New Westminster · Cost of living 2026
New Westminster cost of living 2026: a complete monthly budget
CMHC's October 2025 purpose-built rental survey reports New Westminster zone averages of $1,645 for one bedroom and $2,134 for two bedrooms. These figures include occupied and vacant surveyed units and are not current asking rents. Build a household budget from an actual listing, its parking and utilities, the transit required from that address and any offered child-care fee. The five SkyTrain stations serve the mainland rail corridor; Queensborough requires a different transport check.
The bottom line
Two example monthly budgets
Single adult, one-bedroom apartment
$2,662/mo
CMHC rent + groceries + utilities + transit + lifestyle. Add ~$400-700 if you own a car.
Family of 4, two-bedroom + one preschool daycare spot
$5,392/mo
CMHC 2-bed rent + family groceries + utilities + 2 transit passes + 1 daycare. Infant daycare adds ~$500-700/month.
How New Westminster compares
Where New Westminster sits in the Metro Vancouver rental market
One-bedroom CMHC rent across Greater Vancouver, with New Westminster highlighted. CMHC numbers are conservative — they only cover existing long-term tenants in purpose-built rental buildings.
CMHC One-bedroom rent across Greater Vancouver
The biggest line
Rent
CMHC purpose-built 1-bedroom
$1,645/mo
Average for CMHC's purpose-built rental survey universe, not a quote for a vacant unit.
The second biggest line
Groceries
Estimated monthly grocery spend by household type, derived from Statistics Canada's Survey of Household Spending and adjusted to 2026 dollars using the food CPI.
Single adult
$385/mo
Couple, no kids
$700/mo
Family of four
$1,180/mo
Mostly fixed Metro-wide
Utilities
BC Hydro is a regulated provincial Crown corporation, FortisBC serves natural gas across the Lower Mainland, and water/sewerage for apartment renters is typically embedded in rent. Internet and mobile costs are roughly the Canadian average.
Electricity (apartment)
$50/mo
Natural gas (apartment)
$40/mo
Internet (residential)
$85/mo
Mobile (per line)
$60/mo
Cheap if you don't own a car
Transit
If you own a car, add roughly $200-350/month for ICBC insurance (varies sharply by driving record and postal code), $150-300 for gas, and $100-300 for parking depending on neighbourhood.
The biggest family expense
Daycare
Illustrative parent-fee assumptions above. Check the offered space and funding directly; see the sourced daycare guides for provider examples. No city-wide wait time is established here.
Infant (under 19 months)
$1,750/mo
Toddler (19 months–3)
$1,500/mo
Preschool (3–5)
$1,200/mo
Discretionary
Dining & lifestyle
Casual meals out (~10/month)
$180/mo
A typical fast-casual or pub meal for one runs $18-22 before tip.
Mid-range restaurant (~4/month)
$200/mo
Sit-down dinner for one with a drink runs $45-60 before tip.
Keep going
Plan the rest of your move to New Westminster
New Westminster city guide
Neighbourhood overviews, transit, schools, weather — the full city snapshot.
Is New Westminster safe?
Calibrated Crime Severity Index, safest neighbourhoods, and newcomer scams to know about.
How to find a rental
Step-by-step newcomer guide to finding and signing a rental in BC — with tenancy rights and cited fees.
Day trips from Vancouver
Hour-by-hour plans with cited costs — useful once you've done the budget maths and want to get out and explore.
Sources & data freshness
Each line item above carries a citation to its original public data source. The figures sit between two update cycles: CMHC rental data is published annually based on the October survey; BC Hydro, FortisBC, and TransLink rates change with regulatory filings; StatCan FAMEX-derived grocery and discretionary spending updates every few years. We re-verify against the primary sources on a rolling basis. Last full review: 2026-05-10.
- CMHC — Rental Market Survey data tables (purpose-built rental rents, vacancy)
- Statistics Canada — Survey of Household Spending (groceries, dining, discretionary)
- BC Hydro — Residential electricity rates
- FortisBC — Natural gas rates (Lower Mainland)
- TransLink — Transit pricing & fare zones
- BC Government — $10-a-day child care & CCFRI fee reduction