the change must move out when the lease ends. For a lease signed after February 20, 2024 in a building ready for occupancy after that date, the new-building exception also requires the lease to state the maximum rent the landlord can charge in the building's first 5 years.
• A new tenant can ask the TAL to fix the rent if it is higher than the lowest rent paid in the 12 months before the lease began (the landlord must state that rent in a notice when the lease is signed). The tenant has 10 days after signing to apply, or two months after the lease begins if the landlord gave no notice, unless the rent was already fixed by the TAL; the cooperative and new-building exceptions above apply to new tenants too.

Source: Quebec government.

Statistics Canada’s quarterly series for the Montreal area (more cities on average rent):

Statistics Canada table 46-10-0092-01, second quarter of 2026, Montreal CMA. Statistics Canada marks the year-earlier figures behind the year-on-year column “use with caution” (quality flag E), so treat those changes as approximate.

Rents for tenants already in their units come from CMHC, whose 2025 survey averaged $1,200 across all tenants of purpose-built one-bedrooms in the Montreal area, with a 3.3% vacancy rate. See Montreal rental market data for the rest.

On Rentals.ca’s listings (apartments and condos, August 2026), a one-bedroom averaged $1,743 in the City of Montreal and $1,726 in Laval, and the average two-bedroom at $2,258 and $2,352. Rentals.ca and Statistics Canada sample different listings, so expect gaps between them.

Buying a home in Montreal

The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (APCIQ) publishes median prices for the Montreal area in its monthly statistics; its monthly news release reports only how they changed. In September 2026, the median single-family price was $635,000 (0.5% higher than a year earlier), the condominium median $430,000 (the same as a year earlier) and the plex median $861,000 (2.5% higher than a year earlier), on 3,082 sales.

Montreal CMA, September 2026 (APCIQ, Centris data); the average is APCIQ’s sales volume divided by the number of sales. The payment column puts 20% down and amortizes the rest over 25 years at 6.09%, the Bank of Canada’s posted 5-year conventional rate on September 30, 2026 (semi-annual compounding); municipal and school taxes, condo fees and insurance aren’t in it. Other scenarios go in the mortgage calculator. Average house price lines Montreal up with other cities, and Montreal housing market has the monthly trend.

Buyers pay Quebec’s property transfer duties, known as the “welcome tax”; the Quebec land transfer tax calculator includes Montreal’s rates, and owners pay municipal and school taxes (Montreal property tax).

Getting around

Zone A is the island of Montreal; fares are set by the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM), and those shown are its fares as of September 2026. The car insurance figure is Statistics Canada’s average written premium for Quebec divided by 12; Statistics Canada notes that Quebec’s figure may be underestimated because it leaves out the government insurer, the SAAQ (car insurance in Quebec).

Utilities

Hydro-Québec’s residential Rate D, in effect since April 1, 2026, is a daily access charge of 46.154 cents plus 7.065 cents per kWh for the first 40 kWh a day and 11.142 cents above that. In Hydro-Québec’s comparison of rates in effect April 1, 2025 (before taxes), a 750 kWh month cost $65.63 in Montreal, against $126.80 in Toronto and $180.74 in Calgary. Quebec households spent an average of $154.25 a month on water, fuel and electricity in 2023, and $78.50 on internet. Province-by-province bills are on the average utility bills page.

Groceries

Centre Alima (formerly the Dispensaire diététique de Montréal) prices a nutritious food basket in Montreal: in July 2026, a family of four (a man and a woman aged 31 to 50, a boy aged 14 to 18 and a girl aged 9 to 13) needed $293.04 a week (the four members’ weekly costs added together), or $10.47 a day per person. Quebec average retail prices for single items in July 2026 included $8.51 for 4 litres of milk and $4.43 for a dozen eggs (Statistics Canada). Quebec households’ grocery spending sits beside the other provinces’ on the average grocery bill page.

Child care

In Quebec, a child admitted to a subsidized child care centre costs the reduced contribution of $9.65 a day in 2026, indexed every January 1, for a parent who lives in Quebec with an eligible status such as citizen or permanent resident; non-subsidized centres set their own rates, which are generally higher. The previous year’s rate was $9.35 (Gouvernement du Québec). For comparison, Ontario’s cap in participating programs has been $22 a day since January 1, 2025.

Quebec taxes and take-home pay

The table compares take-home pay at the same salary in four provinces. Quebec employees pay Quebec Parental Insurance Plan premiums of 0.430% and contribute to the Quebec Pension Plan instead of the CPP. Sales tax is the 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, 14.975% in total.

2026 federal and provincial income tax (Ontario’s includes the Ontario Health Premium), CPP or QPP, EI and QPIP. Quebec’s federal tax is lower because of the refundable Quebec abatement: Quebec residents file a separate Quebec return with Revenu Québec, and their federal tax is reduced by the refundable Quebec abatement of 16.5% of basic federal tax; someone with a business establishment outside Quebec calculates it on Form T2203. Quebec’s rates and brackets are on the Quebec income tax page.

Income, taxes and rent

What income does Montreal rent call for? CMHC considers housing affordable when it costs less than 30% of before-tax household income, counting the rent (or mortgage payments, property tax and condo fees) plus electricity, heat, water and other municipal services. On the asking rent alone, before utilities, the average one-bedroom fits a gross household income of $59,200 or more, and the three-bedroom one $90,400. After 2026 Quebec and federal income tax, QPP, EI and QPIP, a single Quebec employee on $59,200 keeps around $3,739 monthly, set against $2,186 for the one-person budget.

Montreal-area economic families and unattached individuals had a median after-tax income of $70,100 in 2024, per the Canadian Income Survey; Montreal income percentiles shows where a given income ranks.

Language

Section 1 of Quebec’s Charter of the French Language reads: “French is the official language of Québec.” The Charter sets out the aim of making French the language of government and “the normal and everyday language of work.”

Montreal vs other large cities

The rent row is Statistics Canada’s second quarter of 2026 series (Ottawa counted on its Ontario side), the transit row each agency’s fares (ARTM fares as of September 2026, TTC fares as of September 2026, TransLink fares from July 1, 2026, Calgary Transit 2026 fares, OC Transpo fares as of September 2026), the electricity row Hydro-Québec’s April 1, 2025 survey of pre-tax bills, and the income row the 2024 Canadian Income Survey. Read more on each city: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa.

Related articles

• Cost of living in Canada
• Ottawa vs Montreal cost of living
• Cost of living in Quebec City
• Montreal rental market
• Montreal housing market
• Montreal income percentiles