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I’ve lived in Mississauga pretty much my whole life and I love it here. There are so many things to like about this city. And, like any city in the world, there are some drawbacks that we will discuss as well. But if you are considering making a move to this city, then read on. Here are the 5 things you should know before moving to Mississauga, Ontario.
1. The City of Mississauga and the People That Live In Mississauga
Mississauga is the 6th largest city in Canada and the 3rd largest in Ontario with a confirmed population of 721,599 in 2016. That number is definitely higher in 2021, so that’s a lot of people currently living in Mississauga!
The cool thing about this is there is so much diversity in the people that live in this city. Mississauga is a very multicultural city with around half of the population identifying as a visible minority. The people that live here come from all around the world. You’ll be exposed to so many different people from different backgrounds and different cultures. The best part is we all get along and everyone is so welcoming and friendly.
Although Mississauga is a big city, it’s been recognized as one of the safest cities in Canada for many years in a row. The crime rate in 2018 was reported to be around 2500 crimes per 100,000 people.
If we compare that to some of the other large cities in Canada, you can see that Mississauga's crime rate per capita is much lower than all of them. The red line is Mississauga’s crime rate and you can see Toronto’s crime rate is at almost 3500, Ottawa’s is at almost 4000. Although Canada in general is a safe place to live, you can see the crime rate per capita is more than doubled that of Mississauga's.
Mississauga is really safe compared to some of the other big cities in Canada. Like all cities in the world, there are some areas you may not want to walk around alone at night. But for the most part, Mississauga is a safe city and you can feel comfortable going about your daily business without having to worry about anything happening to you.
So we’ve already covered that Mississauga is a big city but another thing I wanted to touch on is that Mississauga is broken up into a bunch of different neighbourhoods that each have their own vibe. There’s a downtown core called the "City Centre" with some high rise apartment buildings that resembles a "mini Downtown Toronto". And then from there, there is a suburban sprawl with each neighbourhood having their own character.
There’s Streetsville, a cute little town with some local shops and historic buildings. There’s Port Credit with beautiful views of the lake and a nice little strip with lots of shops, restaurants and bars. There's always a lot of activity in Port Credit.
There’s newer neighbourhoods and older neighbourhoods, each with their own little attractions. There’s different styles of houses and different price points. It’s just a really diverse city.
2. Mississauga Transportation and Getting Around
On to the next point, what is the transportation in Mississauga like? How does one get around in Mississauga? Well, Mississauga has the MiWay transit system, which is your basic bus system to take you around the city. The transit system connects with the TTC, which is the Toronto Transit System, so you can get to the Toronto Subway. MiWay also connects to the Brampton Transit System (Zoom) and the Oakville Transit System.
There’s also the GO Transit System, which has buses and trains with more direct routes and will take you to places within the city or to other cities more quickly. Many people live in Mississauga and take the GO Train into Toronto every day for work. Depending on which station you go to, it takes about 20-40 minutes to get to downtown Toronto, so not a bad commute at all.
Now I’m going to be completely honest with you - Mississauga is primarily a car city, meaning it is much easier to get around with a car. Everything is more spread out in Mississauga so driving makes your life a lot easier. There’s tons of parking everywhere so you never really need to worry about that, aside from a few areas.
The transit system isn’t bad by any means, but it’s not that great either. It's definitely not as sophisticated as some of the other major cities in the world like London, Tokyo, or New York. There’s no subway system in Mississauga which does make travel time a little bit longer. But just like anywhere in the world, you have to budget some extra travel time when you’re taking the public transit.
Now if you do have a car, getting around in Mississauga is quite easy. There can be a lot of traffic at times, especially if it’s rush hour, but the traffic isn’t nearly as bad as in Toronto. The roads tend to be wider with more lanes so you can get around much quicker than if you were driving in Toronto.
The cool thing about Mississauga is that it has excellent highway access if you need to get neighbouring cities quickly. It’s the only city in the Greater Toronto Area serviced by all the major highways - that's the 401, 403, QEW, 407, and 410. You can hop on a highway and get to another city fairly quickly from Mississauga (depending on the traffic of course) which can be really bad at times. If you like to go shopping in the United States, you can hop on a highway and be at the border in less than 2 hours, which is pretty great.
The Toronto Pearson International Airport, which is the major airport for the Greater Toronto Area, is also in Mississauga and you can get there quickly for all of your vacation and travel needs. There’s flights out of this airport to many of the major cities around the world. It’s great to be near the airport if you’re a big traveller.
