Vancouver

Vancouver among the six largest metros

Vancouver is the most expensive of the six to rent in and the fastest-growing by output over five years. Two-bedroom rents in purpose-built buildings averaged C$2,364 in the October 2025 survey, the highest of the six, with a vacancy rate of 3.7%. Gross domestic product at basic prices was C$202.5 billion in 2022, 38.9% above five years earlier in current dollars, the largest increase of the six.

People and jobs

Population growth is close to zero. The population of 3.1 million changed by 0.2% in the year to July 2025, fifth of six. Net non-permanent residents were -10 thousand and net interprovincial migration -4,656 persons in the latest annual figure, both negative, while immigrants numbered 42 thousand.

In October 2026 employment was 1.2% above a year earlier, fourth of six, and the unemployment rate was 6.7%, up slightly from 6.3% a year before. The employment rate of 63.4% is third of six.

Housing

New-home prices changed -2.1% in the twelve months to September 2026, the second-largest fall of the six. Builders started 2,491 homes in September 2026, almost level with Calgary's 2,535, and 61,680 homes are under construction, second only to Toronto. Manufacturing shipments in August 2026 were 21.2% above a year earlier, and consumer prices rose 3.0% in the twelve months to September 2026.

What it means for decisions

For a household or employer, Vancouver combines the highest rents of the six with a population that has almost stopped growing. For a builder, starts and units under construction are high relative to the population's growth, while new-home prices are falling. For an investor, the fast growth in nominal output is a measure that includes inflation and ends in 2022.

What the data cannot say: they do not show wages, resale prices or the cost of land, they are metropolitan totals, and the survey is a sample. Nothing here is a forecast.

1. Jobs: unemployment is 6.7% and employment is 1.2% higher than a year ago, slower than Calgary (6.2%) and Toronto (1.9%). The participation rate, 68.0%, is 3rd of 6 among the six. Labour

2. Prices: inflation is 3.0%, against 3.1% for Canada. The city index is held here for all items only. Prices

3. People: the population changed 0.2% in the year to July 2025, 5th of 6 among the six metros. British Columbia grew 0.1% over the later four quarters to 1 July 2026. Population

4. Housing: new-home prices changed -2.1% in the twelve months to September 2026 and -3.6% since February 2022; 61,680 homes are under construction (-2.3% on the year). CMHC puts the extra starts needed at 5,000 to 7,000 a year. Housing

5. Industry: manufacturing shipments were C$3.6 billion in August 2026, up 21.2% on a year earlier. Industry

6. Connections: in 2025 only 51% of British Columbia's goods exports went to the United States, against 85% for Alberta, and energy products were 30% of all its goods exports. Connections

What happened

At basic prices and in current dollars, the Vancouver economy produced C$202.5 billion of output in 2022, the latest reference year in Statistics Canada's table, equal to 54.4% of British Columbia's total of C$372.2 billion. Among the six large metropolitan areas it ranked 3rd of 6 by size.

Measured in current dollars, output was 98.1% higher in 2022 than in 2009 and 23.8% higher than in 2019. British Columbia as a whole was 103.4% higher than in 2009 and 30.1% higher than in 2019. Over the same period since 2009 the other metropolitan areas grew 72.4% in Calgary, 54.6% in Edmonton, 85.0% in Toronto, 75.3% in Montréal and 61.1% in Ottawa–Gatineau (Ontario part).

Why it happened

Not assessed. The table is in current dollars, so these changes include price increases, and it is not divided by population, so the figures do not separate growth in the number of people from growth in output per person. This section reports the data; attributed explanations of the differences are in the economic story and local-economy sections of this page.

Why it matters

GDP at basic prices is the broadest measure of local production that Statistics Canada publishes for metropolitan areas. It shows how large the local economy is and how its share of the provincial total compares, but not who earns the income, what is produced, or how the economy is doing now.

History

The series starts in 2009 and ends in 2022. A fall in output in any year in between would show in the chart; no year-by-year explanation is offered here.

Across geographies

What it influences

Not assessed. No relationship in the recorded graph links metropolitan output to another variable.

Risks

The table ends in 2022 and describes nothing since; it cannot show the effects of recent changes in interest rates, trade policy, population or commodity prices on Vancouver.

What to watch

Statistics Canada's next release of table 36-10-0468-01. No release date for it is in the calendar this site holds, and none is assumed.

What happened

Vancouver's unemployment rate was 6.7% in October 2026 and employment was 1.7 million, 1.2% on a year earlier. The metropolitan population changed 0.2% in the year to July 2025; the province's population changed 0.1% in the four quarters to 1 July 2026. Housing starts over twelve months were 26,601. The average two-bedroom rent in purpose-built rental apartments was C$2,364 in the October 2025 survey and the vacancy rate was 3.7%, from 1.6% a year earlier.

