Hamilton was 40th out of 41 CMAs in growth last year
 

Not a surprise really. On one end we have Burlington, which is an intensely NIMBY city with some of the lowest housing construction rates in the GTA and which has approved basically 0 housing in the last 6 years.. and on the other end we have Hamilton, a city who thinks it can accommodate everyone in 1+den apartments and is allergic to ground-related housing.

The not-so-secret part of the last years growth too is that most of it went where local schools are admitting mass amounts of foreign students - Brampton, Waterloo, Sault Ste Marie, etc. are all exploding because they have local diploma mills. Hamilton doesn't really have that as McMaster and Mohawk haven't really delved deep into the foreign student money pot.

All makes sense.

On the positive (for those who find meaning in it) Hamilton CMA's growth has sped up the past few years. That's probably going to continue given all the stuff under construction.

I found the Census Subdivision ("municipal") story a bit more interesting. In the Hamilton CMA, the city's estimated growth rose last year (1.5% to 2.1%) while mostly built-out Burlington's did too it was 0.7% (up from 0.3%). Grimsby was highest at 2.4%, but its population is only a little over 31,000 so most of the growth in the CMA was due to the City of Hamilton. These numbers are still much lower than "peer" cities, but still we're far from stagnant.

Before I knew about Statistics Canada data and population estimates, I remember rarely seeing change in the population number on the way into the city along the QEW. Seemed like it was "stuck" at a little more than 300,000 for a long time... this was pre-amalgamation, mind you, and much of the growth in the area was happening in the former suburban municipalities and in Burlington. But I wouldn't be surprised if a further breakdown of the city into its former components showed the "old" Hamilton growing again, despite household sizes declining especially in the lower city.

I would also think that there is some factor of the ebb and flow from Toronto post Covid also in play. You can also see that play out in housing price movement. As prices start moving higher again, sure the migration outward will resume.

On another vein, Hamilton needs to be way more aggressive at attracting business. Use the airport asset to get those lands activated , and be strategic at the federal and provincial levels to get good paying jobs into downtown.