About the data: sources and methods

How we compare

Cities publish different data in different ways. Rather than force them onto one scale, we compare every neighbourhood with its own city: the city-wide share for census figures, the city median for home values, and the median neighbourhood for crime rates. That way "above the city median" means the same thing in Calgary and Vancouver, even when the raw numbers aren't directly comparable. The same goes for Toronto and Montréal.

Calgary

Boundaries: Community District Boundaries, loaded live on the map.
Home values: Current Year Property Assessments, residential class. We show the overall median assessed value and, on each community page, medians for detached houses, semi-detached and row homes, and condos and apartments. The dataset does not document its property-use codes, so we grouped them by sampling addresses: detached = R110; semi-detached and row = R120, R121, R401, R402; condo and apartment = R201, R202, R301, R302. Treat the grouping as our reading of the data. Types with fewer than 10 homes in a community are not shown. Assessments estimate market value as of July 1 of the prior year and are not sale prices.
People and homes: residents and ages are from the 2021 Federal Census by Community (counts are randomly rounded to the nearest 5, so very small communities are approximate). Homes and renting are from the Census by Community 2019, the last City civic census, because the 2021 housing tables aren’t published by community. Resident counts shown are estimates for mid-2025: the 2021 count, plus new homes completed since then (Building Permits, new builds and additions completed June 2021 to June 2025, less residential demolitions) at 2.3 residents per home, plus an equal percentage increase everywhere so the city total matches Statistics Canada’s July 2025 population estimate for Calgary. Crime rates use these estimates. They show where growth has happened but are not census counts; the 2026 census will replace them.
Growth: Building Permits, counted by year issued.
Schools: Schools (locations, placed in communities by map position) and School Enrolment Data (Alberta Education, 2023-24 and 2019-20). Distances are straight-line from the middle of the community. School quality and catchment areas are not open data, so we don’t show them.
Flood and airport noise (Calgary): from the City of Calgary's open data, the Regulatory Flood Map now in the Land Use Bylaw and the airport Noise Exposure Forecast contours. For each community we sampled a grid of points inside its boundary and counted how many fall in each zone, so the percentages are shares of land area, not of homes. A proposed flood map update is still under review by the City. Hail and wildfire smoke are shown as city-wide context because no official community-level map exists.
Rents: CMHC Rental Market Survey, October 2025: the average rent of apartments newly rented in the past year (turnover units), by bedroom count, plus vacancy and rental condominium rents, for each metro area. The metro figures do not break rents down by neighbourhood. Neighbourhood pages in every city except Metro Vancouver also show CMHC’s average rents for the survey zone each neighbourhood falls in, taken from CMHC’s Housing Market Information Portal; those cover all units in rental apartment buildings, not only new leases, and each community is placed in the zone that holds most of its area. Ottawa and Toronto neighbourhood pages also show the 2021 census median rent (Toronto: median shelter costs for rented dwellings, from the Neighbourhood Profiles, which include utilities). These cover all tenants, not only new leases, so they run below current asking rents.
LRT access: Transit LRT Stations. We sampled points across each community boundary and measured the straight-line distance to the closest of the 45 stations. Streets, rivers and rail lines are not considered, and the Green Line is not included.
Safety: Calgary Police Service, Community Safety Data (2020 to Q3 2026), with population from the 2021 Federal Census by Community. Last 12 months = October 2025 to September 2026. Year to date = January to September. Crime = the dashboard's violence and property categories (most serious offence per incident; domestic violence excluded). Disorder = public-generated calls for service, excluding Property Damage and Abandoned Auto to match CPS's 2025 methodology. Medians are across the 177 guide communities with 1,000+ residents at the 2021 census. CPS rounds counts of 1 to 5 to 2.

Vancouver

Boundaries: Local area boundary (the City's 22 local planning areas), loaded live on the map.
Home values: Property tax report (BC Assessment values for 2026) for residential and comprehensive-development zones, matched to local areas through property parcel polygons. We show the median land-plus-building value per property, and the median for strata (condo and townhouse) units.
People and homes: the City's 2025 Social Indicators and Trends Profiles, based on the 2021 Census. Shares of children, seniors and renters come from the profiles' local-area benchmarks, rounded to whole percentages.
Growth: Issued building permits, counted by year issued.
Safety: Vancouver Police Department, GeoDASH open crime data (2020 to 2026). Last 12 months = October 2025 to September 2026. Year to date = January to September. Crime = Offence Against a Person and Homicide (violent) plus Break and Enter Commercial, Break and Enter Residential/Other, Theft from Vehicle and Theft of Vehicle (property), chosen to match the categories Calgary Police publish. Mischief, Other Theft (including shoplifting), bicycle theft and collisions are excluded from the rate. VPD counts founded offences using the All Offence method, so Vancouver and Calgary rates are not directly comparable; compare each neighbourhood with its own city's median. 'Central Business District' is mapped to Downtown and Musqueam to Dunbar-Southlands; Stanley Park is excluded. Medians are across the 22 local areas.