Why it happened

Why it matters

History

Vancouver's unemployment rate has ranged from 4.0% (February 2018) to 13.1% (June 2020) over ten years, and the metropolitan population grew 21.7% over ten years.

Across geographies

What it influences

Risks

What to watch

What happened

In the 2021 Census, 1.2 million jobs were located in the Vancouver metropolitan area. Professional, scientific and technical services accounted for 12.6% of them, health care and social assistance 12.5% and retail trade 12.2%. Accommodation and food services were 6.3%, construction 4.2%, finance and insurance 5.4%, transportation and warehousing 4.8% and manufacturing 6.6%. The area's output at basic prices was C$202.5 billion in 2022, the latest year in Statistics Canada's table.

In October 2026 the unemployment rate (three-month average) was 6.7%, against 7.1% in Toronto, 6.6% in Calgary and 6.9% in Montréal. Employment changed +1.2% in the twelve months to October 2026, against +1.9% in Toronto and +6.2% in Calgary; the participation rate is 68.0% and the employment rate 63.4%. Manufacturing shipments from the area were C$3.6 billion in August 2026, 21.2% on a year earlier.

The census shares are a 2021 snapshot of where people work, not a list of employers. The rest of this section uses organisations' own statements to say what sits behind them.

Why it happened

The port, energy exports and logistics

Resource head offices

Technology, clean technology and film

Tourism

Wood products and trade exposure

Why it matters

Strategy and land

Transit and infrastructure

Housing

Population, migration and labour

History

Across geographies

What it influences

Risks

What to watch

Not covered by the sources cited, and so not described here: the Port of Vancouver's own statistics, Vancouver International Airport traffic, the City of Vancouver's economic strategy and the dissolved Vancouver Economic Commission's successor arrangements, Vancouver metropolitan wages by industry, metropolitan labour productivity, the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain, Burrard Inlet dredging, Conference Board and Bank of Canada metropolitan outlooks, and any estimate of how many Vancouver jobs depend on wood products.

What happened

Vancouver's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (three-month average) was 6.7% in October 2026, from 6.3% a year earlier. Calgary's was 6.6%, Toronto's 7.1%, Montréal's 6.9% and Edmonton's 7.1%. Employment of 1.7 million is 1.2% higher than a year ago, against 6.2% in Calgary, 1.9% in Toronto and -0.9% in Montréal.

The participation rate is 68.0% (3rd of 6 among the six areas) and the employment rate 63.4% (3rd of 6).

By industry, Statistics Canada's annual Labour Force Survey estimates (table 14-10-0468-01, annual averages, not seasonally adjusted) put average employment in Vancouver at 1.7 million in 2025, a change of 1.8% on the year before and of 12.0% since 2019. Goods-producing industries account for 15.4% of employed persons and services-producing industries for 84.6%; among the individual groups, wholesale and retail trade 14.8%, professional, scientific and technical services 13.2% and health care and social assistance 12.9% of employment. The table counts people by the industry of their main job and by where they live, so it is a measure of employment, not of output, wages or the number of businesses. Estimates for a single industry group in one metropolitan area come from a small survey sample and are less steady than the total: Statistics Canada suppresses some cells, and the table is annual, so a one-year move in a small group should not be read as a trend. No sampling-error range is held with these series, so none is quoted; the monthly metropolitan rates above are three-month averages and are noisier than the annual figures. Wages for the metropolitan area are not held here; the Statistics Canada wage tables used cover provinces and Canada.

Why it happened

The data show where Vancouver stands, not why. Since the end of 2019 employment is up 11.8% in Vancouver, against 27.1% in Calgary and 10.9% in Toronto, so Vancouver's job growth has been far slower than Calgary's and close to Toronto's over the period; this report cannot attribute that to industry mix or population. The annual industry employment shown above describes the mix of jobs, not exposure.

Why it matters

The participation rate ranks 3rd of 6; how many residents are in or seeking work matters for household income and for the housing demand discussed below.

History

Over ten years Vancouver's unemployment rate has averaged 5.9%, with a high of 13.1% in June 2020 and a low of 4.0% in February 2018.

Across geographies

Vancouver's rate minus Calgary's is 0.1 percentage points. As context, on a different definition (monthly, province-wide), British Columbia's unemployment rate is 6.3% and Canada's 6.7%; these must not be read against the metropolitan averages.

What it influences

Jobs matter for household income and housing demand in the Vancouver region.

Risks

Not assessed: exposure of Vancouver's employment to particular industries (for example the port, film and technology). The annual industry employment shown above describes the mix of jobs, not exposure.

What to watch

Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey (calendar).

