Maclean’s 10 Most Popular Cost of Living Stories of 2024

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.

NO. 10

I Had $100,000 in Debt. So I Moved Into My Car.

“I’d racked up credit bills, student loans and a line of credit. How a life on wheels helped me get back on track.”

By Marc-André Gagnon

NO. 9

My Retirement Project? Building Affordable Co-housing.

Bureaucratic barriers make housing inconvenient and expensive to build. If you get creative, it doesn’t have to be.

BY Dave Ransier

NO. 8

I Banded Together With Strangers to Buy a Group of B.C. Cottages

When the home I loved went on the market in 2021, a friend suggested I start a collective to buy it. I said, “Oh come on, that’s ridiculous.” But the idea stuck in my head.

By Heidi Woodley

NO. 7

Why Canada’s Economy Is Just Fine

Instead of chasing after American-style GDP, we should strive for income equality, good health care, fairness and happiness

by brian lewis

NO. 6

Mortgage-Free in Alberta

Odette Karlsson sold her Kitchener townhouse for $700,000 and bought a new one in Alberta for half the price

BY ANDREA YU

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NO. 5

How One Canadian Tech Millionaire Built a Tiny-Home Community

Marcel LeBrun made millions as a software tycoon, then funnelled his fortune into 12 Neighbours, a planned community of 99 affordable tiny homes in Fredericton. For the city’s unhoused, it’s a chance to turn their luck around.

By Sarah Treleaven

NO. 4

The Rise of the One-and-Done Family

Many Canadian couples are having just one kid. Why a declining birth rate spells trouble for the country’s future.

By Courtney Shea

NO. 3

The Tiny Ontario Town Selling Properties for $10 a Pop

Up north, a savvy real-estate strategy is making the Canadian dream of affordable housing real again

By Katie Underwood

NO. 2

Canada’s Best Affordable Places to Live

Ten cities on the rise where you can still buy a house for less than $700,000

By Maclean’s

NO. 1

The Jackpot Generation

Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country.

By Katrina Onstad