Student Cost of Living by City in Canada (2026)

Key takeaways

IRCC minimum: $23,448 a year for one student (applications from September 1, 2026, outside Quebec)
Average asking rent for a room, April to June 2026: from $710 a month in Calgary to $1,010 in Vancouver (Statistics Canada)
A one-bedroom apartment costs about 2 to 2.5 times as much as a room in every city on this page
Our sample budgets with a shared room run from about $25,000 (Montreal) to $28,200 (Vancouver) a year
Student transit ranges from $47.85 a month (Vancouver U-Pass, paid through school fees) to $128.15 (Toronto)

How much is rent for students in each city?

Statistics Canada publishes average asking rents: the prices in new rental listings. These are experimental estimates for April to June 2026 (table 46-10-0092-01), by census metropolitan area.

City (metro area)	Room	Studio (no bedroom)	1 bedroom	2 bedrooms
Toronto	$840	$1,750	$2,090	$2,650
Vancouver	$1,010	$2,000	$2,280	$3,030
Montreal	$720	$1,250	$1,480	$1,820
Calgary	$710	$1,320	$1,550	$1,890
Halifax	$870	$1,560	$1,880	$2,400

Monthly averages. A room means renting one room in a shared home. Rents near campus and downtown are often higher than the metro average. A year earlier (April to June 2025), one-bedroom asking rents were slightly higher in four of the five cities, for example $2,150 in Toronto and $2,380 in Vancouver. Halifax was the exception: $1,800 then, $1,880 now.

For tips on finding a place and avoiding fake listings, see renting your first apartment and rental scams.

How much does transit cost for students?

City	Student option	Monthly cost	Notes
Toronto (TTC)	Post-Secondary Student Monthly Pass	$128.15	For eligible post-secondary students. Under the TTC fare cap, trips are free after 47 eligible fares in a calendar month.
Vancouver (TransLink)	U-Pass BC	$47.85	September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027. Paid through student fees at 10 participating public schools.
Montreal (STM)	Reduced monthly pass, Zone A	$66	For students 18 and over with a photo OPUS card. The regular pass is $110.
Calgary (Calgary Transit)	Adult monthly pass	$126	Calgary Transit also runs a UPass program for post-secondary students. Check with your school.
Halifax (Halifax Transit)	Adult monthly pass	$90	Ask your school whether it offers a student pass.

Prices as of October 2026. More detail by city is on the transit costs page and in the TTC fare cap guide.

What does Statistics Canada say a modest life costs?

Statistics Canada’s Market Basket Measure (MBM) is Canada’s official poverty line. It prices a basket of food, clothing, shelter, transportation and other needs for a family of 4 in each region. To get the amount for one person, Statistics Canada’s method divides the family amount by 2 (the square root of family size).

City	MBM 2025, one person	Of which food	Of which shelter	Difference from IRCC’s $23,448
Toronto	$31,440	$7,494	$13,396	+$7,992
Vancouver	$32,176	$8,345	$14,074	+$8,728
Montreal	$25,144	$8,191	$7,097	+$1,696
Calgary	$29,577	$8,704	$10,822	+$6,129
Halifax	$27,428	$8,388	$9,122	+$3,980

Source: Statistics Canada table 11-10-0066-01, 2025 thresholds (2023 base, current dollars), divided by 2 and rounded to the dollar. The MBM is built for families, so treat these figures as a rough benchmark for one adult, not a student budget. Still, every city here is above IRCC’s minimum.

Sample yearly budgets for one student

We built two sample budgets per city. Rent is the Statistics Canada asking rent for a room or a one-bedroom, for 12 months. Transit is the student cost above. Food, clothing, phone and internet, and other needs use the MBM one-person amounts.

City	Rent (room, 12 months)	Transit (12 months)	Food, clothing, phone, other	Total with a room	Total with a 1-bedroom
Toronto	$10,080	$1,538	$14,310	$25,927	$40,927
Vancouver	$12,120	$574	$15,461	$28,155	$43,395
Montreal	$8,640	$792	$15,587	$25,019	$34,139
Calgary	$8,520	$1,512	$15,698	$25,730	$35,810
Halifax	$10,440	$1,080	$15,508	$27,028	$39,148

Worked example: Toronto with a shared room

Rent: $840 × 12 = $10,080
TTC student pass: $128.15 × 12 = $1,537.80
Food $7,494 + clothing $1,532 + phone and internet $732 + other $4,551.50 = $14,309.50
Total: $25,927.30, which is $2,479 more than IRCC’s $23,448

Not included: tuition, health insurance, books, a rental deposit, furniture, utilities if your rent does not include them, and flights home. Montreal is in Quebec, which sets its own proof-of-funds rules: see studying in Quebec.

Is $23,448 enough?

It depends on how you live. In our samples, the budget for a student who shares a home is a little above IRCC’s minimum in Montreal, Calgary and Toronto. In Vancouver and Halifax the gap is larger, at about $3,600 to $4,700. A student who rents a one-bedroom alone needs about $34,000 to $43,000 a year in these cities.

Sharing a home is the biggest saving in every city.
Transit discounts matter: Vancouver’s U-Pass costs about $1,000 a year less than Toronto’s student pass.
Health insurance rules differ by province. See health insurance for international students.
Extra costs add up quickly. Read hidden costs for international students.

To build your own budget with tuition, use the cost of studying calculator. City guides are on the cities page.

About this data

Rents: Statistics Canada table 46-10-0092-01, average asking rent by unit type, second quarter of 2026 (experimental estimates), census metropolitan areas. Asking rents are for new listings, so they are often higher than what long-term tenants pay.
Benchmark: Statistics Canada table 11-10-0066-01, Market Basket Measure thresholds for 2025, 2023 base, current dollars. One-person amounts are the family-of-4 amounts divided by 2, following Statistics Canada’s square-root scale.
Transit: TTC, TransLink, STM, Calgary Transit and Halifax Transit fare pages, checked October 10, 2026.
IRCC minimum: IRCC financial support page, for applications from September 1, 2026, outside Quebec.
All amounts are in Canadian dollars. Next update: when Statistics Canada adds the third quarter of 2026.

Common questions

How much does an international student need per month in Toronto?

Our sample budget with a shared room is about $25,927 a year, or about $2,160 a month, before tuition, health insurance and books. Renting a one-bedroom alone raises it to about $40,927 a year.

What is the cheapest of these five cities for students?

In our sample budgets with a shared room, Montreal is lowest at about $25,019 a year, closely followed by Calgary ($25,730) and Toronto ($25,927). Montreal also has the lowest one-bedroom asking rent ($1,480 a month).

How much is a room in Vancouver?

Statistics Canada’s average asking rent for a room in the Vancouver area was $1,010 a month in April to June 2026.

Is IRCC’s $23,448 enough to live on?

It is a minimum for your application, not a full budget. In our samples, every city costs more than $23,448 a year even with a shared room, and much more with your own apartment.

Do students get cheaper transit?

Often. Toronto has a $128.15 post-secondary pass, Montreal gives students 18 and over a $66 reduced pass, and students at participating Metro Vancouver schools pay $47.85 a month for U-Pass BC through their fees.

Sources

Checked against these sources on October 10, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

Cost of living for international students by city, 2026: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Halifax