Metro Vancouver has (most likely) reached 3 million residents

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by svlt

If someone threw in the Sunshine Coast, Hope or Whistler (they're a bit of a stretch I know, but often times are still seen as part of the wider reach of the Lower Mainland as the Golden Horseshoe is for Toronto) then Vancouver "MSA" would be 3.5+ million.

That actually is a wildly different number, both raw and in perception of a city size, than Wikipedia's "2.6 million", which won't get updated until the 2026 census data is out. By North American standards I would consider 4 million+ universally a "big" city no matter how much sprawl there is, and greater Vancouver area is getting really close.

For all the talk of how the sky high prices will limit growth, this city has still continued to defy the odds and grow at a staggeringly fast clip.

Defied the odds? I am willing to bet most growth has come from one country (immigrants, international students, work visas and refugees). Many of whom are being stacked into suburban homes and condos and it's evident by the number of cars now lining up and down the road across many neighborhoods out in Surrey.

It's definitely growth. Is it ideal growth given this has rapidly occurred between 2021 and 2024 with no real infrastructure growth? Nope.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by mcj

... But in order to join the real "big city" club we really need to get some "big city" type amenities finished, like our one and only major art gallery.

Proper museums, more night life and performing arts, another major league team, maybe a zoo if we're extra good for Christmas. But I think we'll have to wait for 5m for most of that.

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Proper museums, more night life and performing arts, another major league team, maybe a zoo if we're extra good for Christmas. But I think we'll have to wait for 5m for most of that.

More Costco locations!

Winnipeg is about to get it's 4th location.

Ron.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

More Costco locations!

Winnipeg is about to get it's 4th location.

Ron.

I had to give up on the Brentwood location after going to it for a couple of years. It's so busy now. I can only go to Costco during the weekend, and I can't find parking there anymore. The last time I went, I gave up after driving around for 15 minutes.

Ironically, it's the (non-suburban) downtown location that's doable due to more than enough parking.

[gaviscon]

Originally Posted by mcj

We'll get there sooner rather than later, only another ~15/20 years for Metro Vancouver alone to pass that mark according to projections. The combined "MSA" like area will be there by the early 2030s.

4 million is also Seattle's MSA population in recent years.

But in order to join the real "big city" club we really need to get some "big city" type amenities finished, like our one and only major art gallery.

Wish we had our own prehistoric natural history museum.
Makes so much sense with the Burgess Shale in BC, and the rich prehistoric sea life fossils we have scattered across the province.

I'd also argue we need "big city" architecture that suits the image a 3.5 million city. Tourists from other cities say Vancouver still feels kinda sleepy and "conservative". 'Oakridge Park' and 'The Amazing Brentwood' is a good start, and 1045 Haro and Holborn's 500 Dunsmuir was appropriate.
Concord's Northeast False Creek proposal, not so much.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by giallo

I had to give up on the Brentwood location after going to it for a couple of years. It's so busy now. I can only go to Costco during the weekend, and I can't find parking there anymore. The last time I went, I gave up after driving around for 15 minutes.

Ironically, it's the (non-suburban) downtown location that's doable due to more than enough parking.

the last two times I've tried the old Burnaby location near Production way, I got stuck in the parking lot for 10 minutes, I just had to leave, its gotten so bad at that location, one some weekends they bring in flag people but it doesn't accomplish much.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Proper museums, more night life and performing arts, another major league team, maybe a zoo if we're extra good for Christmas. But I think we'll have to wait for 5m for most of that.

I think you're right. Let's hope for that when we're at 4m - where Seattle is now. /// They have everything you mentioned and more. /// Of course, they're a much wealthier city, too.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

Wish we had our own prehistoric natural history museum.
Makes so much sense with the Burgess Shale in BC, and the rich prehistoric sea life fossils we have scattered across the province.

Glad it's not just me. It's a little ridiculous that despite the province's rich natural history, the entire Lower Mainland has to either share the small gallery in UBC (and the one tyrannosaur in Science World) or hop a ferry to the island in order to learn about it.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by giallo

I forgot about Squamish. Good call.

