List of population centres in Alberta

A population centre, in Canadian census data, is a populated place, or a cluster of interrelated populated places, which meet the demographic characteristics of an urban area. A population centre has a population of at least 1,000 and a population density of no fewer than 400 people per square kilometre.[1]

Population centres are not the same thing as urban municipalities. For example, the city of St. Albert is legally separate from Edmonton, but they are part of the same population centre.

The term was introduced in the Canada 2011 Census; prior to that, Statistics Canada used the term urban area.[1]

As of the 2006 Census of Canada, the Province of Alberta had 107 urban areas[2] with a cumulative population of 2,699,851 and an average population of 25,232. In the 2011 census, Statistics Canada listed 109 population centres in the province.[3] This number increased to 122 in the Canada 2016 Census.

  1. ^ a b "From urban areas to population centres" Archived 2012-12-13 at the Wayback Machine. Statistics Canada, May 5, 2011.
  2. ^ "2006 Census Dictionary: Table 1, Geographic units by province and territory, 2006 Census". Statistics Canada. 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  3. ^ Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and population centres, 2011 and 2006 censuses: Alberta. Statistics Canada.