Escalating drug-related crime and high housing prices were among the troubling socio-economic factors that dropped Vancouver’s ranking as the top rated city for standard of living in Canada.

A study conducted the Conference Board of Canada, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to researching and analyzing economic trends, showed that Vancouver scored the worst of the 27 cities on housing affordability for city residents.

Mario Lefebvre, director of the board’s municipal studies centre, said that most homeowners in Vancouver are spending a whopping 42 percent of their income on housing mortgage payments.

The report also addresed rising crime in the city stating that ‘Vancouver had the worst drug-related crime rates in the country.’

Lefebvre concluded by writing that the biggest surprise is ‘Vancouver’s low placing in both lists since the city used to score as the best places to live in the world.’

Vancouver which bills itself as Canada’s “Lotus land”, did score high on the health, environment and economic indicators to grab to third spot,” Lefebvre said.

He explains that unlike other surveys which use a dozen or so indicators, the Conference Board utilizes 46 indicators presenting a more complete picture.

Calgary was chosen as the best Canadian city in which to live and the third best in North America, the study reveals.

The report rates urban centres’ attractiveness along seven main categories, such as economy, housing and health, and 46 sub-categories, such as commuting time and crime.

 The top six cities were Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria and Ottawa-Gatineau, respectively.

Calgary also led the country in attracting people between 2002 and 2006 as a percentage of population, followed by Oshawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver.“Calgary ranks high in education, environment which is in the middle of the pack, on health they are near the top, even housing affordability is a surprise, so Calgary doesn’t fail in any of the categories,” Lefebvre explains.

The population has increased by 10 per cent over the past five years, so it seems a lot of people like Calgary.

In second spot, Toronto was marked below Calgary because of a weaker economic situation and housing affordability problems.

“Toronto’s strength comes from its diverse, young and culturally rich society, supported by good health care and generally outstanding health outcomes,” the report added.