Metro Vancouver has sat at 2.6 million for years due to Wikipedia. It hasn't been updated in a long time, and it's where everyone goes to look up population numbers.

I got in a pointless spat with some people on Reddit just the other day because of this.

It was a geography post comparing Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, and the Vancouver number given was 2.5, so I said that an up to date number was around 3 million, and an apples to apples comparison would be the entire Fraser Valley (3.3). Ugh... they kept throwing me their outdated sources. I finally linked them to the Stats Can July 2023 numbers (updated earlier this year).

Of course after that there were no more rebuttals. I just wish people can send a rely saying, "Oh,, you were right".

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Glad it's not just me. It's a little ridiculous that despite the province's rich natural history, the entire Lower Mainland has to either share the small gallery in UBC (and the one tyrannosaur in Science World) or hop a ferry to the island in order to learn about it.

For a culture that claims to love nature and the environment BC has a bizarre lack of natural history museums / learning centres.

Would love to see more of those built / added over the art museum expansion.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by giallo

I had to give up on the Brentwood location after going to it for a couple of years. It's so busy now. I can only go to Costco during the weekend, and I can't find parking there anymore. The last time I went, I gave up after driving around for 15 minutes.

Ironically, it's the (non-suburban) downtown location that's doable due to more than enough parking.

It's an open secret that the doors open about 30 mins before the published time. That's when you need to go.

I agree downtown is better for that, although they don't always have the selection of the suburban stores.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

For a culture that claims to love nature and the environment BC has a bizarre lack of natural history museums / learning centres.

Would love to see more of those built / added over the art museum expansion.

Be careful, with rhetoric like that you're going to end up butting heads with the boomer NIMBY hippies who think we live in a little treetop village and will hit you with the Joni Mitchell line: "What, are you going to take all the trees and put them in a tree museum? And charge people a dollar and a half just to see them??"

Meanwhile they of course never ever go camping and would rather jetset off to Cabo or Nice or Yuma where they're not going to find a lot of Vancouver trees.

[Changing City]

Here are the municipal estimates for 2024 published by Statistics Canada. I've added the three year growth (2021-2024) that Stats Can estimate have been added.

Anmore 2,568 (+112)
Belcarra 704 (-6)
Bowen Island 4,677 (+276)
Burnaby 298,986 (+37,186)
Coquitlam 174,248 (+18,694)
Delta 125,165 (+12,074)
Electoral Area A 22,189 (+2,441)
Langley City 35,316 (+4,983)
Langley Township 162,269 (+23,843)
Lions Bay 1,468 (+36)
Maple Ridge 106,489 (+11,382)
New Westminster 92,433 (+9,490)
North Vancouver City 67,308 (+6,357)
North Vancouver District 99,063 (+7,464)
Pitt Meadows 21,402 (+1,483)
Port Coquitlam 69,306 (5,101)
Port Moody 38,942 (3,955)
Richmond 242,966 (21,788)
Surrey 700,459 (+103,318)
Vancouver 756,008 (+59,977)
West Vancouver 48,880 (+3,341)
White Rock 25,129 (+2,562)
First Nations 12,966 (+1,654)

Vancouver CMA 3,108,941 (+337,511)

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Here are the municipal estimates for 2024 published by Statistics Canada. I've added the three year growth (2021-2024) that Stats Can estimate have been added.

Anmore 2,568 (+112)
Belcarra 704 (-6)
Bowen Island 4,677 (+276)
Burnaby 298,986 (+37,186)
Coquitlam 174,248 (+18,694)
Delta 125,165 (+12,074)
Electoral Area A 22,189 (+2,441)
Langley City 35,316 (+4,983)
Langley Township 162,269 (+23,843)
Lions Bay 1,468 (+36)
Maple Ridge 106,489 (+11,382)
New Westminster 92,433 (+9,490)
North Vancouver City 67,308 (+6,357)
North Vancouver District 99,063 (+7,464)
Pitt Meadows 21,402 (+1,483)
Port Coquitlam 69,306 (5,101)
Port Moody 38,942 (3,955)
Richmond 242,966 (21,788)
Surrey 700,459 (+103,318)
Vancouver 756,008 (+59,977)
West Vancouver 48,880 (+3,341)
White Rock 25,129 (+2,562)
First Nations 12,966 (+1,654)

