Even as inflation and interest rates dropped in 2024, Canadians had trouble paying their bills. Some 45 per cent reported that they couldn’t afford daily expenses, and in March, two million people visited food banks—the highest number ever recorded and a 90 per cent increase from 2019. In Maclean’s this year, we documented how Canadians are coping with soaring housing, food and gas prices; one intrepid food-delivery driver even moved into his car to pay off his debt. Some millennials are only having one kid because they can’t afford more, for example, while others are going in on real estate together. We even found 10 (relatively) affordable cities for buying a home. Here, our top 10 cost-of-living stories of 2024.