Why Medicine Hat
Advantages for Business
Medicine Hat’s strategic location provides businesses with the ability to reach major North American markets in a single day’s drive. The city is conveniently situated on the Trans-Canada Highway providing primary access to Calgary and Vancouver. With easy to access major highways, railways, a regional airport, and the United States border, Medicine Hat an ideal location for business and pleasure.
Medicine Hat Regional Airport (YXH) is the region’s main airport, offering daily service to Calgary. In 2019, the airport managed 18,000 aircraft movements (primarily for flight training), while also serving 80,000 passengers via Air Canada and WestJet. In 2017, the airport underwent a $12 million upgrade to the taxiway and 5,000 foot runway.
Medicine Hat is strategically located on the Trans-Canada Highway, which serves 29,000 vehicles per day. The Crowsnest Highway (8,700+ vehicles per day) connects Medicine Hat to Lethbridge and Vancouver. Highway 41 connects Medicine Hat to the north and southeast areas of Alberta, and the Wild Horse Border crossing into the United States.
Medicine Hat is served by Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail). CP Rail’s mainline splits at Medicine Hat, running south to Lethbridge and north to Calgary.
Medicine Hat is one of Western Canada’s lowest-cost business centres offering a robust labour force with skill sets ranging from general labour to engineering. The population is young, with a median age of 42 and a workforce of over 20,000 people between the ages of 20-44. The city’s average hourly wage represents a 15% discount over Alberta’s average.
The City of Medicine Hat owns and operates its own utilities including gas and electricity, providing amongst the most competitive tax and utility rates in all of Western Canada.
We have a number of unique and creative incentives and grants available to our businesses.
As a department of the City of Medicine Hat, the Economic Development team has access to the best advisors and professionals for conducting business. We are here to support you from planning and development right through to ribbon cutting as a convenient, effective one-stop-shop.
Quality of Life
In one word, Medicine Hat is sunshine!
330+ Days Per Year
We are a warm, vibrant, feel-good city, with the attitude and natural backdrop to match. We honour our city’s heritage while fostering progress, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We are a dynamic bright spot, with an emerging and growing creative culture. And our quality of life truly does shine.
Our scenic landscape is anchored by the broad and mighty South Saskatchewan River, carved coulees, and rolling prairies. The sun rises and sets in glorious displays of colour and stars light up the night sky. Our city is a beautiful, natural sight to see.
Our community is safe, comfortable, affordable, and where family and friends gather to celebrate their lives. Opportunity abounds, in business and in pleasure, without commutes, crowds, and big-city hassles. We experience life up close and personal. We have hot summer nights and chinook-cheered winter days. Known as the 'Oasis of the Prairies', our city is warm at heart and in life.
Medicine Hat is home to a growing hub of education institutions for all members of the family. Elementary and secondary schools include a variety of learning environments including: one charter school, French Immersion, and a virtual school to meet the ever-changing needs of students.
The Medicine Hat College proudly serves over 6,000 learners each year. Offering a variety of certificate, diploma, degree, university transfer and trades programs with collaborative agreements in place with University of Calgary and Mount Royal University.
Medicine Hat is known for its abundance of first-class amenities for residents and guests alike, including a trail system of over 115 kilometres that winds through both residential areas and the beautiful river valley and coulees. Medicine Hat offers a vibrant scene for recreational activities, historical interests, culinary experiences and entertainment.
The average price of a home in Medicine Hat is $302,720 compared to the provincial average of $376,600. Each of our city’s neighbourhoods is built with thoughtful purpose offering close access to schools, trail system, and shops.
The Medicine Hat Regional Hospital is an acute care facility offering 73 services. Core programs include surgical services, mental health, critical care, pediatrics, 24-hour emergency, ambulatory care, obstetrics, neonatal intensive care, geriatric services, community health, home care, X-ray and lab.
The recent 30,800 sq. foot expansion includes an outpatient family maternity clinic, a cancer clinic, day medicine, the laboratory, six operating rooms, 10 NICU suites, and a rooftop helipad. Families receiving medical care at the Regional Hospital for their children can now book accommodations at Medicine Hat’s, Ronald McDonald House.
Medicine Hat also has several private and speciality clinics servicing the region.