What happened

Vancouver's consumer prices were 3.0% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier, against 2.1% in Toronto, 3.4% in Calgary, 3.5% in Edmonton and 3.0% in Montréal, and 3.1% for Canada.

In February, before the rise in world energy prices described in the Global report, Vancouver's rate was 1.9% against 1.8% for Canada; it has moved by 1.2 percentage points since, against 1.3 percentage points nationally (both computed before the rates are rounded). Calgary's rate went from 1.7% to 3.4% and Toronto's from 1.0% to 2.1% over the same months.

Why it happened

Why it matters

The CPI measures the change in prices, not their level. Vancouver's rate of change says nothing about how expensive the city is.

History

Vancouver's rate has averaged 2.9% over ten years and peaked at 8.2% in May 2022.

Across geographies

Vancouver's rate minus Canada's is -0.1 percentage points; Toronto's is the lowest of the six. As provincial context only, British Columbia's CPI changed 3.0% over the year and Ontario's 2.5%; the provincial and metropolitan indexes cover different areas and are not interchangeable. Nationally, the CPI gasoline index is 27.8% higher than a year earlier.

What it influences

Not measured for Vancouver; see the Canada report for the national links.

Risks

The risks that published sources attribute to Vancouver specifically are in the local-economy section of this page; beyond those, see the national risks (energy prices, tariffs).

What to watch

Statistics Canada's monthly Consumer Price Index release (calendar).

What happened

The Vancouver metropolitan area had 3.1 million residents on July 1, 2025, a change of 0.2% from a year earlier. Over five years it grew 12.3%, against 20.1% in Calgary and 9.5% in Toronto. In the latest year Toronto's change was 0.0%, Montréal's 0.5%, Ottawa–Gatineau's 2.3% and Edmonton's 3.1%.

Why it happened

In the demographic year that began in July 2024, the Vancouver metropolitan area recorded 24 thousand births and 18 thousand deaths, 42 thousand immigrants, a net change of -10 thousand non-permanent residents, net interprovincial migration of -4,656 and net intraprovincial migration (movement to and from the rest of the province) of -16 thousand. The year before, immigrants numbered 49 thousand and the net change in non-permanent residents was 92 thousand. Net non-permanent residents averaged 37 thousand a year over the latest five demographic years.

Why it matters

Population growth adds workers and households, which can add to demand for housing and services.

History

Over ten years Vancouver's population grew 21.7%.

Across geographies

British Columbia's population grew 0.1% in the four quarters to 1 July 2026, against 1.5% in Alberta and 0.3% in Ontario; BC's net change in non-permanent residents over four quarters was -32 thousand. These are provincial figures.

What it influences

Risks

Not assessed for Vancouver specifically.

What to watch

Statistics Canada's quarterly provincial and annual metropolitan population estimates and the federal levels plan.

What happened

Vancouver started 26,601 homes over the past twelve months and completed 27,830; 61,680 were under construction at the end of September 2026, -2.3% on a year earlier. Toronto started 23,355 and Montréal 27,474 over the same twelve months.

The New Housing Price Index for Vancouver is 123.4, -2.1% on a year ago and -3.6% since February 2022, against -8.5% in Toronto and 9.0% in Montréal.

In the October 2025 Rental Market Survey the average rent for a two-bedroom unit in purpose-built rental structures of three or more units in Vancouver was C$2,364 a month, 2.2% higher than a year earlier (CMHC's same-sample figure, for structures surveyed in both years, is 2.2%) and 31.4% higher than five years earlier, ranking 1st of 14 among fourteen cities (highest = 1); the same measure was C$1,908 in Calgary, C$2,045 in Toronto. The vacancy rate was 3.7%, from 1.6% a year earlier, ranking 5th of 14 among the fourteen (against 4.9% in Calgary, 3.0% in Toronto). The table covers purpose-built rental structures only; condominium, house and basement-suite rentals, and the asking rents on new listings, are not in it.

Why it happened

The data show falling new-home prices and a pipeline of units under construction that is below its peak.

Why it matters

Housing is a large household expense. A supply gap estimate is CMHC's model-based figure, not a forecast of what will be built.

History

The peak of units under construction in the past ten years was 65,624 in November 2024. Permits totalled C$17.1 billion over the twelve months to August 2026, +18.1% on the twelve months before.

Across geographies

Over the twelve months to August 2026 permits totalled C$17.1 billion in Vancouver, C$29.3 billion in Toronto, C$9.2 billion in Calgary and C$13.8 billion in Montréal.

What it influences

The links between housing supply and affordability are national and not estimated for Vancouver.

Risks

What to watch

CMHC monthly starts, the New Housing Price Index and building permits (calendar), and the Bank of Canada's next announcement on 9 December 2026.

