Last winter was a good one, because our doors never froze up. Either that or the new seals I put in actually fixed the problem.

But it was back to 2C at night last week.

For the OP: Looks like you can still get a 2-bed apartment or townhouse in that price range here but house prices and rents have gone silly since I moved here in 2007. The big problem you'll have is that the safer areas are generally the ones which don't have good bus services, and the buses here are not the best to start with. I've known people who rented apartments downtown, but there isn't much in the way of grocery stores and it's gone downhill since then (I've only been there one time in the last five years, for example, and hadn't been there more than ten minutes before the first drug dealer approached me).

Those safest areas are typically the east side of the city and the newer developments on the west. The older areas on the west have the worst reputation, and in many cases it seems to be warranted.

Saskatoon police have a crime map which may come in handy: https://map.saskatoonpolice.ca/

Not that anywhere in the city is really particularly dangerous unless you get involved with drugs and gangs (most violence seems to be either drunks, druggies or gang-related), but there are still areas with pretty much no crime and areas where you wouldn't really want to live.

5-6 hours if you don't stop for gas and you pee into a cup as you're driving. I did Saskatoon -> Edmonton -> Saskatoon recently and it was 7-8 hours each way with stops for breaks and lunch.

It's basically the same as driving from London to Edinburgh in the UK, except there are only about a dozen bends on the whole route.

I like being a long way from anywhere but the city has been sinking under inept councils for most of the time I've lived here. We want to move out but haven't found a place we like yet.

Back to the OP, arriving in October may be exciting with sudden snow storms and cars sliding off the road because they forgot how to drive in snow since last year. Or the weather may be like this year where the snow all melted in January... and then the city was buried in snow for a few days in March.

If you do get a car, get some winter tires because you'll appreciate it when the temperature is forty below and the rubber of regular tires turns rock-hard. Many people here--like us--have a second set of wheels and tires which we swap over twice a year.

Oh yeah, we also had multiple tornado alerts yesterday but they seem to have bypassed the city and hit some farms instead. I think that's only the second time since I moved here that we've had them, but the thunderstorms can get pretty exciting at times too. We were driving back from North Battleford followed by crazy-looking black clouds and trying to stay ahead of them so the cars don't get any more hail dents.

Other things off the top of my head:

Population growth in the city has been so fast there are practically no doctors taking new patients because they're all full. That's not such a big deal if you don't have any chronic health problems since there are plenty of medical clinics around, but you might have to wait a few hours there if it's not an emergency.

Drivers are insane, but it's not a big deal if you drive defensively.

Eight-hour power outages are not unknown in the depths of winter but the houses are insulated enough that they won't freeze.

Coyotes and deer move into the city if the winter is a bad one, and some areas have wolf/coyote hybrids who like to eat pet dogs if they can catch one. But watch out for herds of deer crossing the road in March if it is a cold and snowy winter.

I've not been on here for a while, I live in Martensville just north of Saskatoon.. how are you getting on? We moved here in 2014.

heyyyyy, we’re here now 😊 in the Erindale area of Saskatoon. Settling slowly 😊

Cool. Not been to Erindale much but we go to or through Martinsville quite often.

Check out YouTube for channels showing life in Saskatoon/ Canada I think there a few.
I nearly moved to Saskatoon in 2008. Check out the art museum Remai Modern at the river. if it’s anything like its predecessor The Mendel Art Gallery it’s very worth visiting

"Strange North" has some interesting videos, particularly the ones about the gangs of the province (and other parts of Canada). Checking his channel just reminded me I need to take a look at the Oddities Museum on 33rd Street one day.

If you do have a car, there's a 'small towns of Saskatchewan' channel which found us a few interesting places to visit. I would never have stopped off at Titanic if I hadn't seen it there, for example.

Hopefully OP is enjoying our snowfall today! There's a lot of it but doesn't look too bad around here as the wind has been blowing most of it into drifts on the lawn.