Vancouver CMA 3,108,941 (+337,511)

Here's that list ranked by growth:

Surrey 700,459 103,318 17.30%
LangleyTownship 162,269 23,843 17.22%
LangleyCity 35,316 4,983 16.43%
FirstNations 12,966 1,654 14.62%
Burnaby 298,986 37,186 14.20%
ElectoralAreaA 22,189 2,441 12.36%
VancouverCMA 3,108,941 337,511 12.18%
Coquitlam 174,248 18,694 12.02%
MapleRidge 106,489 11,382 11.97%
NewWestminster 92,433 9,490 11.44%
WhiteRock 25,129 2,562 11.35%
PortMoody 38,942 3,955 11.30%
Delta 125,165 12,074 10.68%
NorthVancouverCity 67,308 6,357 10.43%
Richmond 242,966 21,788 9.85%
Vancouver 756,008 59,977 8.62%
NorthVancouverDistrict 99,063 7,464 8.15%
PortCoquitlam 69,306 5,101 7.94%
PittMeadows 21,402 1,483 7.45%
WestVancouver 48,880 3,341 7.34%
BowenIsland 4,677 276 6.27%
Anmore 2,568 112 4.56%
LionsBay 1,468 36 2.51%
Belcarra 704 -6 -0.85%

[Migrant_Coconut]

And by raw growth, just for the hell of it:

Surrey 700,459 +103,318 17.30%
Vancouver 756,008 +59,977 8.62%
Burnaby 298,986 +37,186 14.20%
Langley Township 162,269 +23,843 17.22%
Richmond 242,966 +21,788 9.85%
Coquitlam 174,248 +18,694 12.02%
Delta 125,165 +12,074 10.68%
Maple Ridge 106,489 +11,382 11.97%
New Westminster 92,433 +9,490 11.44%
North Vancouver District 99,063 +7,464 8.15%
North Vancouver City 67,308 +6,357 10.43%
Port Coquitlam 69,306 +5,101 7.94%
Langley City 35,316 +4,983 16.43%
Port Moody 38,942 +3,955 11.30%
West Vancouver 48,880 +3,341 7.34%
White Rock 25,129 +2,562 11.35%
Electoral Area A 22,189 +2,441 12.36%
First Nations 12,966 +1,654 14.62%
Pitt Meadows 21,402 +1,483 7.45%
Bowen Island 4,677 +276 6.27%
Anmore 2,568 +112 4.56%
Lions Bay 1,468 +36 2.51%
Belcarra 704 -6 -0.85%

Too bad Delta's not split into three separate numbers - North Delta keeps the other two artificially high.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I got in a pointless spat with some people on Reddit just the other day because of this.

It was a geography post comparing Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, and the Vancouver number given was 2.5, so I said that an up to date number was around 3 million, and an apples to apples comparison would be the entire Fraser Valley (3.3). Ugh... they kept throwing me their outdated sources. I finally linked them to the Stats Can July 2023 numbers (updated earlier this year).

Of course after that there were no more rebuttals. I just wish people can send a rely saying, "Oh,, you were right".

Canada's population is now 41 million, but I saw a video recently showing Canada at 37 million. So much outdated information out there. Even Some Canadians who post on Social Media still use 37 as the population.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Canada's population is now 41 million, but I saw a video recently showing Canada at 37 million. So much outdated information out there. Even Some Canadians who post on Social Media still use 37 as the population.

37 Million is the last census number (from 2021). Everything else is an estimate.

[SpongeG]

so the 4 million aren't really here?

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

so the 4 million aren't really here?

When he says estimate he doesn't mean guess, he means that it's the Stats Canada data driven unofficial but very likely true number.

37 million was the last official number as of the 2021 census and we won't have a new official number until we have the next census in 2026

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Canada's population is now 41 million, but I saw a video recently showing Canada at 37 million. So much outdated information out there. Even Some Canadians who post on Social Media still use 37 as the population.

Peter Zeihan just this week quoted Canada as 35 million.

I generally like his content but he has an obvious bias against Canada (though some of what he says about Canada are hard truths)