Winnipeg CMA in 5 years (2026)

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by Winnipegger

Province had recent record high net international migration (+24,000 people) but also recent record high net interprovincial out-migration (-10,000 people).

So much of Canada's economic growth is tied to population growth, and yet our local politicians basically ignore what is one of the biggest glaring issues in this province: thousands of people leaving for Alberta, Ontario, and BC every single year. If Manitoba had "average" out-migration for the last 30 years, we'd have an extra 150,000 people and Winnipeg would have an extra 100,000 people more-or-less.

Politicians across all sides of the spectrum always talk about "growing the economy" but consistently fail to even acknowledge the biggest issue, which is people leaving the province. Sure, politicians here have no control over our cold weather or lack of mountains or lack of Big 5 bank head offices or lack of oil in the ground, but there are a few things related to infrastructure, education, cleanliness, and reconciliation with Indigenous people they could be doing better at that would help at least stem some of the tide of people leaving.

More people will choose to stay here if they feel safe, if the province looks clean, post-secondary education quality has a good reputation, infrastructure and transportation is adequate, parks are well kept, and local businesses see value in expanding and providing well paying jobs.

But so as long as people keep leaving in such large amounts, businesses will seek areas with bigger customer bases and job/salary growth will be more limited.

Why would this ever change? Manitoba is not a good place to live tax wise, climate wise and crime wise. Opportunity wise too. Canadians have the right to live anywhere they want in the country, and pretty well every other province is more appealing than Manitoba. Out migration will never stop.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Why would this ever change? Manitoba is not a good place to live tax wise, climate wise and crime wise. Opportunity wise too. Canadians have the right to live anywhere they want in the country, and pretty well every other province is more appealing than Manitoba. Out migration will never stop.

I guess the job we would have as manitobans then would be to make the province as appealing as possible. People will likely disagree as to what that means.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Why would this ever change? Manitoba is not a good place to live tax wise, climate wise and crime wise. Opportunity wise too. Canadians have the right to live anywhere they want in the country, and pretty well every other province is more appealing than Manitoba. Out migration will never stop.

Tax, crime, and opportunity are things that can be improved upon not sure why your stating these things can’t be reformed. Weather obviously is an external factor but climate change is not going to be as impactful compared to the rest of the world.

[NewIreland]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Tax, crime, and opportunity are things that can be improved upon not sure why your stating these things can’t be reformed. Weather obviously is an external factor but climate change is not going to be as impactful compared to the rest of the world.

Even weather-wise, Winnipeg has more days of sunshine than any other city in Canada. It's really not that bad.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by harls

Winnipeg is most likely at 900K now, even with groaning and moaning.

Winnipeg can was 834 k at census when manitoba was 1.342 million so if manitoba is 1.413 million now probably around 875 or 880k.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by NewIreland

Even weather-wise, Winnipeg has more days of sunshine than any other city in Canada. It's really not that bad.

That is true one thing I can say about living in Winnipeg is that it’s so easy to travel because we are used to essentially 90% of the possible weather on Earth in any given year. It’s probably a reason why it seems a lot of Winnipeggers are quite well travelled especially in their later years.

I’ve also been meeting some very international people that have seemed to settle here who are just fucking around. Like I met one dude a few weeks ago who was a son of a diplomat in South Africa and just smokes weed everyday and fixes cars here. No idea why but for some reason there are some very interesting characters in this city.

Either way I think this is just the floor of population growth we should be seeing in the upcoming years. It seems all political parties are serious about increasing immigration and I think in my life I could see a Winnipeg at 2 million people.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

Either way I think this is just the floor of population growth we should be seeing in the upcoming years. It seems all political parties are serious about increasing immigration and I think in my life I could see a Winnipeg at 2 million people.

I highly doubt that. Maybe 1 million.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Riverman

Why would this ever change? Manitoba is not a good place to live tax wise, climate wise and crime wise. Opportunity wise too. Canadians have the right to live anywhere they want in the country, and pretty well every other province is more appealing than Manitoba. Out migration will never stop.

Do you really think it is that much different in other provinces? I hate to say this but no where in Canada has great weather. The economy here is not that bad. Unlike many other places in Canada a working class man still has a fighting chance to own a home here (though that is changing).

Crime wise yes we are worse off, that is the only real down fall here and I don't see anyone wanting to really seriously handle this. At a time when we should have more cops on the street, many people are calling to defund the police. The way we are going crime will only get worse.

The vast majority of immigrants to WInnipeg are from Punjab india, that seems to be the case right across the country though. I think they out number Filipinos now.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by Luisito

I highly doubt that. Maybe 1 million.

I’m only 21 so you never know.

If I manage my conquest of Winnipeg successfully it’ll be a lot more then 2 million people

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

I’m only 21 so you never know.

