The largest cities of Canada: urban units, municipalities and metro areas
Canada counted three ways: by continuous built-up area, by municipality and by metro area. 34 urban units pass 100,000 people; the largest is Toronto, with 5,647,656. The city of Toronto has 2,794,356 people within its limits; its urban unit, 5,647,656; its metro area, 7,741,270.
How Canada counts its cities
Statistics Canada calls a population centre any area of at least 1,000 people with at least 400 people per km². Nine Canadians in ten live within a few hundred kilometres of the United States border, as the map shows.
The 25 largest urban units
Source: Statistics Canada, population centres, 2021 census.
| # | Urban unit | People | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 5,647,656 | 1,829 |
| 2 | Montréal | 3,675,219 | 1,382 |
| 3 | Vancouver | 2,426,160 | 912 |
| 4 | Calgary | 1,305,550 | 622 |
| 5 | Edmonton | 1,151,635 | 627 |
| 6 | Ottawa-Gatineau | 1,068,821 | 192 |
| 7 | Winnipeg | 758,515 | 357 |
| 8 | Québec | 733,156 | 443 |
| 9 | Hamilton | 729,560 | 356 |
| 10 | Kitchener | 522,888 | 296 |
| 11 | London | 423,369 | 245 |
| 12 | Victoria | 363,222 | 223 |
| 13 | Halifax | 348,634 | 238 |
| 14 | Oshawa | 335,949 | 160 |
| 15 | Windsor | 306,519 | 185 |
| 16 | Saskatoon | 264,637 | 135 |
| 17 | St. Catharines-Niagara Falls | 242,460 | 141 |
| 18 | Regina | 224,996 | 106 |
| 19 | St. John's | 185,565 | 178 |
| 20 | Kelowna | 181,380 | 169 |
| 21 | Barrie | 154,676 | 95 |
| 22 | Sherbrooke | 151,157 | 103 |
| 23 | Guelph | 144,356 | 80 |
| 24 | Kanata | 137,118 | 62 |
| 25 | Abbotsford | 132,300 | 71 |
The 10 largest municipalities and metro areas
| # | Municipality | People | Metro area | People |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 2,794,356 | Toronto | 7,741,270 |
| 2 | Montréal | 1,762,949 | Montréal | 4,280,863 |
| 3 | Calgary | 1,306,784 | Vancouver | 2,621,650 |
| 4 | Ottawa | 1,017,449 | Calgary | 1,737,089 |
| 5 | Edmonton | 1,010,899 | Edmonton | 1,517,029 |
| 6 | Winnipeg | 749,607 | Ottawa | 1,344,684 |
| 7 | Mississauga | 717,961 | Québec | 931,968 |
| 8 | Vancouver | 662,248 | Winnipeg | 883,104 |
| 9 | Brampton | 656,480 | Kitchener | 645,737 |
| 10 | Hamilton | 569,353 | London | 563,055 |
Municipalities: GeoNames, latest census or estimate. Metro areas: GHSL functional urban areas. Metro areas are named after their main municipality, which is not always the best-known name of the area.
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