The population of Calgary is 1.2 million (1,239,220). This makes Calgary the third largest city in Canada, the largest city in Alberta, and the 20th largest city in North America.
Latest data from Statistics Canada shows that the population of the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area (of which the city of Calgary is the largest part) was 1,392,609 in 2016. The Calgary CMA is home to 4% of people who live in Canada.
Calgary one of the fastest growing major cities in Canada. Its population grew by 12.99% between the 2011 and 2016 censuses.
Calgary is located in the south of the Canadian province of Alberta. It is approximately 50 miles east of the Canadian Rockies and about 180 miles south of Edmonton, the Capital City of Alberta.
This article contains detailed information about Calgary demographics, covering both the city of Calgary and the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area.
Calgary Metro Population
The city of Calgary is the largest part of the Calgary Census Metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,392,609.
Although the city of Calgary is the third largest city in Canada, the Calgary CMA is only the fourth largest CMA in Canada. This is because Vancouver, which is a smaller city than Calgary, has a larger metropolitan area. The two largest census metropolitan areas by population in Canada are Toronto and Montreal.
There are two other cities in the Calgary CMA, Airdrie (population: 61,581) and Chestermere (population: 42,564). Airdrie and Chestermere are two of the ten fastest growing cities in Canada – Airdrie grew by 44.68% and Chestermere by 34.15% between the 2011 and 2016 censuses.
The Calgary CMA also contains a number of smaller towns and a First Nations Reserve (the Tsuu T’ina Nation).
Calgary Population Growth
As noted above, Calgary one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. The Calgary population grew by 12.99% between 2011 and 2016 .
The Calgary population growth rate is slightly lower than the rate of growth in Edmonton, the other major city in Alberta, which was 14.82% over the same period. However, Calgary’s population growth is three times as high as the average rate of growth across Canada.
By 2041 the population of the Calgary CMA is projected to grow to 2.4 million. Much of this population growth is likely to occur just outside of the city boundaries in suburban commuter towns like Airdrie.
The table below lists the population of Calgary every five years since 1891.
| Year | Population | % Change |
| 1901 | 4,091 | n/a |
| 1906 | 11,967 | 192.5% |
| 1911 | 43,704 | 265.2% |
| 1916 | 56,514 | 29.3% |
| 1921 | 63,305 | 12.0% |
| 1926 | 65,291 | 3.1% |
| 1931 | 83,761 | 28.3% |
| 1936 | 83,407 | -0.4% |
| 1941 | 88,904 | 6.6% |
| 1946 | 100,044 | 12.5% |
| 1951 | 129,060 | 29.0% |
| 1956 | 181,780 | 40.8% |
| 1961 | 249,641 | 37.3% |
| 1966 | 330,575 | 32.4% |
| 1971 | 403,319 | 22.0% |
| 1976 | 469,917 | 16.5% |
| 1981 | 592,743 | 26.1% |
| 1986 | 636,107 | 7.3% |
| 1991 | 710,795 | 11.7% |
| 1996 | 768,082 | 8.1% |
| 2001 | 878,866 | 14.4% |
| 2006 | 988,193 | 12.4% |
| 2011 | 1,096,833 | 11.0% |
| 2016 | 1,239,220 | 12.6% |
Note: Data provided by Statistics Canada.
Calgary Population Density
The city of Calgary covers 825.29 km². Based on its current population of 1,239,220, Calgary has a population density of 1,501 people per km².
The Calgary Census Metropolitan area covers 5,107.55 km². With a population of 1,392,609 in 2016, the Calgary CMA population density was 272.5 people per km².
Calgary Languages
Seven in every 10 people (70.9%) in Calgary speak English as their first language. Eight in every 10 people (80.3%) speak English most often at home.
A further 1.5% people speak French as their first language. Just over a quarter of people in Calgary (25.3%) speak another non-official language.
The most commonly spoken other languages in Calgary are Tagalog / Filipino (2.6%), Punjabi (2.6%), Chinese (2.3%) and Spanish (2.0%).
Just 7.2% of people in Calgary are English – French bilingual. People aged 20 to 44 (8.7%) are most likely to be bilingual, and people aged over 65 (4.3%) are least likely to be bilingual. People whose first language is French (88.7%) are almost 14 times more likely to be bilingual and people whose first language is English (6.4%).
Ethnicity in Calgary
The most common ethnic group in Calgary is White (67.3% of the population).
Nearly a third (30.1%) of Calgary residents reported in the 2011 census that they were members of a Visible Minority Group. The largest of these groups were South Asian (7.5%), Chinese (6.8%), Filipino (4.4%) and Black (2.9%).
A further 2.7% of the population of Calgary is Aboriginal. Métis are the largest aboriginal group, they make up 1.4% of the population, followed by First Nations with 1.2% of the population. Inuit and other aboriginal peoples make up the remaining 0.1% of the population.
When asked about their ethnic origin, 24.12% of people in Calgary reported that it was English. This was followed by Canadian (19.96%), Scottish (18.49%), German (15.51%) and Irish (15.34%).
A further 9.33% of people reported that their ethnic origin was French and 7.19% reported that their origin was Chinese. Note that people were able to select more than one group of ethnic origin.
Religion in Calgary
Based on the 2011 census Christianity remains the largest single religion in Calgary. 54.9% of respondents reported that they were Christian.
Almost a third of people (32.3%) reported that they had no religion. This was followed by Islam (5.2%), Sikh (2.6%) and Buddhist (2.1%).
Resources and further reading
Unless otherwise noted, demographic data in this article is provided by Statistics Canada, who conduct a nationwide census every five years or the City of Calgary, who conduct an annual civic census.
