insiders know ...

[october 2024 roommates]

SO, roomiematch.com's Halifax / Dartmouth roommate rundown:

Halifax is the largest city in the Atlantic Provinces. Its population is a little over 400,000, which is almost half the total population of Nova Scotia.

Dartmouth is both its own incorporated town but also linked to Halifax a lot of ways: economically, via a transit system, plus literally via the A. Murray MacKay Bridge, as well as the Halifax-Dartmouth Ferry Service, which is the oldest salt water ferry service on the continent.

And the two areas together are just like a snowy postcard.

A snowily seafaring postcard from a busy wintry seaport with a dramatically irregular rocky coastline. That's over 250 miles long. That's a dramatic coastline.

It also features the most iconic "postcard" view of all of Canada, the beautifully stark Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove.

Apart from its ruggedly picturesque coast, Halifax also distinguishes itself with its dramatic enthusiasm for public transport.

And local celebrations by the sea.

(Often combining the two, as you would too, if you and your roommates lived in Halifax / Dartmouth.)

The rest of the Halifax roommate lowdown:

• Halifax is located on a peninsula with the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the north, the Bay of Fundy to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and east.
• Dartmouth is nicknamed "City of Lakes." (Should we even say that's because there are a lot of lakes? But there are.)
• Halifax has the most used public transit in Atlantic Canada. There are dedicated bus lanes, regional express routes, passenger rail, and more public ferry service upcoming.
• Halifax has heavy precipitation year round, with winter featuring frequent freeze-thaw cycles. Hurricanes are occasional, and fog is often serious.
• Heavily indented coastline causes over 250 miles of coastline. It's mostly rocky with small sandy beaches in sheltered bays.
• over 200 official communities with various urban-rural characteristics
• wide variety of festivals throughout the year, including: Atlantic Film Festival, Atlantic Jazz Festival, Greekfest, Halifax International Busker Festival, Halifax Pop Explosion, Multicultural Festival, Natal Day, Nocturne Festival, Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, Shakespeare by the Sea, and one of the largest Canada Day celebrations
• naval and governmental center
• home to University of King's College, Mount St. Vincent University, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, St. Mary's University, Dalhousie University, Atlantic School of Theology, and the Technical University of Nova Scotia
• Halifax is represented by two professional sports teams, in both lacrosse and European football/soccer. There are quite a few smaller and local but enthusiastically supported ice hockey teams, and several amateur rugby clubs.
• Halifax has become increasingly attractive to cyclists with over 60 miles of dedicated bicycle lanes. More bicycling infrastructure is planned for the future!

After you're settled down, you and your roommates should experience Halifax and Dartmouth's:

• Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove: Many have said this is the most iconic viewpoint for all of Canada? It's an historic lighthouse over granite cliffs. Many have also called it both bleak and beautiful.
• Maritime Museum of the Atlantic: Along with local Halifax artifacts, includes some associated with the sinking of the RMS Titanic
• Halifax Waterfront: 2-mile-long boardwalk with historic buildings, shops, and restaurants. During the summer you and your roommates can also catch a harbor boat tour.
• Halifax Common: Canada's oldest public park, since 1763
• Art Gallery of Nova Scotia: featuring the celebrated work of local artists: Maud Lewis (folk art), Alex Colville (magical realism) and Indigenous Mik'maq

Here's the city of Halifax's official .ca for Hurricanes, and general storm preparedness.

Notes

1.   The non-traditional roommate rent average for this city we've experienced over the last 3 years. We can't predict future rental availability, because we're neither in control of any rental market nor psychic, sorry!

But in most cities most of the time, the recent and relatively recent past are the best predictors.


2.   This idea came from smartasset.com's ranking of what a roommate saves you in 50 cities. They ranked where roommates will save you the most money, based on the average cost of a 1BR as opposed to a 2BR ÷ 2. Unsurprisingly, the more expensive the city, the more you can save, but the savings are significant in all larger metros. So we got the data for the rest of our cities from Zumper too.

This is really the minimum you could save, as you could live with more than one roommate, split more services, share food or other supplies, etc. More sharing tends to lead to more savings too, as per our roommate roadmap.

As per the rest of the description at the top of this page, we're calling this "traditional" roommate rent.


3.   From zumper.com.


6.   From various lists here on our own best roommate cities.


7.   From hoodmaps.com: a collaborative map where residents use tags describing social situations you're likely to find. Other users can thumb up or down, so the largest tags have been thumbed up the most.