Methodology and definitions

Two kinds of figures appear on this site and they are never mixed: 2021 Census counts for municipalities, census divisions and provinces, and July 1 population estimates for census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs). Every figure is labelled with its source and year.

Geography

Municipalities are census subdivisions (CSDs) of the 2021 Standard Geographical Classification: 5,161 areas, each with a seven-digit code and an official status such as City, Town, Village or Indian reserve. Census divisions (CDs) group CSDs; the first four digits of a CSD code are its CD. CMAs and CAs are formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a core; the estimates use 2021 boundaries for every year.

Indicators from the 2021 Census (Table 98-10-0004-01)

Population, 2021 and 2016: Usual residents on Census Day. 2016 counts are on 2021 boundaries; values marked “r” were revised.
Change, 2016–2021: Percentage change published by Statistics Canada.
Private dwellings: All private dwellings, occupied or not.
Occupied by usual residents: Private dwellings occupied by usual residents. This equals the number of private households.
Land area and density: Land area in square kilometres and people per square kilometre, as published.

Housing types and household size (Table 98-10-0041-01)

Private households: 2021 Census, 100% data. A private household is a person or group of persons occupying the same private dwelling; collective dwellings are excluded.
Structural type of dwelling: The structure the household lives in: single-detached, semi-detached or row house, apartment or flat in a duplex, apartment in a building of fewer than five or of five or more storeys, other single-attached house, or movable dwelling (mobile homes, houseboats, recreational vehicles). “Households in apartments” on this site adds the duplex and both apartment categories.
Household size and average household size: The number of persons in a private household. The average household size is published by Statistics Canada; the shares by size and by type are calculated on this site from the published counts.
Rounding: Statistics Canada randomly rounds these counts to a multiple of 5 (counts below 10 are rounded to 0, 5 or 10), so shares may not add up to exactly 100% and the household total can differ slightly from the occupied-dwelling count in Table 98-10-0004-01.

Calculated on this site

Share of dwellings occupied by usual residents: Occupied ÷ total private dwellings × 100. A low share means more cottages, second homes, dwellings occupied only by temporary or foreign residents, or vacant dwellings.
People per occupied dwelling: 2021 population ÷ occupied private dwellings. The population includes people in collective dwellings (such as seniors’ residences), so this is not the census average household size.
Change in people: 2021 population − 2016 population.
Ranks: Within a province or territory, among municipalities that meet the data criteria below. Equal values share a rank.
Estimate shares: Age-group shares, dependency ratio ((0–14 + 65+) ÷ 15–64 × 100), Men+ per 100 Women+, and growth rates are calculated from the published estimates.

Data criteria for municipality pages

Every municipality has a page. A page is offered to search engines only when all seven census indicators are published, the area is not an incompletely enumerated reserve or settlement, it has a place name (not an unorganized area), and it has at least 50 residents and 10 occupied dwellings, below which a single person changes the growth rate by two points or more. Other pages remain available but are marked “Limited data” and are excluded from rankings.

Population estimates (Table 17-10-0148-01)

Population estimates are not census counts. They are Statistics Canada's July 1 estimates for the 2021 census metropolitan area or census agglomeration boundaries: final to 2020, final postcensal for 2021, updated postcensal for 2022 to 2024 and preliminary for 2025. Ages are as of July 1. Gender categories are those published by Statistics Canada (Men+ and Women+).

Symbols

“—” means the source publishes no value (not available, not applicable, suppressed or too unreliable). It is never shown as zero.