Immigration led BC to its largest population growth since 1974 last year

For the first time since 2012, more Canadians moved out of BC to other provinces than they moved in, but the region still saw its highest population growth since 1974, thanks to immigration last year.

A report from liv.rent has more on that stat and some surprising facts about which BC cities specifically are seeing the most significant population growth and which ones are growing the fastest.

Vancouver is not one of the cities seeing significant population growth.

Liv.rent, citing data from Statistics Canada, states that the country saw its highest immigration levels since 2011 last year, which was a rent price driving factor and a primary factor in the population growth for BC. Ontario saw the most significant number of new immigrants (44%), followed by BC (15%).

When looking at interprovincial migration, BC saw more Canadians move out of the province than had moved in.

As has been the story for this region for years, rent prices “increased largely” thanks to housing project completion not matching the population growth driven by immigration.

Between July 2022 and July 2023, BC’s population grew by around 3%, which liv.rent attributes primarily to immigration.

Richmond saw the highest population growth last year among all Metro Vancouver cities, followed by Burnaby and Coquitlam.

Coquitlam was the fastest growing city last year, which saw a 126% increase in housing project completions, followed by Burnaby at 110%.

Across BC, the 2023 average rent price was $2,320 for a one-bedroom unit. West Vancouver, Vancouver, and North Vancouver were the top three most expensive cities in Metro Vancouver, while Langley, Surrey, and Coquitlam were the cheapest.

“[Last year] also saw Canada’s highest level of interprovincial migration since 2011. Alberta welcomed the most in-migrants from other provinces, with 92,607 Canadians
relocating to the province between Q1 – Q3 2023,” liv.rent’s report states.

Statistics Canada also had interesting data for interprovincial moves between BC and Alberta.

“The most significant change is observed in movements between British Columbia and Alberta. In 2021/2022, Alberta saw net losses of 8,301 people to British Columbia, but it saw net gains of 16,462 in 2022/2023.”