Cost of Living in Quebec City 2026

Three features shape Quebec City’s costs: rents below those in Montreal or Toronto, Quebec’s low-fee subsidized daycare, and a provincial income tax that Quebec runs separately from the federal one. Statistics Canada’s average asking rent for a one-bedroom was $1,210 in the second quarter of 2026, and APCIQ reported a median single-family sale price of $450,000 for August 2026 (Centris data). Spending per household across Quebec averaged $5,380 monthly on goods and services in 2023, 15% below the Canadian figure of $6,346.

Montreal’s figures are on the cost of living in Montreal page and the Ottawa vs Montreal comparison; the cost of living by province puts Quebec beside the other provinces, and the cost of living hub lists every city guide.

What a Month Costs

Rents and fares here are Quebec City’s own. The spending lines are Quebec-wide averages from Statistics Canada’s household spending survey, which mix households of every size and count those that bought nothing as zero.

Example: a couple renting a two-bedroom

Here a two-person household rents the average two-bedroom and both partners ride with RTC passes. Groceries, home energy and connectivity use what couples without children spent across Canada in 2023, with no price adjustment since; clothing, health, leisure and savings are not counted.

A budget for one person is worked through on the cost of living alone in Canada.

Rent

Statistics Canada’s asking rents track listings offered to new tenants. CMHC’s survey of purpose-built rentals reports the average rent across the units it surveys, older leases included, which is why its one-bedroom figure sits lower.

Statistics Canada does list an asking rent for three-bedroom houses: $2,300, a figure it marks “use with caution”. The CMHC vacancy rate rose to 2.6% in October 2025 from 1.0% the year before. 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, keeping the average one-bedroom under that share takes a household income of about $48,400 a year. Quebec’s rent rules and the vacancy history are on the Quebec City rental market page.

Buying a Home

APCIQ, the Quebec real estate brokers’ association, publishes median prices from Centris sales for three property types in the Quebec City census metropolitan area. Prices for other cities are on the average house prices page.

Single-family medians differ across the region: $469,000 in the Quebec City agglomeration, $450,000 on the South Shore and $547,500 in the northern periphery (September 2026).

Financing the median single-family price with a 20% down payment leaves a $360,000 loan; over 25 years, payments come to about $2,323 a month at the posted 5-year conventional rate the Bank of Canada reports (6.09% on September 30, 2026, semi-annual compounding). Uninsured fixed-rate mortgages of 5 years or more that chartered banks funded in July 2026, counting new loans, renewals and refinancing, averaged 4.49%, below the posted rate; other scenarios fit in the mortgage calculator. Quebec buyers also pay a one-time transfer duty, the welcome tax, which the Quebec land transfer tax calculator covers.

Getting Around

RTC fares shown took effect on July 1, 2026. In Quebec, drivers must buy bodily injury coverage from the government insurer (the SAAQ) and can buy other coverage from private insurers. According to Statistics Canada, Quebec’s average premium therefore does not cover the same policies as Ontario’s $2,068. More on car insurance in Quebec.

Groceries

Statistics Canada publishes grocery prices by province (plus Whitehorse and Yellowknife), not for Quebec City itself. Quebec’s July 2026 figures put a 500 g block of cheese at $6.93, a kilogram of ground beef at $15.77 and a 675 g loaf of white bread at $3.94. Over the food items priced both in Quebec and nationally, Quebec came to 98.0 with Canada at 100, below the national level. The average grocery bill page breaks spending down by household size.

Hydro, Heating and Winter

Quebec households put an average of $154 a month toward electricity, heating fuel and water in 2023, 36% below the Canadian level, with electricity alone at $131 (Statistics Canada). Winters are long: Jean Lesage airport averages -11.9°C in January with lows near -16.7°C, and July highs reach 25.0°C on average (Environment and Climate Change Canada normals, 1991 to 2020). Provincial bills are compared on the average utility bills 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. In Ontario, licensed child care programs enrolled in the Canada-wide (CWELCC) system charge at most $22 a day for children under six, with no application needed; programs that aren't enrolled set their own fees. Since the cap took effect on January 1, 2025, the Ontario provincial average has been about $19 a day.

Taxes

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. At $60,000 of employment income, Quebec income tax (federal and provincial) comes to $10,074, which is $1,753 more than in Ontario.

Figures are 2026 income tax for a single employee with employment income only and the basic credits; they leave out QPP/CPP, EI and QPIP contributions. Quebec’s brackets and credits are on the Quebec income tax page.

What QST applies to is on the Quebec sales tax page.

Quebec City vs Montreal and Toronto

Quebec City’s one-bedroom asking rent was the lowest of the three in the second quarter of 2026.

Rents are Statistics Canada average asking rents; transit is RTC fares from July 1, 2026, ARTM fares as of September 2026 and TTC fares as of September 2026. Home prices are measured differently by each city’s board (APCIQ medians in Quebec, TRREB averages and benchmarks in Toronto); see the Montreal and Toronto pages for theirs.

Work, Income and Language

Quebec City’s unemployment rate was 4.3% for June to August 2026, against 6.5% for Canada (Labour Force Survey, three-month average). The 2021 Census put the area’s median household income for 2020 at $76,500 before tax and $65,500 after tax; the national medians were $84,000 and $73,000.

Most residents speak French first. In the same census, 92.4% of people in the Quebec City census metropolitan area had French as their only mother tongue and 96.9% had French as their first official language spoken.

Related Reading

• Affordable cities in Canada
• Financial guide to living in Quebec
• Student budget in Canada

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