Ontario and B.C. residents moving to Alberta help keep one wild streak going

Residents ditching Ontario and B.C. for Alberta have helped the province keep a wild interprovincial streak going, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

As of April 1, 2025, Alberta’s population was estimated at 4,980,659, with the first quarter of the year seeing the province add 20,562 residents, or a 0.41 per cent quarterly growth rate – a notable slowdown from the 1.06 per cent recorded during the same period in 2024.

The main contributor to this deceleration was a net outflow of non-permanent residents (NPRs), which weighed on net international migration. Growth due to net international migration was 0.21 per cent, followed by net interprovincial migration (0.14 per cent) and natural increase (0.06 per cent).

Alberta also led the pack when it came to significant interprovincial inflows in the first quarter of 2025, gaining 7,176 new residents from other parts of the country.

In contrast, Ontario experienced the largest net outflow (-5,237), followed by British Columbia (-1,636) and Quebec (-1,000). Since 2022, Alberta has consistently posted net gains from interprovincial migration – a marked reversal from the 2016 to 2021 period, when more people left Alberta for other parts of Canada than moved in from other provinces.

The first quarter of 2025 also marked the eleventh consecutive quarter in which Alberta recorded the highest net interprovincial migration gains in the country.

Alberta can thank Ontario for the largest number of new residents ditching that province at 3,574, followed by B.C. at 1,883. The next largest province to see residents flock to Alberta was Saskatchewan with 578 and then Manitoba at 517.

Statistics Canada

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Of the four largest provinces, Alberta was the only one to post population growth. B.C. and Ontario both saw their populations decline by 0.04 per cent, while Quebec declined by 0.01 per cent. Alberta recorded the second-highest growth rate amongst provinces and territories, just behind Prince Edward Island (0.42 per cent). Canada’s population grew by 0.05 per cent.

Migration accounted for 85 per cent of Alberta’s population growth this quarter, with 17,444 net new residents. This represents a 63 per cent decrease from the 47,667 net migrants during the same period in 2024.