New to Calgary? Let us be the first ones to welcome you to the city!
Moving to a new place can be overwhelming, but we can help connect you with resources to build your life in Calgary.
Finding a job
You can grow your career in Calgary.
Calgary‘s economy is strong and diversified with opportunities across a wide range of sectors including aerospace, agribusiness, creative industries, energy & environment, financial services, digital media and entertainment, life sciences, technology, and transportation and logistics.
Calgary is a city of limitless possibilities. Here, you can build a career and build a life that you love.
Work in Calgary
Finding a home
East, west – home’s best.
Calgary is home to over 190 neighbourhoods each with its own name, character and charm. With a variety of housing options, ranging from single detached family homes and townhomes to sky-high condos and hundred-year old character homes, Calgary has a home for everyone.
Find a home
World-class health care
To care for you and your loved ones, Alberta has a fully-integrated provincial health care system, Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Here, healthcare is publicly funded for Alberta residents. AHS provides emergency, acute, ambulatory, continuing care and mental health services to more than 4.4 million patients.
Apply for health care coverage in Alberta
First thing’s first. To get your health care card and be covered for insured health services in Alberta, you must be registered with the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP). This applies to new, returning and temporary residents.
Don’t put it off. All newcomers – from outside or within Canada – must apply (register) for AHCIP within three months of your arrival in Alberta.
Health care services in Calgary
Calgary has four adult acute care hospitals in each of the four city quadrants.
- Foothills Medical Centre is located in the NW
- Peter Lougheed Centre is located in the NE.
- Rockyview General Hospital is located in the SW
- South Health Campus is located in the SE
Calgary is also home to the Alberta Children’s Hospital, a facility that exclusively cares for children aged 17 and under. The Calgary Cancer Centre – expected to open in 2024 – will be one of the most comprehensive oncology centres in the world, supporting patients and families with inpatient and outpatient services.
There are dozens of specialized care facilities that can support you and your family, depending on your needs. The Calgary community is also home to urgent care centres, community health centres, continuing care and walk-in clinics.
811 is a great resource if you have a non-emergent health concern. You can speak directly with a team of health care professionals by dialing 811. HealthLink is a free, confidential health advice and information resource. The service can also be accessed on MyHealth.Alberta.ca
For emergencies, please dial 911.
How to find a doctor
Finding a family doctor will help keep you healthy to live, work and play in Calgary.
To find a family physician, CPSA offers a ‘Find a Physician’ search which allows you to search by the practice type, gender, location and accessibility of primary care physicians.
How to find a dentist
You’ll be smiling so much in Calgary that you’ll want to have someone look after your pearly whites.
Alberta’s dental industry is privatized. Get started on finding a dentist in Calgary and the surrounding areas by searching the CDSA database.
Eligible low-income individuals or families without access to dental insurance can access public health dental clinics through AHS.
Navigating the school system
Choosing a school is one of the biggest decisions parents and children will make when moving to Calgary. Calgary’s education system offers world-class options for students of all ages, from preschool, to junior high and post-secondary.
Where to start? We have centralized information to consider before starting your school search, including insights on the public and private school system, child care options and the post-secondary institutions in Calgary.
Navigate schools in Calgary
Getting around town
You’ll have places to go and people to see when you’re in Calgary.
Calgary has many options to keep you connected. The city offers affordable solutions ranging from the city’s public transport system to fun, active transport options like our shared scooter fleets.
Calgary Transit system
Calgary Transit and Access Calgary allow Calgarians to travel by train, bus and special services all around the city.
The city’s public transportation system features a combination of light rail transit system – commonly referred to by locals as the CTrain or LRT – 169 bus routes, community shuttle buses and a shared ride, door-to-door transportation service for Calgarians with disabilities called Access Calgary. The LRT system, which entirely runs on wind-generated electricity, currently covers 59 km, and is projected to extend to 79 km when the Green Line is completed.
Exploring downtown? Hop on the CTrain for free in the TD Free Fare Zone along 7th Ave.
Calgary Transit has partnered with the app, Transit, to get you around town and level up your commute. In this app you can plan your trip, purchase some Calgary Transit passes, see real-time departures or sync with Uber.
My Fare is the official Calgary Transit fare payment app. Here, all fare products can be purchased, including senior and low income passes, as well as regular daily and monthly passes.
Convenient carshare and rideshare
No car? No problem. With Calgary’s pathways and transit system, you may only need access to a vehicle some days. Communauto is an Alberta-wide car share program with a variety of fleet vehicles available for rent for a few minutes or longer than a day.
