Victoria tops the list of Canada's "Next Cities," the best places to live and work in Canada for young professionals, according to a study released Tuesday.

Next Cities are places with the assets and amenities that attract and keep a young, educated workforce, according to Next Generation Consulting (NGC), which released the rankings.

"Think bustling city centres, walkable neighbourhoods, diverse career opportunities and a vibrant art and music scene," the report states.

The rankings were tabulated by collecting and analyzing 45 measures on Canadian cities with populations of more than 100,000 people.

The consulting firm studied the residential and relocation patterns of 20-40 year olds since 1998, and developed an indexing system that evaluates a city based on the assets cited by those workers as most important:

• Social capital — This index accounts for how open, safe and accessible a city is to all people. It includes measures of diversity, crime rates, voter participation rates and the percentage of women- and minority-owned businesses.
• Cost of Lifestyle — This index includes variables in the national cost of living index, which encapsulates a roof over the head, food on the table, clothes on the back and a warm bed at night.
• After Hours — This index counts the places to go and things to do after work and on weekends. Around Town — This index measures a city's "walkability," airport activity, commute times and mass transit.
• Vitality — This index tallies air and water quality, green space and estimates residents' overall health (e.g. physical fitness level, life expectancy, etc.).
• Earning — This index measures a city's future job growth, the diversity of employment opportunities, the percentage of jobs in the knowledge-based sector and average household income.
• Learning — This index tallies educational opportunities and expenditures, public library use and Wi-Fi hotspots.

The rankings are based on a city's total score in all seven indexes.

"Simply being the cheapest place to live, or the city with the most jobs, is not a long-term workforce strategy," said NGC's founder Rebecca Ryan.

"The next generation is very savvy about choosing where they'll live. They look carefully at quality of life factors, like how much time they're going to spend in traffic commuting, if they can live near a park or hike-and-bike trail, and whether a city's downtown stays awake after 5 p.m."

Canada's "Next Cities"

1. Victoria
2. Ottawa
3. Vancouver
4. Kingston
5. Halifax
6. Toronto
7. Calgary
8. Saskatoon
9. London
10. Edmonton
11. Winnipeg
12. Regina
13. Thunder Bay, Ont.
14. St. Catharines-Niagra, Ont.
15. Saint John
16. Montreal
17. Kitchener, Ont.
18. St. John's
19. Quebec City
20. Hamilton, Ont.
21. Sherbrooke, Ont.
22. Sudbury, Ont.
23. Oshawa, Ont.
24. Windsor, Ont.
25. Abbotsford, B.C.
26. Trois-Rivières, Que.
27. Saguenay, Que.