May 11, 2024
For Immediate Release
May 2, 2024
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade commissioned The Business of Cities to conduct the inaugural Benchmarking Greater Vancouver Report, assessing how the Greater Vancouver region measures up to leading international peer cities on our economic performance, infrastructure & sustainability, and liveability.
- This inaugural benchmarking reveals that there is a significant gap between how Greater Vancouver is globally perceived and the region's actual performance.
- This gap in our performance shows our economy is underperforming, with our region rated 14th among 20 peer cities for 'Prosperity'. We have been unable to translate our highly skilled workforce and world-class post-secondary institutions into higher incomes and our productivity is in the bottom half of more than 100 global regions.
- Greater Vancouver is among the top half of its peers for the rate of start-ups, but early-stage capital and scale is a challenge.
- Housing still dominates local challenges as homeownership is the 3rd most unaffordable English-speaking housing market and the average renter spends more of their income on housing than in any other English-speaking peer city bar none. We continue to lead in environmental performance, ranking 3rd in 'Sustainability and Resilience', as a leader for clean energy, decarbonization and green space per person.
- Despite the strongest bounce back in public transit ridership of any major North American city region, reliance on the car has grown more quickly than the average peer city. Ranking 11th in 'Transport & Technology' suggests substantial demand and opportunities to increase the efficiency of transportation options to reduce congestion.
- While tourists and those from abroad love our city, locals and longer-term visitors are increasingly finding the city unaffordable and lacking in cultural amenities and nightlife experience.
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Last updated on April 30, 2024