Largest Canadian cities since 1921

[Docere]

Top 10 Canadian cities ranked since 1921. Using CMAs from 1951 on and city propers before that (with "greater cities" in brackets where available).

1921

1. Montreal 618,506
2. Toronto 521,893
3. Winnipeg 179,807
4. Vancouver 163,220
5. Hamilton 114,151
6. Ottawa 107,843
7. Quebec 95,193
8. Calgary 63,305
9. London 60,959
10. Edmonton 58,821

1931

1. Montreal 818,517 (1,023,158)
2. Toronto 631,207 (810,467)
3. Vancouver 246,593 (308,340)
4. Winnipeg 218,784 (284,295)
5. Hamilton 155,547 (163,710)
6. Quebec 130,594 (172,517)
7. Ottawa 126,872 (175,988)
8. Calgary 83,761
9. Edmonton 79,917
10. London 71,148

1941

1. Montreal 903,007 (1,139,921)
2. Toronto 667,567 (900,491)
3. Vancouver 275,353 (351,491)
4. Winnipeg 221,960 (290,540)
5. Hamilton 166,337 (176,110)
6. Ottawa 154,951 (215,022)
7. Quebec 150,757 (200,814)
8. Windsor 105,311 (121,112)
9. Edmonton 93,817
10. Calgary 88,904

1951

1. Montreal 1,395,400
2. Toronto 1,117,470
3. Vancouver 561,960
4. Winnipeg 354,069
5. Ottawa 292,476
6. Quebec 274,827
7. Hamilton 272,327
8. Edmonton 173,748
9. Windsor 163,618
10. Calgary 140,645

1961

1. Montreal 2,109,509
2. Toronto 1,824,481
3. Vancouver 790,165
4. Winnipeg 475,989
5. Ottawa 429,750
6. Hamilton 395,189
7. Quebec 357,568
8. Edmonton 337,568
9. Calgary 279,062
10. Windsor 193,365

1971

1. Montreal 2,823,629
2. Toronto 2,699,927
3. Vancouver 1,082,441
4. Ottawa 647,035
5. Winnipeg 563,195
6. Edmonton 530,888
7. Quebec 512,233
8. Hamilton 503,189
9. Calgary 418,410
10. St. Catharines-Niagara 323,162

1981

1. Toronto 2,998,947
2. Montreal 2,828,349
3. Vancouver 1,268,183
4. Ottawa 717,978
5. Edmonton 657,057
6. Calgary 592,743
7. Winnipeg 584,842
8. Quebec 576,075
9. Hamilton 542,095
10. St. Catharines-Niagara 304,353

* Notable change in rankings with Toronto passing Montreal, Edmonton and Calgary passing Winnipeg.

1991

1. Toronto 3,897,034
2. Montreal 3,222,845
3. Vancouver 1,587,683
4. Ottawa 936,873
5. Edmonton 841,132
6. Calgary 754,543
7. Winnipeg 664,449
8. Quebec 652,412
9. Hamilton 598,345
10. London 401,191

2001

1. Toronto 4,671,682
2. Montreal 3,398,965
3. Vancouver 1,979,344
4. Ottawa 1,070,244
5. Calgary 951,560
6. Edmonton 937,845
7. Quebec 681,022
8. Winnipeg 676,594
9. Hamilton 659,005
10. London 435,007

2011

1. Toronto 5,583,064
2. Montreal 3,824,221
3. Vancouver 2,313,328
4. Ottawa 1,236,324
5. Calgary 1,214,389
6. Edmonton 1,159,869
7. Quebec 765,706
8. Winnipeg 730,018
9. Hamilton 721,053
10. Kitchener-Waterloo 477,160

2021

1. Toronto 6,202,225
2. Montreal 4,201,732
3. Vancouver 2,642,825
4. Ottawa 1,488,307
5. Calgary 1,481,806
6. Edmonton 1,418,118
7. Quebec 839,311
8. Winnipeg 834,768
9. Hamilton 785,184
10. Kitchener-Waterloo 575,847

[jbermingham123]

The biggest notable change since 1981 is likely about to happen this decade: Calgary and Edmonton passing Ottawa

[Docere]

They're all pretty much equal. Ottawa grew faster (8.5%) than Edmonton (7%) and Calgary (6%) between 2016 and 2021.

Particularly notable is Winnipeg's drop from third to eighth. Winnipeg was still the fourth largest city until the 1960s and remained the top Prairie city until the 1970s.

[Nouvellecosse]

Biggest surprises for me are London and QC. I had no idea that London was in the top 10 back a whole century ago. I expected that it's (re)entry in the 90s was it's first appearance. And I didn't realize how stable QC's position has been, never deviating from the 6-8 range the entire time despite all the other movement.

[plinko]

What were the populations for the six cities that made up Toronto in 1998 and before? I've been unable to find that.

[Docere]

London sometimes gets into the top 10, sometimes it doesn't. Windsor grows very rapidly during the interwar years with the growth of the auto industry and pulls ahead of London.

London

1901 37,976
1911 46,509
1921 60,959
1931 71,148
1941 78,134

Windsor

1901 12,153
1911 17,829
1921 38,591
1931 63,108
1941 104,415

Windsor is really the bigger city in 1931 (Greater Windsor has a population of 110,385), but it "officially" pulls ahead in the 1930s after a major annexation which pushes London off the top 10 list.

London shows up again later but is surpassed by similar sized Kitchener-Waterloo.

[hipster duck]

For a country that's grown rapidly over the last 100 years, the list of the largest cities has remained remarkably the same. Only the ranking changed, and not by a lot.

