Structured newcomer data that can be checked and cited.
CanadaStarter research turns scattered provider and government disclosures into transparent comparisons, with methodology and source links published alongside the results.
2026 Newcomer Housing & Transit Cost Index
Nineteen-city benchmark using CMHC 2025 average 2-bedroom rents plus current regular adult transit costs.
Open research →Research asset2026 Newcomer Banking Cost Study
A transparent 1-, 3- and 5-year comparison of major-bank newcomer fee waivers and standard chequing fees.
Open research →Research asset2026 Newcomer Bank Eligibility Reference
Primary-source CIBC, BMO, RBC and Scotiabank eligibility by status, arrival window and pre-arrival route.
Open research →Research asset2026 Newcomer Tax & Benefit Rules Reference
CRA-backed first-return deadlines, residency, foreign-income, CGEB/CCB and T1135 newcomer rules.
Open research →Research asset2026 Newcomer Health Coverage Reference
Public health-plan timing and status rules across all 10 provinces and 3 territories using government sources.
Open research →Research asset2026 Newcomer Driver’s Licence Exchange Reference
Foreign-licence deadlines, reciprocal exchanges, non-reciprocal testing and experience-credit rules across 13 jurisdictions.
Open research →Research asset2026 Canada Credit Utilization Reference
10%, 20% and 30% utilization balances across common credit limits from $500 to $10,000.
Open research →Research asset2026 Money Transfer FX Markup Cost Reference
The CAD cost of 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 3% exchange-rate markups across international transfer amounts from $100 to $10,000.
Open research →Research asset2026 Canada Mobile Data Value Reference
Current Public Mobile, Fizz, Lucky Mobile and Chatr examples compared by annual cost and price per included GB.
Open research →Research asset2026 Travel Data Usage Reference
Activity-level planning assumptions for maps, messaging, social, streaming, video calls and hotspot use.
Open research →Research asset2026 Canada Tenant Insurance Lease & Coverage Reference
Primary-source tenant-insurance lease treatment across all provinces and territories, with explicit confidence labels.
Open research →Research asset2026 Canada Rental Deposit Rules Index
All 10 provinces and 3 territories compared using official tenancy and legislative sources.
Open research →Research assetRental Deposit Rules Across Canada
Plain-English guide to how standard rent and security deposits differ across Canada.
Open research →Research assetFree Newcomer Resource Library
A curated source library linking directly to government and nonprofit settlement resources.
Open research →Our research standard
We prefer primary provider disclosures and government sources, preserve the assumptions used in calculations, and separate temporary promotions from ongoing costs. Where the public source does not support a confident conclusion, we label the result for verification instead of filling the gap with an assumption.
One structured dataset can power several useful surfaces: a research table, an interactive calculator and narrowly targeted pages answering a specific province, product, immigration status, health-plan rule, driver-licence rule, tax rule, credit limit, transfer amount, mobile-data tier, travel duration or insurance question.
How to cite or reuse the data
Journalists, settlement organizations, educators and researchers may cite CanadaStarter tables or calculations with attribution and a link to the relevant research page. Downloadable CSV versions of our core national datasets are available from the open-data hub, and the media desk packages the strongest research angles for reporting.
Download citation-ready CSV datasets →
Media & press research desk →
If a rule or provider term changes, use our contact page and include the primary source so we can update the underlying dataset.