Largest Cities in Canada by Population: All 41 Metro Areas

Canada’s largest city is Toronto, with 6,202,225 people in its metropolitan area at the 2021 Census. Montréal is second with 4,291,732 and Vancouver third with 2,642,825. Six metropolitan areas have more than a million people: those three, then Ottawa–Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton.

The table ranks all 41 of Canada’s census metropolitan areas. They are the same 41 you can mark on the Canadian cities map, which adds four smaller capitals so that every capital is on it.

All 41, ranked by population

Rank	Metropolitan area	Province	Population, 2021
1	Toronto	Ontario	6,202,225
2	Montréal	Quebec	4,291,732
3	Vancouver	British Columbia	2,642,825
4	Ottawa–Gatineau	Ontario and Quebec	1,488,307
5	Calgary	Alberta	1,481,806
6	Edmonton	Alberta	1,418,118
7	Québec City	Quebec	839,311
8	Winnipeg	Manitoba	834,678
9	Hamilton	Ontario	785,184
10	Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ontario	575,847
11	London	Ontario	543,551
12	Halifax	Nova Scotia	465,703
13	St. Catharines–Niagara	Ontario	433,604
14	Windsor	Ontario	422,630
15	Oshawa	Ontario	415,311
16	Victoria	British Columbia	397,237
17	Saskatoon	Saskatchewan	317,480
18	Regina	Saskatchewan	249,217
19	Sherbrooke	Quebec	227,398
20	Kelowna	British Columbia	222,162
21	Barrie	Ontario	212,856
22	St. John’s	Newfoundland and Labrador	212,579
23	Abbotsford–Mission	British Columbia	195,726
24	Kingston	Ontario	172,546
25	Greater Sudbury	Ontario	170,605
26	Guelph	Ontario	165,588
27	Saguenay	Quebec	161,567
28	Trois-Rivières	Quebec	161,489
29	Moncton	New Brunswick	157,717
30	Brantford	Ontario	144,162
31	Saint John	New Brunswick	130,613
32	Peterborough	Ontario	128,624
33	Lethbridge	Alberta	123,847
34	Thunder Bay	Ontario	123,258
35	Nanaimo	British Columbia	115,459
36	Kamloops	British Columbia	114,142
37	Chilliwack	British Columbia	113,767
38	Belleville–Quinte West	Ontario	111,184
39	Fredericton	New Brunswick	108,610
40	Drummondville	Quebec	101,610
41	Red Deer	Alberta	100,844

Together the 41 had 27,281,119 people in 2021. Statistics Canada put it this way: nearly three in four Canadians, 73.7%, lived in one of the country’s large urban centres.

What counts as a city here

Each row is a census metropolitan area, the unit Statistics Canada uses for a city and the places that work as part of it. In its definition, a metropolitan area is “formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre”, and must have at least 100,000 people, of whom 50,000 or more live in the core.

So “Toronto” in this table is the City of Toronto together with neighbours such as Mississauga, Brampton, Markham and Vaughan. Hamilton and Oshawa, close as they are, are metropolitan areas of their own and have their own rows.

That is the main reason lists disagree. A ranking by municipality counts only the people inside each city’s own limits, and city limits are drawn very differently from one place to the next. A ranking by metropolitan area, like this one, compares like with like.

Six of the 41 were new in 2021, having grown past the threshold: Fredericton, Drummondville, Red Deer, Kamloops, Chilliwack and Nanaimo.

How many are in each province?

Province	Metropolitan areas	Which ones, largest first
Ontario	16	Toronto, Ottawa–Gatineau, Hamilton, Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, London, St. Catharines–Niagara, Windsor, Oshawa, Barrie, Kingston, Greater Sudbury, Guelph, Brantford, Peterborough, Thunder Bay, Belleville–Quinte West
British Columbia	7	Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, Abbotsford–Mission, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Chilliwack
Quebec	6	Montréal, Québec City, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières, Drummondville
Alberta	4	Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Red Deer
New Brunswick	3	Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton
Saskatchewan	2	Saskatoon, Regina
Newfoundland and Labrador	1	St. John’s
Nova Scotia	1	Halifax
Manitoba	1	Winnipeg
Canada	41

Ontario has 16 of the 41. Prince Edward Island and the three territories have none: Charlottetown, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit are capitals, but none is a census metropolitan area. They are on the cities map all the same.

The capital is often not the largest city

Canada: the capital region, Ottawa–Gatineau, is fourth.
Alberta: Calgary (1,481,806) is larger than the capital, Edmonton (1,418,118).
British Columbia: Vancouver is more than six times the size of the capital, Victoria (397,237).
Quebec: Montréal is five times the size of the capital, Québec City (839,311).
Saskatchewan: Saskatoon (317,480) is larger than the capital, Regina (249,217).
New Brunswick: the capital, Fredericton (108,610), is the smallest of the province’s three metropolitan areas, behind Moncton (157,717) and Saint John (130,613).

Have the numbers changed since 2021?

Yes. Cities have grown, and Statistics Canada publishes estimates between censuses. Its estimate for 1 July 2025 was 31,169,100 people in the 41 metropolitan areas, or 74.8% of Canadians. From 2024 to 2025 the fastest growth was in Edmonton (up 3.0%), Moncton (2.9%) and Calgary (2.9%), while Toronto’s population was virtually unchanged.

Those estimates start from the 2021 Census, which is why the ranking above uses it: it is the most recent full count. A new census was taken in 2026, and Statistics Canada has scheduled its first results, the population and dwelling counts, for 10 February 2027.

From a list to a map

A ranking tells you which cities are big. It does not tell you which ones you have seen. On the cities map you mark the ones you have been to and get a count out of 45. On the Canada map the same cities sit inside their provinces, next to national parks and landmarks, and each province gets its own percentage. For the provinces themselves, see Canada’s 10 provinces and 3 territories.

Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will check it against the sources and correct it.