There's nothing like the 1950 vs. 2020 US census, where cities like St. Louis and Cleveland have completely disappeared from top 20 lists, while cities like Houston and Phoenix have shot up to near the top.

[ChiMIchael]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

For a country that's grown rapidly over the last 100 years, the list of the largest cities has remained remarkably the same. Only the ranking changed, and not by a lot.

There's nothing like the 1950 vs. 2020 US census, where cities like St. Louis and Cleveland have completely disappeared from top 20 lists, while cities like Houston and Phoenix have shot up to near the top.

The because the US is probably the only country that's going through a major population redistribution. I don't know of a country that went through this ever.

[Xing]

Originally Posted by ChiMIchael

The because the US is probably the only country that's going through a major population redistribution. I don't know of a country that went through this ever.

And we like wasting shit, like housing stock and land. Once we think something is undesirable, we leave, let it go to shit, and rebuild uglier, sprawling, cheaply built, pastel colored illusions of safety. It’s a travesty that we are allowing beautifully built cities with incredible architecture go to waste.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by ChiMIchael

The because the US is probably the only country that's going through a major population redistribution. I don't know of a country that went through this ever.

Brazil comes to mind.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

For a country that's grown rapidly over the last 100 years, the list of the largest cities has remained remarkably the same. Only the ranking changed, and not by a lot.

There's nothing like the 1950 vs. 2020 US census, where cities like St. Louis and Cleveland have completely disappeared from top 20 lists, while cities like Houston and Phoenix have shot up to near the top.

It's because the US is so wealthy and so efficient that we can afford to have a huge chunk of the population live inefficiently for vanity purposes (the entire retired population of Florida, Arizona, etc., plus trust funders).

[202_Cyclist]

How have the Atlantic provinces of Canada fared over the past century? Have they lost population? Halifax looks like it is booming.

Also, is Moose Jaw holding its own?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

For a country that's grown rapidly over the last 100 years, the list of the largest cities has remained remarkably the same. Only the ranking changed, and not by a lot.

There's nothing like the 1950 vs. 2020 US census, where cities like St. Louis and Cleveland have completely disappeared from top 20 lists, while cities like Houston and Phoenix have shot up to near the top.

Canada's legacy cities have been blessed by the fact that they haven't had a sunbelt to compete with since the widespread adoption of AC roughly 7 decades ago.


City - 1950 metro rank - 2020 metro rank

Dallas - #24 - #4
Houston - #18 - #5
Miami - #34 - #8
Atlanta - #23 - #9
Phoenix - #51 - #11
Tampa - #42 - #18

And going in the opposite direction, most of the rustbelt.

Detroit - #5 - #15
St. Louis - #9 - #21
Baltimore - #12 - #20
Pittsburgh - #8 - #26
Cincinnati - #15 - #30
Cleveland - #11 - #32
Milwaukee - #16 - #40
Buffalo - #14 - #49

[Docere]

In Canada you have about 60% of the population living in 2% of the land area and no sunbelt.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Canada's legacy cities have been blessed by the fact that they haven't had a sunbelt to compete with since the widespread adoption of AC roughly 7 decades ago.


City - 1950 metro rank - 2020 metro rank

Dallas - #24 - #4
Houston - #18 - #5
Miami - #34 - #8
Atlanta - #23 - #9
Phoenix - #51 - #11
Tampa - #42 - #18

And going in the opposite direction, most of the rustbelt.

Detroit - #5 - #15
St. Louis - #9 - #21
Baltimore - #12 - #20
Pittsburgh - #8 - #26
Cincinnati - #15 - #30
Cleveland - #11 - #32
Milwaukee - #16 - #40
Buffalo - #14 - #49

Also, Las Vegas had less than 25,000 people in 1950!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_in_the_1950s

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

How have the Atlantic provinces of Canada fared over the past century? Have they lost population? Halifax looks like it is booming.

Also, is Moose Jaw holding its own?

The overall Atlantic population has generally grown steadily but extremely slowly, but there's been a much more significant shift between rural and urban. A few successful cities (mostly Halifax, St. John's, and Moncton) showing fairly healthy growth and the others remaining stagnant or slow decline. Well, up until very recently (since the covid began) when growth has risen significantly, but it's unclear how long that will continue.

[Docere]

% living in region

1950

Northeast 26%
Midwest 30%
South 31%
West 13%

2020

Northeast 17%
Midwest 21%
South 38%
West 24%

[Docere]

Canada:

1951

Atlantic 12%
Quebec 29%
Ontario 33%
Prairies 18%
BC 8%

2021

Atlantic 7%
Quebec 23%
Ontario 38%
Prairies 18%
BC 14%

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by ChiMIchael

The because the US is probably the only country that's going through a major population redistribution. I don't know of a country that went through this ever.

The partition of India and Pakistan and the barbarian migrations after the Roman collapse would both like a word.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

How have the Atlantic provinces of Canada fared over the past century? Have they lost population? Halifax looks like it is booming.

Also, is Moose Jaw holding its own?

Atlantic Canada struggled for population growth for decades before COVID.

Halifax was sort of the one (small) exception, and posted consistent, albeit not incredible, growth. Nova Scotia had basically a flat population for 30 years, with Halifax's growth basically offsetting rural population loss. Between 1986 and 2016, Nova Scotia went from 873,000 to 923,000. In that time, Canada went from 26 to 36 million.

Since COVID, Atlantic Canada has been basically the fastest growing part of the country on a percentage basis. I think the draw of a still-decent climate (much better than the prairies) and cheap housing has been a big draw for remote-workers and the likes. Nova Scotia is already pushing 1.1 million.