Trends from the 2019 Calgary Census

I’m sure you recall people going door-to-door for the census a few months ago and now the results are out. Calgary is currently sitting at a population of 1,285,711; this is an increase of 18,367 which is a growth of 1.45 per cent. Even with the slower economy in the city, Calgary is still showing a stable increase in population and, while we might not be seeing large spikes, it is believed that we will be seeing growth similar to 2019 over the next five years.

In recent years, Calgary has implemented a self-serve online census form and this year saw a three per cent increase from last year, meaning over two hundred thousand people chose to log in online to fill out the form rather than wait for someone to come to the door or receive a phone call. The 2019 census covers the period of April 2018 to April 2019 and asked questions like:

• Total number of residents.
• Ownership vs. renting.
• School support.
• Pre-school aged children born between 2013-2019.

“What the 2019 Civic Census tells us is that Calgary is growing even as we continue our economic recovery. We see where and how housing growth is taking place, giving us insight into how we need to plan our infrastructure investments. We are able to anticipate and plan for the effects an aging population is going to have on how the city operates,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “Building a city that focuses on quality of life requires good data and we’ll continue to make decisions based on the numbers for the benefit of all current and future Calgarians.”

Here are a few numbers behind the 2019 Calgary census:

• The fastest-growing community is Mahogany which saw 1,948 new people move in.
• Four other neighbourhoods saw population growth of over 1,000: Legacy, Nolan Hill, Cornerstone and Redstone.
• Calgary experienced a net positive migration of 9,560.
• The natural growth of Calgary sits at 8,897 due to our birth over death rate falling 612 from last year.
• There was 1.14 per cent increase in homes in the past year where we saw 5,866 new houses pop up.
• The number of vacant dwellings rose 484 from last year which means there are now 19,892 in the city.
• There are 489,062 occupied dwellings in the city; 66.41 per cent of those are owner-occupied.

As you can see, the slower economy has definitely slowed down growth in Calgary, however, it clearly hasn’t managed to stop it. We are seeing a slow, steady rise in population and homes being built that will no doubt explode as our economy continues to grow; it is an exciting time to be a citizen of Calgary. As people continue to move here and more jobs are created, we hope to see next year’s census show growth in all areas. Keep an eye out because the 2020 census is already just around the corner.