WATERLOO — Local cities were shut out of the top 10 in an annual ranking of the best places to live in Canada, but each moved up from their 2014 position in the list of 209 cities.

Despite missing the top 10 of MoneySense's annual ranking, the City of Waterloo was ranked fourth in a list of the best places in the country for new immigrants.

Reem Al-Halimi is one of the immigrants who make up a full 25 per cent of Waterloo's population, according to the ranking.

"It's still a smaller city, not like Toronto, so it's very calm and naturally beautiful," said Al-Halimi. "Not too many buildings, but just the right size.

"You can get everything, but you still have the quiet feel of a less hectic life here."

Al-Halimi is from Kuwait and moved to Waterloo in 1993 to pursue a master's degree in computer science at the University of Waterloo.

She co-founded a tech company called iKlyk last year and lives in the city with her husband and two children.

She said the local tech community is one of Waterloo's best qualities. "You have this amazing tech hub with the Accelerator Centre and Communitech and the university."

Justin McFadden, economic development executive director, said if talent had been considered in the ranking, Waterloo would have scored even higher.

"They don't really talk about talent in particular, which is really the key asset here in Waterloo," he said.

Saanich, B.C., was named the best place to live in the country for new Canadians, with an immigrant population of about 17 per cent.

Waterloo was ranked the 16th best place to live overall. That's a spike from ranking 43rd last year.

Low unemployment, ease for walking, biking and transit along with high incomes and strong arts and sports communities helped the city score well.

"It's really indicative that the city is on a very positive trajectory as we go forward," McFadden said.

Boucherville, Que., was named the best place to live in Canada and the City of Guelph nudged Waterloo to take the 15th spot.

Kitchener took the 40th spot, up from 63rd last year, and Cambridge moved up 45 slots to 90th place.

Data from Environics Analytics, Statistics Canada and other data providers are used to prepare the rankings.

To compile the list, MoneySense looked at several criteria for each category and assigned each criterion a weight.

For the overall best places to live, wealth, demographics, commute, weather and crime, amenities, health care, culture and taxation were considered.

Cities were ranked against their peers.

In determining the best places for new immigrants to live, language, demographics, commute, wealth, crime, weather, health care, amenities, culture and the rental market were considered.