Chilliwack got cheaper to buy into this year and more expensive to own. Home prices across every property type are down year over year, while the city’s property tax went up 4.9% and hydro rates rose again. Which of those two facts matters more depends entirely on whether you are arriving with a mortgage pre-approval or a moving truck and a lease.
This page puts a source and a date on every number, because most cost-of-living pages for Chilliwack do not. Figures come from CMHC’s rental survey, the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board via CREA, BC Assessment, the City of Chilliwack’s own budget and fee schedules, BC Transit and Statistics Canada. Where a reliable local number does not exist, this page says so rather than inventing a range.
About these numbers
Costs are quoted for the geography and period the source actually measures. A rent figure surveyed in October 2025 is labelled as such, and is not presented as today’s asking rent. Where only a national or provincial figure exists, it is marked. Last verified 17 September 2026.
What it costs to buy a home in Chilliwack
Chilliwack has its own real estate board, the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board, so its benchmark prices are reported separately from the wider Fraser Valley. This matters more than it sounds: the Fraser Valley board’s detached benchmark sat at $1,319,600 in August 2026, while Chilliwack’s was $859,200. Any page quoting Fraser Valley averages as Chilliwack prices is out by roughly half.
| Property type | Benchmark price, Aug 2026 | Change vs Aug 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Composite (all types) | $704,600 | −5.2% |
| Detached | $859,200 | −5.8% |
| Townhouse | $582,900 | −5.4% |
| Apartment | $401,000 | −2.7% |
Source: CADREB MLS Home Price Index, published by CREA, August 2026.
The average sale price tells a slightly different story at $742,897 in August 2026, up about 1% year over year, with the year-to-date average at $766,774. Benchmark and average move apart when the mix of what sells changes, so the benchmark is the better guide to what a comparable home costs.
Prices falling while averages hold steady is a buyer’s market, and the board said as much: fewer owners are listing, and buyers are taking their time.
Assessed value is not the same as market price
BC Assessment put the typical Chilliwack residential property at $902,000 on the 2026 roll, down about 1% from $907,000 the year before. That number is useful for working out your tax bill and useless for working out an offer, because it reflects market value as of 1 July 2025. By the time you read it, it is more than a year stale.
Rent in Chilliwack
CMHC surveys purpose-built rental buildings every October. These are the most recent official figures:
| Unit | Average rent, Oct 2025 |
|---|---|
| Bachelor | $881 |
| One bedroom | $1,227 |
| Two bedroom | $1,527 |
| Three bedroom or larger | $2,193 |
Source: CMHC Rental Market Survey, October 2025, Chilliwack census subdivision.
Read those as a floor rather than a forecast. CMHC averages include tenants who have been in place for years under rent-increase caps, so what you are quoted on a vacant unit will sit above the average, often well above it for anything recently renovated. The survey also covers purpose-built buildings only, not the basement suites and rented townhouses that make up a large share of what Chilliwack actually offers.
Vacancy across the city’s purpose-built stock was 3.1% in the same survey. Loose enough to give you some choice, and tight enough that the good units still go quickly. CMHC rates its own bedroom-level vacancy breakdowns for Chilliwack as poor reliability, so the overall figure is the one worth quoting.
Property tax, utilities and the bills that follow you
Chilliwack council approved a 4.9% municipal property tax increase for 2026, down from 7.17% the year before. Nearly three points of that single increase, 2.95 percentage points, comes from RCMP contract costs alone. The 2026 financial plan funds two additional RCMP positions, three firefighters and a fire chief.
Curbside collection is billed separately, at $27.15 to $34.80 a month depending on cart size. Extra garbage tags doubled to $4.00 each under the city’s new solid waste bylaw.
For electricity, BC Hydro’s Step 2 residential rate is 14.08 ¢/kWh, and the utility’s approved increases were 3.75% annually for both the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. BC Hydro’s published Step 1 rate and the BC Utilities Commission’s differ slightly, so it is left out here rather than quoted wrongly; check your own bill’s tier before budgeting.
| Cost | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Municipal tax increase | 4.9% | 2026 |
| Curbside collection | $27.15–$34.80/month | 2026 |
| Extra garbage tag | $4.00 each | 2026 |
| BC Hydro Step 2 rate | 14.08 ¢/kWh | current |
| Combined sales tax | 12% (5% GST + 7% PST) | current |
Basic groceries are exempt from both sales taxes.
Getting around, and what it costs
Chilliwack’s local BC Transit system charges $2.50 for a single adult ride, $5 for a DayPASS and $53 for a 30-day adult pass. Seniors pay $35 a month and students $45.
The Fraser Valley Express, route 66, is the one that matters if you work west of the city. It runs from Chilliwack through Abbotsford and Carvolth to Lougheed Town Centre station, where it meets SkyTrain. A single ride is $5, ten rides are $45, and a 30-day pass is $100, or $85 for students and seniors.