And of course, we also have Uber and Taxis as well. If you want to go to some of the bars along the Port Credit strip or you want to check out the nightlife in Toronto, Uber is definitely easier than trying to use public transit to get home, especially if it is late at night.
3. Job Opportunities In Mississauga
Number 3 on the list is the job opportunities in Mississauga. This city has been growing rapidly and many companies have decided to set up shop here.
There are over 90,000 businesses that reside in Mississauga with job opportunities in several key industries like Biomedical, Pharmaceutical, Finance, Insurance, Information Technology, Automotive & Telecommunication. One interesting fact is that nearly 70% of the employed people in Mississauga have a post secondary degree. That really sheds some light on the quality of jobs that are available in this city.
There are also 75 Fortune 500 Companies that have Canadian headquarters in Mississauga. Companies like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, Walmart, and many more. Even Amazon has a distribution facility here.
There are tons of businesses here with lots of job opportunities. And if that’s not enough, Toronto is just a short commute away with even more businesses and job opportunities.
4. Things To Do In Mississauga
This is my favourite section because there is so many things to do in Mississauga! All across the city, there are tons of restaurants and bars, both franchise and family owned. If you’re like me and you love food, then you know how exciting it is to go to a restaurant and get some awesome food.
There are so many great places to eat and, with Mississauga being as multicultural as it is, there are literally hundreds of restaurants from all different cultures that will have whatever you’re craving. If you want awesome Italian food, Indian food, Chinese food, Thai food, Greek food - whatever kind of food you can think of, there is definitely a restaurant in Mississauga that will serve it.
If you like shopping, then Mississauga is the place to be. Square One Shopping Centre, which is located in the City Centre area of Mississauga, is the second biggest mall in Canada and the biggest mall in Ontario with 330 stores.
Also, Heartland Town Centre, one of the biggest outdoor shopping centres in Canada, is also in Mississauga. There are a few other malls and outdoor shopping centres but these two are the big ones. There’s also tons of little shops scattered throughout the city.
If you like to play sports, there are a lot of community centres and parks where you can gather some friends and play a game of soccer or baseball.
You can go swimming in the various outdoor and indoor pools, play some hockey, or play some basketball. If you have kids wanting to get into sports, there are a ton of options and opportunities throughout the city. There’s also a few golf courses you can check out if you’re into that.
Mississauga also has 22km of shoreline on Lake Ontario, so if you’re into water sports, there’s plenty of access there. We’re also a pretty short drive away from THOUSANDS of beautiful lakes just north of the city.
Speaking of lakes, if you’re a nature lover then Mississauga is the place to be! There are over 480 parks in Mississauga and tons of walking trails along the credit river. You can pretty much go from any neighbourhood and find yourself submersed nature within about 10 minutes. And if the nature within the city isn’t enough, its just a short drive away to some really nice conservation areas like Rattlesnake Point, Hilton Falls and Heart Lake.
There’s so much you can do in Mississauga and too many to name. Some things that come to mind are movie theatres, go karting, art museum, and indoor skydiving. You can always find something to do in Mississauga. And if the city doesn’t have something you’re into, which would surprise me, it’s a short drive to Toronto.
5. Weather In Mississauga
So the last thing I wanted to talk about is the weather. Depending on the type of person you are and what you like, the weather in Mississauga is all over the place - we kind of have it all. We definitely get all 4 seasons in Mississauga.
The summers are hot and humid, with an average high of about 25°C. The fall and spring are cooler with an average high of about 10-13°C. The winters are cold and snowy with an average high of about -1°C.
The average precipitation is 831.0 mm (32.72 in). We generally see anywhere from 6-10 days of rain a month, which isn’t so bad if you’re not a fan of rain like myself.
In comparison to other cities in Canada, the weather in Mississauga isn’t too bad. It’s a little more mild than the other cities with the exception of Vancouver. We are right by the lake so that controls the temperature year round. Mississauga is farther south compared to some of the other major cities in Canada so that plays a role in it as well.
The weather does vary year to year of course but generally, the summers are hot and humid and the winters are snowy and cold. Over the past few years the winters have been more mild and we haven’t been getting that much snow.
That being said, if you prefer it to be hot year round, you might want to look at somewhere like Southern California, Arizona, Mexico, I don’t know, the Sahara desert? But if you do enjoy a place that has changing seasons, then Mississauga may be the right place for you.
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