What happened

Vancouver manufacturing shipments were C$3.6 billion in August 2026, 21.2% above a year earlier and 51.0% above December 2019, against 11.6% over the year in Toronto and 16.1% in Montréal. Shipments of petroleum and coal products for Vancouver are suppressed by Statistics Canada and are not shown.

Building permits (all types) totalled C$17.1 billion over the twelve months to August 2026, +18.1% on the twelve months before.

Why it happened

The metropolitan series are not broken down by industry, so this report cannot say which products drive Vancouver's shipments or whether the rise is price or volume.

Why it matters

Vancouver's role in the economy includes functions this report does not measure directly: port activity, film and technology. Annual employment for broad groups such as transportation and warehousing and professional services is in the labour section. The absence of the others from the data is a gap, not a finding.

History

Vancouver's shipments peaked at C$3.6 billion in August 2026, the highest in the past ten years.

Across geographies

As provincial context only: in 2025 British Columbia sent 51% of its domestic merchandise exports to the United States, the second-lowest share among the provinces after Newfoundland and Labrador (35%), against 72% for Ontario and 85% for Alberta; energy products were 30% of BC's exports. The destinations of the rest of BC's exports are not shown here. BC's workers are employed 5.3% in transportation and warehousing, 10.7% in professional, scientific and technical services and 8.9% in construction (shares of employment, 2025). These are provincial shares and must not be read as describing Vancouver.

What it influences

Vancouver's construction and manufacturing feed local employment and incomes; no measured effect on Vancouver is recorded.

Risks

What to watch

Statistics Canada's monthly manufacturing and merchandise trade releases (calendar).

What happened

In the 2021 Census, 1.2 million jobs were located in the Vancouver metropolitan area (people who worked at home or had a usual workplace there; people with no fixed workplace address are not in the table). The three largest sectors were Professional, scientific and technical services (12.6% of jobs), Health care and social assistance (12.5%) and Retail trade (12.2%).

Measured as its share of jobs divided by the other five metropolitan areas' combined share (among sectors that make up at least one fiftieth of Vancouver's jobs), the sector in which Vancouver stood furthest above the rest was Arts, entertainment and recreation: 2.1% of its jobs, against 1.6% in Calgary, 1.4% in Edmonton, 1.4% in Toronto, 1.5% in Montréal and 1.4% in Ottawa–Gatineau.

Why it happened

Not assessed. The table counts jobs by sector at one date and says nothing about why a metropolitan area has the mix it has. Attributed descriptions of Vancouver's industry structure are in the local-economy section of this page.

Why it matters

The industry mix shows what a local economy does for a living, which bears on how it is exposed to changes in demand, prices and policy. It does not measure output, wages or how the economy is performing; those need other tables.

History

Not available from this table: the Census is taken every five years and the platform holds only the 2021 reference week (May 2021). Annual industry employment for the metropolitan area comes from the Labour Force Survey and is in the labour section of this page.

Across geographies

The six metropolitan areas come from one table with one definition, so the shares can be compared with one another. They are shares of jobs located in the area, not of residents' employment, and not comparable with provincial Labour Force Survey industry shares, which use a different survey, year and definition. British Columbia is not described here.

What it influences

Not assessed. No relationship in the recorded graph links the metropolitan industry mix to another variable.

Risks

What to watch

The release of 2026 Census results on industry for metropolitan areas. No release date for them is in the calendar this site holds, and none is assumed.

What happened

Most recorded connections that reach Vancouver are provincial or national. British Columbia's exposure to the United States was 51% of its goods exports in 2025; the national export shares that year were 72% to the United States and 4.5% to China.

Oil prices and Vancouver's employment are not compared in the relationship graph; only Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto are, with correlations of 0.37, 0.41 and 0.37.

Why it happened

The role of the port, as the port authority and federal agencies describe it, is in the local-economy section of this page. The structure of Vancouver's links to Asia and the Pacific is not assessed, and no city-level trade data are held.

Why it matters

The currency, interest rates and trade partners that matter for Vancouver are covered at national level in the Global report: one US dollar cost an average of C$1.4135 in October 2026; Canada's posted five-year mortgage rate was 6.19% in the week of 28 October 2026.

History

Not assessed.

Across geographies

What it influences

Three chains bear on Vancouver: US trade measures to exports (hypotheses), rates to mortgage costs and housing (documented nationally) and immigration policy to population (documented nationally and, with no measured size, for the metropolitan area).

Risks

The risks that published sources attribute to this city specifically are in the local-economy section of this page; beyond those, see the national risks in the Canada report and the global risks in the Global report.

What to watch

The Bank of Canada's next announcement on 9 December 2026, tariff changes and Statistics Canada's monthly trade release (calendar).