2018 Alberta municipal censuses

Alberta has provincial legislation allowing its municipalities to conduct municipal censuses between April 1 and June 30 inclusive.^[1][2] Municipalities choose to conduct their own censuses for multiple reasons such as to better inform municipal service planning and provision, to capitalize on per capita based grant funding from higher levels of government, or to simply update their populations since the last federal census.^[3]

2018 Alberta municipal censuses

← 2017 April 1 – June 30, 2018 2019 →

Distribution of Alberta's 269 urban municipalities

Alberta began the year of 2018 with 352 municipalities.^[4] Of these, at least 38 (10.8%) conducted a municipal census in 2018. Alberta Municipal Affairs recognized those conducted by 37 of these municipalities.^[5] By municipal status, it recognized those conducted by 9 of Alberta's 18 cities, 11 of 109 towns, 4 of 86 villages, 3 of its 6 specialized municipalities, 1 of 63 municipal districts, 1 of its 8 improvement districts, and all 8 Metis settlements.^[5][a]

Some municipalities achieved population milestones as a result of their 2018 censuses. Blackfalds exceeded 10,000 residents, making it eligible for city status, while the Municipal District of Greenview No. 16 grew beyond the 6,000 mark for the first time.

Municipal census results

The following summarizes the results of the numerous municipal censuses conducted in 2018.

2018 municipal census summary[5][6]				2016 federal census comparison[7]				Previous municipal census comparison[8][9][10]
Municipality	Status	Census date	2018 pop.	2016 pop.	Absolute growth	Absolute change	Annual growth rate	Prev. pop.	Prev. census year	Absolute growth	Annual growth rate
Airdrie	City	April 1, 2018	68,091	61,581	6,510	10.6%	5.2%	64,922	2017	3,169	4.9%
Beaumont	Town	May 1, 2018	18,829	17,396	1,433	8.2%	4.0%	18,320	2017	509	2.8%
Blackfalds	Town	May 15, 2018	10,125	9,328	797	8.5%	4.2%	9,916	2017	209	2.1%
Boyle	Village	June 4, 2018	925	845	80	9.5%	4.6%	918	2009	7	0.1%
Bruderheim	Town	April 1, 2018	1,395	1,308	87	6.7%	3.3%	1,348	2014	47	0.9%
Buffalo Lake	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	702	712	−10	-1.4%	−0.7%	676	2015	26	1.3%
Calgary	City	April 1, 2018	1,267,344	1,239,220	28,124	2.3%	1.1%	1,246,337	2017	21,007	1.7%
Cardston	Town	June 18, 2018	3,909	3,585	324	9%	4.4%	3,578	2007	331	0.8%
Chestermere	City	May 1, 2018	20,732	19,887	845	4.2%	2.1%	20,331	2017	401	2.0%
Coalhurst	Town	May 22, 2018	2,767	2,668	99	3.7%	1.8%	2,522	2015	245	3.1%
Cochrane	Town	April 3, 2018	27,960	25,853	2,107	8.1%	4.0%	26,320	2017	1,640	6.2%
Crossfield	Town	May 1, 2018	3,308	2,983	325	10.9%	5.3%	3,055	2017	253	8.3%
East Prairie	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	491	304	187	61.5%	27.1%	459	2015	32	2.3%
Eckville	Town	May 24, 2018	1,163	1,125	38	3.4%	1.7%	1,002	2007	161	1.4%
Elizabeth	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	639	653	−14	-2.1%	−1.1%	690	2015	−51	−2.5%
Empress	Village	June 1, 2018	155	135	20	14.8%	7.2%	160[11]	2017	−5	−3.1%
Fishing Lake	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	436	446	−10	-2.2%	−1.1%	491	2015	−55	−3.9%
Fort Saskatchewan	City	April 2, 2018	26,328	24,149	2,179	9%	4.4%	25,533	2017	795	3.1%
Gift Lake	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	812	658	154	23.4%	11.1%	651	2015	161	7.6%
Grande Prairie	City	April 16, 2018	69,088	63,166	5,922	9.4%	4.6%	68,556	2015	5,922	0.3%
Greenview No. 16MD of Greenview No. 16	Municipal district	April 30, 2018	6,044	5,583	461	8.3%	4.0%	5,242	2013	802	2.9%
Improvement District No. 4 (Waterton)	Improvement district	June 22, 2018	108	105	3	2.9%	1.4%
Kikino	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	928	934	−6	-0.6%	−0.3%	918	2015	10	0.4%
Leduc	City	April 1, 2018	32,448	29,993	2,455	8.2%	4.0%	31,130	2017	1,318	4.2%
Lethbridge	City	April 1, 2018	99,769	92,729	7,040	7.6%	3.7%	98,198	2017	1,571	1.6%
Mackenzie County	Specialized municipality	April 18, 2018	12,512[12]	11,171	1,341	12%	5.8%	11,750	2015	762	2.1%
Okotoks	Town	May 2, 2018	29,002	28,881	121	0.4%	0.2%	28,016	2015	986	1.2%
Paddle Prairie	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	536	544	−8	-1.5%	−2.3%	530	2015	6	0.4%
Peavine	Metis settlement	June 5, 2018	566	607	−41	-6.8%	−3.4%	639	2015	−73	−4.0%
Raymond	Town	May 1, 2018	4,252	3,708	544	14.7%	7.1%	4,037	2017	215	5.3%
Rocky View County	Municipal district		36,776[13][b]	39,407	−2,631	-6.7%	−3.4%	38,055	2013	−1,279	−0.7%
Spruce Grove	City	April 4, 2018	35,766	34,066	1,700	5%	2.5%	34,881	2017	885	2.5%
St. Albert	City	May 1, 2018	66,082	65,589	493	0.8%	0.4%	64,645	2016	1,437	1.1%
Stirling	Village	June 1, 2018	1,269	978	291	29.8%	13.9%	1,269	2017	0	0.0%
Strathcona County	Specialized municipality	May 1, 2018	98,381	98,044	337	0.3%	0.2%	95,597	2015	2,784	1.0%
Strathmore	Town	April 1, 2018	13,528	13,756	−228	-1.7%	−0.8%	13,327	2015	201	0.5%
Waskatenau	Village	April 30, 2018	227	186	41	22%	10.5%	260	2000	−33	−0.8%
Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	Specialized municipality	April 1, 2018	75,009	71,589	3,420	4.8%	2.4%	81,948	2015	−6,939	−2.9%

