Canada's housing crisis is dragging life satisfaction down among young adults

New research suggests Canada’s housing crisis is eroding life satisfaction among young adults across the country, with one in five reporting shelter insecurity in recent years.

The researchers interpret the evidence as “indicating that the happiness crisis among young Canadians is, to a large degree, an economic crisis”.

The study , published by the University of Alberta, used the Canadian sample of the Gallup World Poll to track declining wellbeing among adults aged 20 to 34, alongside worsening perceptions of housing affordability, living standards and job climate, and food and shelter insecurity.

The Gallup Poll, which is an annual survey representing over 95 per cent of the global adult population, uses a tool called the Cantril Ladder to measure life satisfaction. Respondents are asked to imagine a ladder with the lowest rung representing the worst possible life and the highest rung representing the best possible life, and rate their own lives accordingly.

The scores for young Canadians recorded between 2008 and 2025 paint a steep decline in life satisfaction, as well as a widening happiness gap between those aged 20 to 34 and those over 65.

The researchers noted that economic stressors accounted for nearly half of young adults’ decline in life evaluations, with housing affordability standing out as the biggest contributing factor.

While dissatisfaction with housing affordability has risen across all age groups, young adults are disproportionately affected. About one in five Canadians aged 20 to 34 reported shelter insecurity between 2023 and 2025, compared with roughly one in thirteen seniors.

Young Canadians’ concerns about housing affordability are not unfounded.

A report published in February this year found that, since 2004, new-home prices at the lower end of the market have risen by 265 per cent on average, while young dual-earner incomes grew just 76 per cent.

Data from Statistics Canada further illustrates the strain. In 2024, 51 per cent of young adults aged 20 to 35 had moving plans that were impacted by rising prices, compared to 25 per cent of older adults.

More than 8 in 10 young Canadians faced at least one housing challenge, compared with just over 6 in 10 of those aged 36 years and older.

Similarly to the Gallup Poll data, people who reported experiencing one or more housing challenges recorded lower results on indicators for overall well-being.

And despite housing affordability recently improving for the eighth consecutive quarter, RBC’s national aggregate affordability measure notes that this improvement in affordability is “poised to taper off.”

“We’re likely approaching the end of the recuperation phase for housing affordability in Canada,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the University of Alberta research is not the only recent study documenting a decline in life satisfaction in Canada.

The 2026 World Happiness Report saw Canada, once in the top five happiest countries, rank 25th, down from 18th the year before and extending a decade-long decline.

• How Canada's short-term thinking sparked a national housing crisis
• Younger Canadians not okay, majority of seniors surveyed content with their lives: StatCan

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