Calgary's strong economy has propelled it to top spot as the most attractive city for workers in the country, the Conference Board of Canada says.

The Ottawa-based research group ranked 27 cities in a variety of areas — including economy, health, society, housing, environment, innovation and education.

'Most attractive' Canadian cities
City	Overall ranking
Calgary	1st
Toronto	2nd
Vancouver	3rd
Edmonton	4th
Victoria	5th
Ottawa-Gatineau	6th
Montreal	14th
Thunder Bay	27th
Source: Conference Board of Canada

Solid rankings in all those categories make cities attractive to skilled workers. "Cities without the ability to act as magnets and attract new people will struggle to stay prosperous," the board said. That's because businesses want to locate in cities that people find attractive.

Calgary's red-hot economy — best in the country — and its high placings in the other six categories were enough to place it first overall.

Big cities grabbed five of the top six spots. Toronto came in second overall, boosted by top-rated scores in the health and society categories.

Vancouver was third, the board said. The city's sky-high real estate prices put it in last place in the housing category. But strong ratings in the environment, health and economy categories were enough to earn it a spot in the top five.

Edmonton came in fourth overall; Victoria, fifth; and Ottawa-Gatineau was sixth. Montreal — in 14th place overall — "has a lot of catching up to do."

Thunder Bay was at the bottom of the list, hit by "the double-whammy of no employment growth and very low income growth, as well as scoring low in the health domain." Seven of the bottom 14 overall rankings were obtained by cities in Ontario.

The Ottawa-Gatineau area shone in innovation — the only city in Canada to earn a "triple-A" rating in this category. "The importance of the federal government cannot be overestimated, through its roles as direct employer and a nurturer of research," the board said.

The capital region also got top marks in education. The Conference Board again credits the presence of the federal government and associated institutions like the National Research Council. Kingston, Ont., and Halifax — which both have a heavy university presence — came in second and third.

Smaller cities led in only one of the categories — housing — as it's generally cheaper to buy or rent a home in smaller communities. Sherbrooke, Que., came in first place, with Trois-Rivières second. Smaller centres occupied seven of the top 10 housing spots.

The Conference Board put the results of its Canadian survey up against a similar survey done of 27 U.S. cities. Calgary again performed well, coming in third on the 54-city, North American list, behind only Washington and Austin, Tex. No other Canadian city appeared in the top 10 in that list.