Homes with Tristan — Relocation Guide

How Much Does It Cost to Move from Ontario to Edmonton in 2026?

By Tristan Boire, REALTOR  |  Park Realty, Sherwood Park AB

Most people moving from Ontario to Edmonton ask me two questions. First: what does the move actually cost? Second: does it actually make financial sense? The honest answer to both is that the upfront costs are real, but the math after you land is difficult to argue with. This guide breaks down every line item, from the moving truck to your first-year savings, so you can make the decision with real numbers in front of you rather than guesses.

What Does the Move Itself Cost?

The biggest variable is how you move your stuff. If you hire professional movers for a cross-country haul, you are looking at $6,000 to $10,000 depending on how much you are shipping and the time of year. Moving pods are cheaper, typically $4,000 to $6,000, but they add time and you still do the packing yourself.

Driving yourself is the cheapest option. Edmonton to Toronto is about 35 hours of drive time. Gas, food, and a hotel or two lands you at $500 to $800. Some people pair this with shipping their larger items separately, which keeps total costs reasonable.

Beyond the truck or pod, account for a few smaller costs that most people forget to budget. Your Ontario-plated vehicle needs an out-of-province inspection before you can register it in Alberta. That runs about $150 and is required by law. Setting up utilities in a new province often involves deposits of a few hundred dollars. And if your possession date and move-out date do not line up perfectly, you may need storage or a hotel for a few nights, which can add another $500 to $1,000.

That $7,500 to $12,000 is a real number you need liquid before you move. Plan for it. But it is also a one-time cost, and the math on the other side makes it look small quickly.

What Do You Save on Closing Day?

This is the one that surprises Ontario buyers the most. Alberta has no provincial land transfer tax. None. When you buy a home here, you pay a small administrative title transfer fee of a couple hundred dollars and that is it. Compare that to what Ontario charges, and the savings are significant.

How Ontario Land Transfer Tax Works

Ontario uses a tiered formula: 0.5% on the first $55,000, 1.0% up to $250,000, 1.5% up to $400,000, and 2.0% on everything above that. On a $700,000 purchase, the Ontario provincial LTT comes out to $10,475. If you are buying in the City of Toronto, you pay that exact same formula again as a municipal tax. So Toronto buyers pay $20,950 in land transfer tax alone on a $700,000 home.

Ontario charges a tiered provincial land transfer tax on every home purchase, and Toronto adds an identical municipal tax on top. On a $700,000 purchase, a Toronto buyer pays $20,950 in land transfer tax before the keys even change hands. In Alberta, the equivalent cost is a few hundred dollars in administrative fees. Source: Ontario Ministry of Finance, City of Toronto, Alberta Land Titles.

Coming from Toronto specifically, this is real money back in your pocket on day one. Even comparing against buyers outside Toronto (provincial tax only), Alberta still saves you $6,000 to $12,000 depending on your purchase price. On a $500,000 home in Ontario, the provincial LTT alone is $6,475. In Alberta, it is nothing.

In my opinion, this is one of the most underappreciated financial benefits of buying in Alberta. Most people focus on home prices, which is fair, but that LTT savings is immediate. It shows up the day you close.

What Does Monthly Life Actually Cost?

Once you are settled, the monthly picture is where the real long-term difference adds up. Three areas matter most: sales tax, housing costs, and rent if you are not buying right away.

Sales Tax: Alberta Has No PST

Alberta has no provincial sales tax. You pay 5% GST on purchases, compared to 13% HST in Ontario. On $2,000 per month in everyday spending, that 8% difference saves you about $160 per month, or roughly $1,900 per year. It is not dramatic month to month, but it compounds. Every grocery run, every restaurant meal, every home improvement purchase costs less here.

Income Tax: One Correction Worth Making

There is a common misconception worth addressing. Alberta does not have lower income tax than Ontario. At $100,000 in annual income, Alberta residents pay roughly $700 more per year in provincial income tax than Ontario residents. It is not a large number, but the “no income tax in Alberta” claim you hear sometimes is simply not accurate. The tax advantage in Alberta is the absence of PST, not income tax.

Housing: The Biggest Monthly Variable

Whether you are renting or buying, housing is where Edmonton changes the math most dramatically. A three-bedroom rental in Toronto averages around $3,400 per month. The equivalent in Edmonton runs about $1,976 per month. That is $1,424 per month in savings, or roughly $17,000 over the first year, just from rent.

If you are buying, the difference is even more significant. An Edmonton home at $450,000 financed at 4.19% over 25 years works out to approximately $2,415 per month in mortgage payments. For most Ontario buyers, that is a lower payment than what they were paying in rent.

The First-Year Math

Pull it together. You spend $7,500 to $12,000 getting here. You save $10,475 to $20,950 in land transfer tax on closing day. Your monthly costs drop by $1,500 to $2,500 depending on whether you rent or buy and what you were spending in Ontario. By the conservative end of those numbers, you are breakeven on the move cost within a few months of arriving.

Over five years at the low end of these numbers, you are looking at roughly $90,000 in accumulated savings. That is money that can go into investments, a down payment, or just give you breathing room you did not have before. The move costs are real. The return is also real.

Common Questions