Canada’s large urban centres continue to grow and spread

February 16, 2022



In 2021, nearly three in four Canadians (73.7 per cent) lived in one of Canada's large urban centres—up from 73.2 per cent five years earlier.
These large urban centres with populations of 100,000 or more people, referred to as Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs), accounted for most of Canada's population growth (5.2 per cent) from 2016 to 2021.
Canada continues to urbanize as it welcomes new arrivals.
From 2016 to 2019, Canada welcomed a record high number of immigrants—more than 9 in 10 settled in CMAs.
There were six more CMAs in 2021 compared with five years earlier. This growth is another sign of the increasing urbanization of the country.
Rapid population growth in cities is increasing the need for infrastructure, transportation and services of all kinds—including front-line emergency services. Further urban spread also raises environmental concerns such as car-dependent cultures and encroachment on farmlands, wetlands and wildlife.
Most CMAs across Canada, big and small, are generally structured the same way. There is a downtown, usually characterized by a high concentration of apartments, condos, offices, shops, restaurants, theatres and bars. There is also an urban fringe, which often includes neighbourhoods of single family or townhomes with a yard, low-rise condos and apartments, occasionally interspersed by commercial or industrial zones. Various types of suburbs surround the downtown core and urban fringe, and depending on the size of the city, these suburbs can stretch out anywhere from a ten- to over 30-minute drive downtown. Although most CMAs take on the same basic form, each is unique in that they reflect the character of the Canadians who live there. Location within Canada and home prices are also important considerations, as are the economic.