Western Canada
Western Canada: the places inside it, the companies based here, and where this atlas has research on it.
zone · North America · page prepared 2026-11-07
Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Western Canada →
Western Canada at a glance
Rolled up from the 195 regions inside Western Canada on this site, with census figures from Statistics Canada.
Who leads the provinces and territories inside
From each one's researched profile.
- British Columbia — David Eby Premier (caretaker after the 2026-10-24 election loss; still listed as Premier on official pages), BC New Democratic Party ↗
- Alberta — Danielle Smith Premier, United Conservative Party ↗
Census
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population — summed from the province/state summaries; income, rent and rates are population-weighted means of their medians, not national medians.
- Punjabi (Panjabi)256,440 · 2.8%
- Mandarin199,555 · 2.2%
- Yue (Cantonese)171,270 · 1.8%
- Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)112,030 · 1.2%
- Spanish63,605 · 0.7%
- Korean56,575 · 0.6%
- Arabic39,945 · 0.4%
- Vietnamese35,145 · 0.4%
- Iranian Persian31,620 · 0.3%
- Hindi28,175 · 0.3%
- German27,145 · 0.3%
- Russian24,455 · 0.3%
Provinces and territories
One row per census summary, largest first.
| Name | Population | Median household income | Median rent | Immigrants | Unemployment | Businesses on file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 4,999,235 | $87,842 | $1,357 | 29.3% | 8.4% | 154,066 |
| Alberta | 4,262,210 | $97,330 | $1,281 | 23.5% | 11.5% | 110,836 |
Largest employers headquartered in Western Canada
Worldwide head offices from the /employers research, ranked by people employed as each company reports it.
- 1.Alberta Health Services Edmonton, AB · Health care — hospitals and public health ↗111,100 worldwide, 2024
- 2.Stantec Edmonton, AB · Professional services — engineering, architecture and environmental consulting ↗34,000 worldwide, 2025
- 3.Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC) Calgary, AB · Transportation — Class I railway ↗19,479 worldwide, 2025
- 4.Suncor Energy Inc. Calgary, AB · Energy — integrated oil sands, refining, Petro-Canada retail ↗15,010 worldwide, 2025
- 5.Enbridge Inc. Calgary, AB · Energy — pipelines, gas utilities, renewables ↗14,500 worldwide, 2025
- 6.Canadian Natural Resources Limited Calgary, AB · Energy — oil and natural gas production ↗10,640 worldwide, 2025
- 7.West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. Vancouver, BC · Forest products — lumber, OSB, engineered wood ↗10,000 worldwide, 2026
- 8.PCL Construction Edmonton, AB · Construction — general contracting ↗9,800 worldwide, 2024
- 9.ATCO Ltd. Calgary, AB · Diversified — utilities, energy infrastructure, modular structures ↗8,200 worldwide, 2025
- 10.Cenovus Energy Inc. Calgary, AB · Energy — integrated oil and gas ↗7,150 worldwide, 2025
- 11.Covenant Health Edmonton, AB · Health care — hospitals and continuing care ↗7,111 worldwide, 2025
- 12.TC Energy Corporation Calgary, AB · Energy — natural gas pipelines and power ↗6,668 worldwide, 2025
- 13.Canfor Corporation Vancouver, BC · Forest products — lumber, pulp and paper ↗6,500 worldwide, 2026
- 14.ATB Financial Edmonton, AB · Finance — banking and wealth management ↗5,400 worldwide, 2026
- 15.Precision Drilling Corporation Calgary, AB · Oilfield services — contract drilling ↗5,159 worldwide, 2025
Largest places in Western Canada
By registry population; places with a full /local page are marked.
- 1.Calgary, Alberta full1,306,784
- 2.Edmonton, Alberta full1,010,899
- 3.Vancouver, BC full921,000
- 4.Vancouver Island, BC870,000
- 5.Surrey, BC full700,000
- 6.Burnaby, BC full300,000
- 7.Coquitlam/PoCo, BC full243,554
- 8.Richmond, BC full242,966
- 9.Langley, BC full197,500
- 10.North Vancouver, BC166,371
- 11.Kelowna, BC full165,400
- 12.Abbotsford, BC full153,524
- 13.Kamloops, BC full109,600
- 14.Delta, BC108,455
- 15.Lethbridge, Alberta full106,550
Inside Western Canada
3 regions have Western Canada as their parent.
- Alberta, Canada (Rockies) province
- British Columbia (BC), Canada province
- Vancouver Island, BC island
Companies based in Western Canada
1,279 companies in the Research Upon directory have their headquarters somewhere in Western Canada. Search them by name or industry.
areaAbout this page: figures for the whole of Western Canada 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.