Why do you want to move to Saskatoon? I'm from Saskatchewan, my wife is from Saskatoon and I went to University there.
First, the good.
- For a small city, there is a fair amount happening. The University gets some good speakers and there are a lot of good concerts at SaskPlace.
- People are friendly.
- You can get anywhere in 20 minutes.
- Lots of lakes, especially 2+ hours north of the city.
- The city is booming.
- There may be large amounts of oil a few hours west of the city, which will cause Saskatoon to grow even more.
- Crime is localized. You are fine in most parts east of the river. The north around Lawson Heights and Sherwood Heights is nice. Even Montgomery Place way on the southwest part of the city is good.
- Best pizza in the world is at Vern's Pizza. And I've had pizza in Rome and Turin! Great pizza elsewhere. Lots of good restaurants surprisingly, especially if you like Asian.
- For the most part, the people are highly educated.
And the bad.
- Its still a small city. You can go batty there.
- It is a 20 hour car ride to a major city.
- Home prices are too high. There will be a major bust one day when home prices will fall 30-40% from the highs.
- There are some dodgy areas. South of 20th St from the river pretty much to Avenue W are areas you don't want to walk at night. 22nd Ave W has really deteriorated.
- It gets to be -40C there. It is really, really ****ing cold. On one day when I was still living there, the wind chill took the temperature all the way down to -85C. The wind is horrible. The winters are brutal.
- Not very cosmopolitan. Very provincial feel to it.
- Long history of bad economics. The economy is very cyclical as it is heavily reliant on commodity prices. That is good now but may not be again in the future. The province was almost bankrupt a generation ago.
- High taxes.
I never thought I would ever move back to Saskatchewan. Most of my friends who had any ambition felt that they had to move away. But my wife and I are toying with the idea of buying a place and spending the summers up there when we retire.