Fares confirmed on BC Transit’s Chilliwack page, last modified 8 September 2026.
Most households here still run a car, and Chilliwack’s own transportation plan found that over 91% of commuting trips were made by car, using 2016 census figures. Budget for fuel, insurance and maintenance accordingly, and read the commuting section of our guide on what living in Chilliwack is actually like before you assume you can do without one.
Food, and the one honest figure available
There is no published grocery basket for Chilliwack specifically. What does exist is Canada’s Food Price Report, produced annually by Dalhousie, Guelph, Saskatchewan and UBC. Its 2026 edition predicted a family of four would spend $17,571.79 on food over the year, up to $994.63 more than in 2025, on an overall food price increase of 4% to 6%.
That works out near $1,465 a month for four people, nationally. Scale it to your household and adjust for how often you eat out. Anyone quoting you a precise Chilliwack grocery bill is guessing.
What you need to earn
The living wage for the Fraser Valley was calculated at $24.25 an hour for 2025, up 4.4% on the year before, against $27.85 in Metro Vancouver. Those are the hourly rates two working adults with two children need to cover actual local costs, and the 2026 calculation is not published until November.
Household income varies sharply by neighbourhood. The City of Chilliwack’s own neighbourhood profiles, built on 2021 census data, put the median household income at $55,600 in Chilliwack Proper and $101,000 in Little Mountain, with most areas between $71,000 and $94,000. Our breakdown of how the city’s neighbourhoods differ has the figure for each one.
A worked example, with the gaps marked
Take a single person renting a one-bedroom and using transit:
| Line | Monthly | Source quality |
|---|---|---|
| Rent, one bedroom | $1,227 | CMHC survey average, Oct 2025, so expect to pay above this on a new lease |
| 30-day transit pass | $53 | Confirmed current |
| Curbside collection | $27–$35 | If you rent a house rather than an apartment |
| Electricity | varies | Tier-dependent; check the bill |
| Food | varies | No local figure exists |
| Phone, internet, insurance, health extras | varies | No reliable local figure |
Sourced lines come to roughly $1,307 to $1,315 a month before food, power and everything personal. That is deliberately an incomplete number. It is the part anyone can stand behind.
How Chilliwack compares in the Lower Mainland
On housing, Chilliwack remains one of the cheaper entry points within reach of Metro Vancouver, and the 2026 price softening widened that gap. The trade-off arrives as commuting distance and time, which is the section most people underweight when they run the numbers.
If you are weighing it against other Fraser Valley options, our figures for Abbotsford and Maple Ridge are built the same way, and Richmond’s costs show what the same money buys closer in. For communities cheaper than all of them, we mapped where BC’s genuinely low-cost places are.
Budgeting the move itself
Moving costs sit outside your monthly budget but land in the same month as first rent, last rent and a damage deposit, which is what catches people out. Distance, volume, stairs and access all move the price, and a quote given without someone asking about those is not a quote.
Secure Moving covers Chilliwack and the rest of the valley. For a figure you can plan around, our Chilliwack moving team can put one together, and you can see everywhere we work across the Lower Mainland. We are a Vancouver moving company that runs this corridor regularly.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average cost of living in Chilliwack per month?
No official body publishes a single monthly cost-of-living figure for Chilliwack, and the sites that do are crowd-sourced. What can be sourced: a one-bedroom rented at CMHC’s October 2025 city average of $1,227, a 30-day transit pass at $53, and curbside collection between $27.15 and $34.80. Food, power and personal costs sit on top, and the national family-of-four food estimate for 2026 is $17,571.79 a year.
Is Chilliwack cheaper than Vancouver?
Substantially, on housing. Chilliwack’s detached benchmark price was $859,200 in August 2026 against a Fraser Valley board benchmark of $1,319,600, and Metro Vancouver’s living wage is $27.85 an hour against the Fraser Valley’s $24.25. The offset is transport: most Chilliwack households run a car, and there is no rapid transit east of Langley.
What salary do you need to live comfortably in Chilliwack?
Living Wage for Families BC put the Fraser Valley rate at $24.25 an hour for 2025, the level two working adults with two children need to cover real local costs. Median household income by neighbourhood ranges from $55,600 in Chilliwack Proper to $101,000 in Little Mountain on 2021 census data.
Are house prices in Chilliwack going up or down?
Down, across every property type. As of August 2026 the composite benchmark fell 5.2% year over year, detached 5.8%, townhouses 5.4% and apartments 2.7%. The board attributed it to softer buyer demand and fewer new listings.
How much is property tax in Chilliwack?
Your bill depends on your assessed value, and the typical Chilliwack residential assessment on the 2026 roll was $902,000. Council approved a 4.9% municipal increase for 2026, of which 2.95 percentage points is RCMP contract costs.
