Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories: the places inside it, the companies based here, and where this atlas has research on it.
territory · North America · page prepared 2026-11-07
Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for NWT →
NWT at a glance
Rolled up from the 2 regions inside NWT on this site, with census figures from Statistics Canada.
Who leads NWT, and how households are doing
Researched 2026-11-08 from official statistics; every figure links to its source.
- Population
- 45,904 persons (2026-07) ↗
- GDP
- 5,067 CAD millions, GDP at market prices, current prices (expenditure-based) (2025) ↗
- Unemployment
- 5.8 % (seasonally unadjusted, 3-month moving average, LFS) (2026-10) ↗
- Inflation
- 4.7 % y/y, Yellowknife All-Items CPI (12-month moving average: 2.8%) (2026-09) ↗
- Median household income
- 133,300 CAD, 2024 constant dollars; median total income, economic families and persons not in an economic family (StatCan 11-10-0190) (2024) ↗
- Average household income
- 158,500 CAD, 2024 constant dollars; average total income, economic families and persons not in an economic family (StatCan 11-10-0190) (2024) ↗
Home prices in the biggest cities
As each source measures them (benchmark, median or average sale price); not directly comparable across measures.
| City / metro | Price | Measure | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellowknife ↗ | 524,178 CAD | aggregate average home price (CMHC/CREA), +5.8% y/y, 306 sales | 2025 |
Languages
Official-language and home-language figures as the census reports them.
| Language | Share | Measure | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| English ↗ | 75.95% | mother tongue (single responses), % of total population | 2021 |
| Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib) ↗ | 3.32% | mother tongue (single responses), % of total population | 2021 |
| North & South Slavey ↗ | 3.16% | mother tongue (single responses), % of total population | 2021 |
| French ↗ | 2.79% | mother tongue (single responses), % of total population | 2021 |
| Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) ↗ | 1.96% | mother tongue (single responses), % of total population | 2021 |
| Dene (incl. Chipewyan) ↗ | 1.02% | mother tongue (single responses), % of total population | 2021 |
| English and French (bilingual) ↗ | 4,295 people | knowledge of official languages, persons (total 40,545; English only 35,940; French only 100; neither 210) | 2021 |
| Chipewyan/Dene, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tłı̨chǫ ↗ | official status (11 official languages under the NWT Official Languages Act) | 2026 |
Largest companies in NWT
Ranked by the measure shown, from the cited ranking or filing.
Worth knowing
- 2026-11The NWT uses a consensus system of government: the Premier and Cabinet are selected by the Members of the Legislative Assembly at a territorial leadership meeting, and there are no party caucuses. ↗
- 2026-11Real GDP fell 1.9% in 2025 to $3,991.8M (chained 2017 dollars). Diamond mining fell 9.0% and construction fell 11.2%. CMHC called it the weakest performance in Canada. ↗
- 2026-03The Diavik diamond mine (Rio Tinto) ended commercial production on March 26, 2026, after 23 years and more than 150 million carats. Closure work runs to 2029. ↗
- 2026-07On July 14, 2026, the GNWT was granted a receivership order over the Ekati diamond mine after owner Arctic Canadian Diamond Co. entered CCAA protection in May. PwC was appointed receiver for shutdown and reclamation, backed by $325M in security. ↗
- 2026-09Population was 45,904 on July 1, 2026, down 127 from a year earlier. ↗
- 2026-10Yellowknife consumer prices rose 4.7% year over year in September 2026, against 3.1% for Canada. Energy rose 19.7% and fuel oil rose 52.9%. ↗
Census
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population.
- Tlicho (Dogrib)720 · 1.8%
- Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)410 · 1%
- Punjabi (Panjabi)120 · 0.3%
- Deh Gah Ghotie Zhatie (South Slavey)115 · 0.3%
- Vietnamese105 · 0.3%
- Satuotine Yati (North Slavey)70 · 0.2%
- Inuinnaqtun (Inuvialuktun)55 · 0.1%
- Inuvialuktun25 · 0.1%
- Inuinnaqtun25 · 0.1%
- Gwich'in15 · 0%
Largest places in NWT
By registry population; places with a full /local page are marked.
- 1.Yellowknife, Northwest Territories full20,340
Inside NWT
2 regions have NWT as their parent.
Companies based in NWT
1 companies in the Research Upon directory have their headquarters somewhere in NWT. Search them by name or industry.
areaAbout this page: figures for the whole of Northwest Territories are rolled up from every region inside it; each place inside has a page of its own, and the companies headquartered here are listed above.