Aviator

Maybe check it out for yourself, I lived there a few years and closeby for 20+ and would take Abby over most other parts of the Lower Mainland.

I would not make a decision based on comments on a web forum, often from folks who have spent little or no time in a place.

Personally I could not be paid enough to live in Vancouver or its suburbs. Each to their own.

In 2013 there were 3 murders in Abby-Mission, 37 in Vancouver
Table 2 – Homicides, by census metropolitan area, 2012 and 2013

Tim Dart

Yeah, I'm going to give it some thought tonight and do some more research. Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

scrubbedexpat091

Per capita though it was very close. Although I would not be worried about being murdered in either location, most are not random.

palmerq

Abbotsford is alright, I lived there for a while in 2009 , doesn't have a big nightlife scene though so I guess many people would find it boring. It is in a pretty nice location and I found it a lot more relaxing to live in that surrey or burnaby(never lived in vancouver).. It has everything you need for everyday life but if you like big city life then I think it's not for you.. It does have the abbotsford sports and entertainment arena(although since the ahl team left I think they dropped the sports from the name), which has some interesting shows and events every so often..

as for cycling, I dont know anything about mountain biking or off roading but I used to take the road bike out a lot there and it's not too bad for road cycling, the terrain isn't super interesting, it is very flat unless you go up the sumas hill road which is fairly fun but it is short and very steep(around 15%) and it then turns into a gravel road once you get over the top of the hill.

I live in chilliwack right now but if circumstances changed I would quite like to move back to abbotsford, it's really quite alright and I think when I lived there it was named murder capital of canada that year and I never saw any trouble.

withabix

There do seem to be some pre-qualifications for being murdered.

Usually 1)being a drug dealer 2)having murdered somebody

Eddmac

I would rank Abbotsford as a decent place, with all the amenities you need to live close by. If your job is in Abbotsford, you could live anywhere within a 20 mile radius easily.
Maple Ridge and Mission over the river, Langley and Chilliwack south and everywhere in-between.

It all depends on your circumstances, are you a clubber? probably not the place for you, but if you're a bit older and have more sense, it's has some nice places to live and also some sh1th*les - bit like every town/city in every country in the world. (I live nearby and shop there regularly)

Eddmac

Yes there are "bikers" there and yes there are a lot of Harleys, but Hells Angels?

More like middle aged men on their weekend toys - think more Ben Stiller in "Wild Hogs"

chrisro55

As has been said before, clearly we should all take jovial comments on a web forum with a pinch of salt, and a wry smile!

However historically there were certainly gang (and specifically biker gang) issues in Abbotsford; however this is no different than many other area's around the lower mainland, Langley, Surrey Ect. and indeed any large city or town in north america / Canada.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...005406791.html

Eddmac

Ditto!

Or indeed any large town/city anywhere in the world.