What to know
- Toronto ranked 412th out of 435 Canadian and U.S. metropolitan areas for population growth in 2025 after ranking first in 2024.
- The Toronto region lost approximately 1,000 residents during the 12 months ending July 1, 2025, compared with a gain of about 269,000 the previous year.
- Toronto gained residents through international migration and natural population growth, but lost 77,492 people through domestic migration.
- Calgary and Edmonton were the only Canadian metropolitan areas to place among the top 10 fastest-growing regions in Canada and the U.S.
Toronto has gone from being the fastest-growing metropolitan area in Canada and the U.S. to near the bottom of the rankings in the span of one year, according to a new analysis from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
The Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA) ranked 412th out of 435 Canadian and U.S. metropolitan areas in 2025, after placing first the previous year.
Its population declined by approximately 1,000 people during the 12 months ending July 1, 2025, a drastic reversal from the roughly 269,000 residents added in 2024.
The findings were published by TMU’s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development (CUR). The researchers compared population estimates from Statistics Canada and the U.S. Census Bureau, measuring the total number of people each metropolitan area gained or lost rather than its percentage growth.
Calgary and Edmonton lead Canadian growth
Houston recorded the largest population increase in 2025, adding approximately 127,000 residents. Dallas followed with a gain of 124,000.
Atlanta placed third after adding 62,000 people, followed by Phoenix with 59,000. Charlotte and Austin each grew by approximately 54,000.
Calgary and Edmonton were the only Canadian metropolitan areas to make the top 10. Calgary ranked seventh with a population gain of about 52,000, while Edmonton placed eighth after adding 51,000.
However, both Alberta regions also grew more slowly than they did one year earlier. Calgary added approximately 103,000 people in 2024, while Edmonton gained around 81,000.
Other major Canadian regions also slipped down the rankings. Montreal placed 25th and Vancouver ranked 92nd after finishing fifth and sixth in 2024.
What caused Toronto’s population to decline?
The report breaks population change into three main categories: natural change, domestic migration, and international migration.
Natural change measures the difference between births and deaths. Domestic migration captures people moving between different parts of Canada, including moves within Ontario and between provinces. International migration represents the number of people arriving from outside Canada, minus those leaving the country.
Toronto gained approximately 23,000 people through natural population change and another 53,000 through net international migration in 2025.
Those gains, however, were erased by a net domestic migration loss of more than 77,000 people. Which means, tens of thousands more residents moved from the Toronto region to other parts of Canada than moved to Toronto from elsewhere in the country.
Combined, Toronto’s gains from births and international migration were not enough to offset the number of existing residents leaving, bringing the region’s overall population change to approximately negative 1,000.
The numbers show that reduced immigration was only one part of Toronto’s slowdown. The region continued to attract a significant number of people from abroad, but that growth was almost entirely cancelled out by domestic out-migration.
Toronto still a leading destination for newcomers
Despite falling sharply in the overall population rankings, Toronto remained one of North America’s leading destinations for international newcomers.
Toronto placed fifth for net international migration in 2025, adding 53,397 people from abroad. It followed New York, which recorded a net international increase of 126,899, Miami at 93,450, Houston at 71,903 and Dallas at 55,444.
Montreal ranked sixth with a net international increase of 48,792.
Still, Toronto’s international migration total was only a fraction of the 339,801 recorded in 2024.
New York, Miami, Houston, and every other metropolitan area in the international migration top 10 also experienced year-over-year declines.
The TMU researchers linked the widespread slowdown to more restrictive immigration policies in Canada and the U.S.
No Canadian region made the domestic migration top 10
The divide between Toronto and some fast-growing American regions becomes even clearer when looking at domestic migration.
Charlotte led North America after gaining 24,404 residents through domestic moves, followed by Phoenix with 22,256 and Raleigh with 19,974. Austin, San Antonio and Dallas were among several Texas regions that also attracted residents from other parts of the U.S.
No Canadian metropolitan area made the top 10 for domestic migration.
Toronto recorded a net domestic loss of 77,492 residents in 2025. While that was an improvement from the loss of 93,256 recorded in 2024, it was still greater than the domestic gains reported by the leading U.S. regions.
The report points to Toronto’s increasingly unaffordable housing market as a likely reason residents are relocating to other parts of Canada.
The findings refer to the wider Toronto CMA, not only the city of Toronto.