Breakdowns

Urban and rural service areas

Sherwood Park is an urban service area within Strathcona County.

Fort McMurray is the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo's urban service area.

Strathcona County

2018 municipal census summary[14]		2015 municipal census comparison[14]
Area	2018 population	Previous population	Absolute growth	Annual growth rate
Sherwood Park urban service area[c]	71,332	68,782	2,550	1.2%
Rural service area[d]	27,049	26,815	234	0.3%
Total Strathcona County	98,381	95,597	2,784	1.0%

Wood Buffalo

2018 municipal census summary[17]		2015 municipal census comparison
Area	2018 population	Previous population	Absolute growth	Annual growth rate
Fort McMurray urban service area[c]	72,056	78,382	−6,326	−2.8%
Rural service area[d]	2,953	3,566	−613	−6.1%
Total RM of Wood Buffalo	75,009	81,948	−6,939	−2.9%

Hamlets

The following is a list of hamlet and other unincorporated community populations determined by the 2018 municipal censuses conducted by Rocky View County, Strathcona County and the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo excluding the urban service areas of Fort McMurray and Sherwood Park that are presented above.

2018 municipal census summary			Previous census comparison
Hamlet/unincorporated community	Municipality	2018 population [13][18][17]	Previous population [19][20]	Previous census year	Absolute growth	Annual growth rate
Antler Lake	Strathcona County	435	469	2015	−34	−2.5%
Anzac	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	659	763	2015	−104	−4.8%
Ardrossan	Strathcona County	532	412	2015	120	8.9%
Bottrel	Rocky View County	5
Bragg Creek	Rocky View County	459	454	2013	5	0.2%
Cochrane Lake	Rocky View County	769	792	2013	−23	−0.6%
Collingwood Cove	Strathcona County	376	360	2015	16	1.5%
Conklin	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	229	376	2015	−147	−15.2%
Conrich	Rocky View County	21	26	2013	−5	−4.2%
Dalemead	Rocky View County	29	27	2013	2	1.4%
Dalroy	Rocky View County	46	50	2013	−4	−1.7%
Delacour	Rocky View County	10
Fort Chipewyan	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	918	1,014	2015	−96	−3.3%
Fort MacKay	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	59	51	2015	8	5.0%
Gregoire Lake Estates	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	204	232	2015	−28	−4.2%
Half Moon Lake	Strathcona County	214	195	2015	19	3.1%
Harmony	Rocky View County	249
Hastings Lake	Strathcona County	104	87	2015	17	6.1%
Indus	Rocky View County	32	36	2013	−4	−2.3%
Janvier	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	141	155	2015	−14	−2.3%
Josephburg	Strathcona County	118	117	2015	1	0.3%
Kathyrn	Rocky View County	13	20	2013	−7	−8.3%
Keoma	Rocky View County	89	85	2013	4	0.9%
Langdon	Rocky View County	5,364	4,897	2013	467	1.8%
Madden	Rocky View County	26	21	2013	5	4.4%
North Cooking Lake	Strathcona County	57	59	2015	−2	−1.1%
Saprae Creek	Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	715	977	2015	−262	−9.9%
South Cooking Lake	Strathcona County	270	302	2015	−32	−3.7%

Shadow population counts

Alberta Municipal Affairs defines shadow population as "temporary residents of a municipality who are employed by an industrial or commercial establishment in the municipality for a minimum of 30 days within a municipal census year."^[3] Improvement District No. 4 (Wateron) and the RM of Wood Buffalo conducted shadow population counts in 2018. The following presents the results of these counts for comparison with their concurrent municipal census results.

Municipality	Status	Municipal census population[5]	Shadow population[5]	Combined population[5]
Improvement District No. 4 (Wateron)	Improvement district	108	405	513
Wood BuffaloRM of Wood Buffalo	Specialized municipality	75,009	36,678	111,687

See also

• List of communities in Alberta

Notes

1. No censuses were conducted among Alberta's 3 special areas and 51 summer villages.^[5]
2. Rocky View County was unable to enumerate 1,455 or 9.8% of its 14,791 dwellings in its 2018 municipal census. Rocky View extrapolated its results to an estimated population of 40,705.^[13]
3. The Fort McMurray and Sherwood Park urban service areas are deemed equivalents of cities.^[15][16]
4. Strathcona County's and the RM of Wood Buffalo's rural service areas are deemed equivalents of municipal districts.^[15][16]