Ottawa vs Montreal Cost of Living 2026

Ottawa and Montreal are in different provinces, so taxes and child care differ as well as rent. In the second quarter of 2026, the average asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $1,900 in Ottawa and $1,480 in Montreal, so Montreal’s was $420 lower a month (Statistics Canada). On an $80,000 salary, take-home pay is $3,290 higher a year in Ottawa. For families, one child in Quebec’s subsidized daycare costs about $210 a month, against $413 to $479 in Ontario’s capped system.

Each city’s own costs are on the Ottawa and Montreal pages, and more city guides are in the cost of living hub.

Costs Side by Side

Ottawa’s figure minus Montreal’s gives the last column. The rents are advertised rents from Statistics Canada for the second quarter of 2026, with Ottawa meaning the Ontario side of Ottawa-Gatineau. Hydro-Québec’s own survey of utility rates as of April 1, 2025 supplies the electricity bills, before tax.

Example: two children in licensed child care

This example sets the child care saving for two children under six against the gap in take-home pay between Quebec and Ontario for two earners at $60,000 each. Ontario’s range runs from the provincial average fee to the cap, at 21.75 billing days a month.

Netting the two, the household comes out $858 ahead in Montreal a year at the low end of Ontario’s fee range and $2,424 ahead in Montreal at the high end, before rent and other costs.

Buying a Home

The two boards measure prices differently: the Ottawa Real Estate Board publishes MLS HPI benchmarks (the price of a typical home), and APCIQ publishes median sale prices from Centris data for the Montreal census metropolitan area. The figures below are each board’s own, so the columns are not a like-for-like comparison. Prices for other cities are on the average house prices page.

With 20% down and a 25-year amortization, a condo at these prices costs about $1,990 a month in Ottawa and $2,219 in Montreal at the Bank of Canada’s posted 5-year conventional rate of 6.09% (as of September 30, 2026), compounded semi-annually; the mortgage calculator works through other prices and rates. Buyers pay a one-time transfer tax in both provinces (Ontario’s land transfer tax and Quebec’s welcome tax), covered by the Ontario and Quebec land transfer tax calculators. Property tax rates are on the Ottawa and Montreal property tax pages.

Rent

Montreal’s lower listing rents run through every unit size, from studios ($1,250 against $1,550 in Ottawa) to three-bedroom apartments in the table at the top. These are Statistics Canada’s figures for listings shown to new tenants in the second quarter of 2026; rents for tenants already in place are set by their existing leases. CMHC’s rents for all tenants, vacancy rates and each province’s rules on increases are on the Ottawa and Montreal rental market pages, and the average rent page lines up more cities.

Income and Taxes

Statistics Canada, Canadian Income Survey, census metropolitan areas (Ottawa-Gatineau includes Gatineau, on the Quebec side), including part-time and part-year workers.

Take-home pay is income minus income tax, CPP or QPP, EI and (in Quebec) QPIP, for a single employee with employment income only and the basic credits (2026).

The Ontario take-home figures include the Ontario surtax and the Ontario Health Premium (up to $900 a year). Brackets and credits are on the Ontario and Quebec income tax pages.

Getting Around

In Quebec, drivers must buy bodily injury coverage from the government insurer (the SAAQ) and can buy other coverage from private insurers. In Alberta, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, drivers buy coverage from private insurers. According to Statistics Canada, the provincial averages above therefore cover different policies, and it notes that Quebec’s figure may be underestimated because it leaves out the government insurer. More on car insurance in Ontario and Quebec.

Groceries

Statistics Canada’s July 2026 averages scored Quebec at 98.0 and Ontario at 98.6 where Canada is 100, a −0.6% gap for Quebec, though single items swing both ways: 4 L of milk cost $8.51 in Quebec against $6.88 in Ontario, while a dozen eggs cost $4.43 and $5.00. Spending by household size is on the average grocery bill page.

Utilities

Electricity bills are from Hydro-Québec’s comparison of rates in effect April 1, 2025, before taxes. Heating differs too: Quebec households spent an average of $86 a year on natural gas and $1,568 on electricity in 2023, against $1,016 and $1,299 in Ontario (Statistics Canada). More on the average utility bills page.

Tuition

Quebec sets a per-credit tuition rate for students who qualify as Quebec residents: $103.92 a credit in 2026/2027, or about $3,118 for a 30-credit year before institutional fees. Average undergraduate tuition in Ontario was $9,306 for 2026/2027 (Statistics Canada), an average across programs and universities. The resident rate applies only to students who meet Quebec’s residency criteria.

Climate

January averages -10.0°C at Ottawa’s airport and -9.2°C at Montréal-Trudeau, and yearly snowfall runs to 232 cm and 217 cm (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1991 to 2020 normals).

How the Two Compare

• Renting: Montreal’s one-bedroom asking rent was $420 lower than Ottawa’s.
• Taxes: take-home pay on $80,000 was $3,290 higher a year in Ottawa, and sales tax is 13% in Ontario against 14.975% in Quebec.
• Child care: one child in Quebec’s subsidized daycare costs about $210 a month, against $413 to $479 in Ontario.
• Electricity: a 1,000 kWh monthly bill was $60.61 higher in Ottawa.

Language, career sector and family plans also matter. Other comparisons: Toronto vs Vancouver, Calgary vs Edmonton, the cost of living in Quebec City and affordable cities in Canada.

Related Reading

• Financial guide to living in Quebec
• Financial guide to living in Ontario