Calgary Civic Census returning in 2028

Today City Council approved reinstating a biennial municipal census starting in 2028. The City of Calgary Civic Census is the official count of homes and the people who are living in these homes, through online and door-to-door physical collection and recording of data.  

“Calgary is growing rapidly,” said Matthew Sheldrake, Manager of the Growth and Change Strategy with Planning & Development Services. “Data is critical in forecasting, planning, infrastructure modelling and measuring service delivery effectiveness.” 

The Civic Census was discontinued in 2020 as part of the Mid-Cycle Budget Adjustments and the Solutions for Achieving Value and Excellence (SAVE) program. Since 2020, administration has relied on other data sources, but they were found to not sufficiently replace the value of the Civic Census, specifically in terms of frequency and community-level data. 

"It's a challenge to depend on others to tell us how we are growing as a city,” said Yousaf Shah, Census Program Coordinator. “With the unprecedented growth we have seen in Calgary since our last Civic Census, restarting the program will provide important data on how our communities are evolving on a more granular or ward by ward level.”

The information collected is used by The City for the planning of services, such as roads, transit, recreation and water services. It is also used by the public and separate school boards for enrolment predictions and decisions on future schools; and by the provincial government for determining per capita grant allocations where available. 

For more information on the Calgary Civic Census, visit calgary.ca/census.