Prefer to be driven? Calgary has a variety of taxi and rideshare options like Uber to take you where you need to go.
High fives for short drives
Calgary has one of the easiest and shortest commutes of major cities in Canada, which means you have more time to spend doing what you love (INRIX 2022 Global Traffic Scorecard).
Stoney Trail – known as the Calgary Ring Road – encircles the city, and helps reduce time for commuters. The road is nearly completed, and will fully encircle the city with 101 kilometers of highway, making it easy for drivers to travel quickly and safely in the Calgary region.
Within the Ring Road, traffic infrastructure in Calgary is based on a grid system, and every street address includes one of the city’s four quadrants; northeast (NE), northwest (NW), southeast (SE) and southwest (SW). Memorial Drive divides the city into North and South while Centre Street – which becomes Macleod Trail – divides the city into East and West.
Generally, all avenues run east and west, and all streets run north and south. Major north-south arteries include Deerfoot Trail, Macleod Trail and Crowchild Trail, while Glenmore Trail and Highway 1 – which reverts to the name 16th Ave N within city limits – are the main east-west freeways.
Driver licensing and testing is done at a registry in Alberta. Find the registry closest to you to get your Alberta drivers license!
Local tip
When getting in a cab, or sharing an address with friends or family, be sure to include the quadrant – NE, NW, SW or SE – in the address. One address could potentially lead to four different locations in the city!
Bike and hike in Calgary
Calgary has the largest urban pathway and park in the world, connecting communities through nature to the downtown core – almost 1,000 km of paved trails circle the city and connect over 50 communities. Many Calgarians use these paths to go for a leisurely stroll or commute to work downtown.
Colder weather does not stop locals from enjoying the outdoors. The Calgary core has on-street bikeways which are even snow cleared in the winter. In fact, winter cycling with fatbikes is a popular activity for cycling enthusiasts.
A scootin’ good time
Calgary is known for warm and sunny days in the summer. Many locals and tourists get around the downtown core on the fleets of e-scooters and e-bikes available for rent. With the City of Calgary’s micromobility program, sustainable shared-fleet transportation can be found at every corner in the downtown core and surrounding communities.
Calgarians love scootering around so much that Calgary had the highest total number of trips taken on Bird Canada Scooters in 2021, with over 1.3 million kilometers clocked!
Good for the environment and good for the soul, you’ll be sure to see these scooters around downtown Calgary in the summer.
Downtown connectivity in the Plus 15
Downtown professionals can easily navigate buildings downtown in Calgary’s elevated pedestrian skywalk system, called the Plus 15. This indoor pathway is the world’s most extensive skywalk, with 86 bridges connecting 130 buildings and spanning over 16 kilometers.
The Plus 15 offers a warm, efficient and accessible navigation of the downtown core as well as a variety of lunch and coffee shops.
Jet-set from the Calgary International Airport
The Calgary International Airport (YYC) is one of the top 100 airports worldwide, and recently ranked the seventh most improved (Skytrax).The airport is one of the busiest in Canada, connecting Calgarians to the world – and international visitors to our home.
Local Tip:
Since YYC is the international airport code for Calgary, locals may frequently say YYC in conversations. Typically, we mean the city of Calgary, and not the airport itself – it’s a point of pride for our community!
Becoming active in the community
Calgarians love giving back, supporting local businesses and volunteering for causes they are passionate about.
Our community is generous with both our time and money. Over 45 per cent of Albertans volunteer – higher than Canada’s national average – and the province has the highest average annual charitable donation.
Volunteering is a great way to pursue your personal passions and meet people in your community. Volunteer Connector has an array of volunteer opportunities in Calgary, ranging from roles in program support, organizational leadership, caregiving and events across social sectors, environmental causes, community development and more!
Volunteering in Calgary
Services to help you settle
As you get settled in a new community, you will need to establish your network and navigate the services available in Calgary.
The CLIP Newcomer Guide provides an overview of all services – including children programs, education, employment, food security, health care, housing, language, law, LGBTQIA2+, financial and senior services – available in Calgary.
Service providers in Calgary
Local tip:
Call or text 211 if you are stuck, need social assistance or are confused about where to go. For any help which is non-health related, 211 is Canada's primary source of information for government and community-based, non-clinical health and social services. The free and confidential service can be accessed 24 hours a day, in more than 150 languages by phone, chat, text, and web.
Welcome to your new home in Calgary!
Dive deeper and explore all that Calgary has to offer – from the city’s arts, culture and theatre scene to our year-round festivals, culinary scene and sport games.
Explore Calgary’s vibrancy