If I manage my conquest of Winnipeg successfully it’ll be a lot more then 2 million people

Well maybe you're right. Best of luck on your conquest. Don't get me wrong, I too want to see the city grow.

[thurmas]

cool historical link here of Winnipegs population over the years. Winnipeg was 608,000 when I was born in 1984 I dont think I will be around when it hits 2 million I might see the day it hits 1.25 million if I am lucky and it grows by 10k per year.

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/2...peg/population

[Luisito]

What areas are considered metro areas of Winnipeg?

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by Luisito

What areas are considered metro areas of Winnipeg?

Depends what you mean by metro. There’s Statistics Canada’s Census Metropolitan Area (CMA):

City of Winnipeg
West St. Paul
East St. Paul
Headingley
Richot
Tache
Springfield
Rosser
St. Francois Xavier
St. Clements
Brokenhead First Nation

https://winnipeg.ca/census/includes/...tropolitanArea

There’s also Winnipeg Metropolitan Region:

City of Winnipeg
City of Selkirk
Town of Stonewall
Town of Niverville
Village of Dunnottar
RM of Cartier
RM of East St. Paul
RM of Headingley
RM of Macdonald
RM of Ritchot
RM of Rockwood
RM of Rosser
RM of Springfield
RM of St. Andrews
RM of St. Clements
RM of St. François Xavier
RM of Taché
RM of West St. Paul

https://winnipegmetroregion.ca/about-us/

[Winnipegger]

Originally Posted by thurmas

cool historical link here of Winnipegs population over the years. Winnipeg was 608,000 when I was born in 1984 I dont think I will be around when it hits 2 million I might see the day it hits 1.25 million if I am lucky and it grows by 10k per year.

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/2...peg/population

Winnipeg (the municipality) population estimate for 2021 was 767,500 and the Winnipeg CMA's population was 852,800.

The City currently estimates the CMA's population will be 1.1 million in 25 years from now: Population Forecast link.

Careful not to confuse census counts (which happen every 5 years) and population estimate counts. The census is obviously more accurate, but it doesn't include the amount of people who did not respond to the census survey (the undercount) for whatever reason. The population estimates, on the other hand, are released every year and try to account for un-counted population.

[esquire]

For perspective, we are basically where Edmonton was in the early 90s.

[thurmas]

looking at the link the darkest days for Winnipeg was 1976-1981 when everyone was moving to Edmonton and Calgary in the 70s oil boom there and then the lost years 1991 to 2007 where Winnipeg did not really grow at all. Had Winnipeg been able to grow just at its average rate of around 1.1 to 1.4% per year in those lost years the city would likely have 100 to 125k more people right now.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Authentic_City

Depends what you mean by metro. There’s Statistics Canada’s Census Metropolitan Area (CMA):

City of Winnipeg
West St. Paul
East St. Paul
Headingley
Richot
Tache
Springfield
Rosser
St. Francois Xavier
St. Clements
Brokenhead First Nation

https://winnipeg.ca/census/includes/...tropolitanArea

Thanks for the reply. I guess this represents the 833000 population posted above.

Originally Posted by thurmas

..... and then the lost years 1991 to 2007 where Winnipeg did not really grow at all. .

Why was growth so slow during those years? That's a long stretch to not have much growth.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by Luisito

Thanks for the reply. I guess this represents the 833000 population posted above.





Why was growth so slow during those years? That's a long stretch to have much growth.

we did not have the international immigration nominee program setup yet which was a game changer as well the economy in the 90s had a very rough and long rebuild after the 1990-92 recession and the Filmon and Chretien cutbacks at the time certainly did not help.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

That is true one thing I can say about living in Winnipeg is that it’s so easy to travel because we are used to essentially 90% of the possible weather on Earth in any given year. It’s probably a reason why it seems a lot of Winnipeggers are quite well travelled especially in their later years.

I’ve also been meeting some very international people that have seemed to settle here who are just fucking around. Like I met one dude a few weeks ago who was a son of a diplomat in South Africa and just smokes weed everyday and fixes cars here. No idea why but for some reason there are some very interesting characters in this city.

Either way I think this is just the floor of population growth we should be seeing in the upcoming years. It seems all political parties are serious about increasing immigration and I think in my life I could see a Winnipeg at 2 million people.

I'm sure the province has a good chance of reaching over 2 million in your lifetime, but it's unlikely the city reaches more than 1.5 million in the next say 40 years. Of course, one can never truly predict long-term trends with so many variables to consider.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by thurmas

cool historical link here of Winnipegs population over the years. Winnipeg was 608,000 when I was born in 1984 I dont think I will be around when it hits 2 million I might see the day it hits 1.25 million if I am lucky and it grows by 10k per year.

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/2...peg/population

Birth control became legal in June of 1960. Two years later the population growth slowed by more than half. And stayed that way.