Metro Vancouver (Richmond and the North Shore)

Areas: These municipalities don't publish neighbourhood boundaries in a common open format, so each neighbourhood here is a group of Statistics Canada dissemination areas (small census blocks of roughly 400 to 700 people) in Richmond, the City and District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver. Each block is assigned to the nearest neighbourhood centre within its own municipality, so edges are approximate, and some neighbourhoods are named for their main village or centre. There is no map for this reason.
Home values: none of these municipalities publishes assessments as open data, so we show the median value of dwellings from the 2021 Census (owner estimates), combined across blocks as an owner-weighted average of block medians. Prices have moved since 2021, so treat it as a relative guide.
People and homes: Statistics Canada's 2021 Census Profile, dissemination-area data: age groups, structural type of dwelling, tenure and household income. City-wide figures cover just the neighbourhoods listed.
Growth: Richmond, the North Shore municipalities and West Vancouver publish permit statistics for the whole municipality only, so these pages don't show permits.
Safety: Richmond RCMP, North Shore RCMP and the West Vancouver Police Department don't publish open crime counts by neighbourhood, so these pages don't show a crime rate. We'd rather show nothing than guess.

Toronto

Boundaries: Toronto's 158 social planning neighbourhoods, loaded live on the map from the Toronto Police Service open data service, which uses the City's boundaries.
Home values: Toronto does not publish property assessments as open data (assessments are set by MPAC, which doesn't release them openly). Instead we show the median value of dwellings from the 2021 Census: what owners estimated their home was worth, rounded by Statistics Canada. It is a fair way to compare neighbourhoods with each other, but it is not a current price.
People and homes: the City's Neighbourhood Profiles (2021 Census, 25% sample data). Neighbourhood populations here are the census sample totals.
Growth: the City's building permit data has no neighbourhood field, so Toronto pages don't show permits yet.
Safety: Toronto Police Service, Neighbourhood Crime Rates open data (2020 to 2025), with Toronto Police Service 2025 neighbourhood population estimates (the same figures TPS uses for its own rates). Annual counts for 2025, the latest full year TPS publishes by neighbourhood; TPS does not publish monthly counts here, so there is no year-to-date comparison. Crime = Assault, Robbery and Homicide (violent) plus Break and Enter, Auto Theft and Theft from Motor Vehicle (property), chosen to match the categories Calgary and Vancouver police publish. Theft over $5,000, bicycle theft and shootings are shown separately and left out of the rate. TPS counts reported occurrences by where they happened. Medians are across Toronto's 158 social planning neighbourhoods.

Montréal

Areas: Montréal's 19 boroughs (arrondissements). Boroughs are much bigger than neighbourhoods elsewhere, so each figure covers a wider mix of streets. Boundaries come from Limites administratives de l'agglomération, simplified for the map.
Home values: Montréal's open property roll only covers older roll years, so we show the median value of dwellings from the 2021 Census (owner estimates, rounded by Statistics Canada), as for Toronto.
People and homes: the City's Montréal en statistiques 2021 Census tables by borough.
Growth: Permis de construction, transformation et démolition, counted by borough and year issued. This includes renovation and demolition permits, so counts are higher than other cities'.
Safety: Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Actes criminels open data (2020 to 2026), with population from the 2021 Census, Ville de Montréal (Montréal en statistiques). Last 12 months = October 2025 to September 2026. Year to date = January to September. Crime = robbery (Vols qualifiés) and offences causing death (violent) plus break-ins (Introduction), theft from vehicles and vehicle theft (property). SPVM's open data does not include assaults or other crimes against the person, so Montreal's violent-crime rate is much lower than other cities' and is not comparable with them. Mischief (Méfait) is shown separately. Incidents are matched to boroughs by their published location; SPVM moves each point to the nearest intersection for privacy, and about 15% of incidents have no location and can't be placed. Medians are across the 19 boroughs of the City of Montréal.

Ottawa

Areas: 92 of the 116 areas in the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (Generation 3) map, which draws neighbourhoods from community input. We left out the Greenbelt, the airport, industrial areas and very small rural areas.
People and homes: Ottawa does not publish census figures by neighbourhood, so we took the 2021 census tract tables prepared by SPC Ottawa (Statistics Canada data) and apportioned each tract to the neighbourhoods it overlaps, using 2021 dissemination-area populations as weights. Figures are estimates and are least precise for small neighbourhoods that share a tract. Median rents and home values are population-weighted averages of tract medians.
Home values: the City does not publish property assessments as open data, so we show 2021 census owner-estimated values, as for Toronto and Montréal. Ottawa’s open data does not include dwelling types by neighbourhood, so we show the share of households living in condominiums instead of the share in apartments.
Growth: Ottawa does not publish building permits in a form we can sum by neighbourhood, so there is no permit figure.
Safety: Ottawa Police Service, Criminal Offences open data (2018 to 2025), with 2021 census population, apportioned to neighbourhoods. Annual counts for 2025, the latest full year Ottawa Police publish by location; the open data is updated yearly, so there is no year-to-date comparison. Crime = offences against the person (assault, threats and other violence, deaths, deprivation of freedom) as violent, plus break and enter and motor vehicle theft as property, chosen to match Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Theft under $5,000 (which includes shoplifting), theft over $5,000 and mischief are shown separately and left out of the rate. Sexual violations are not published with a location, so they are not counted. Each incident is placed in a neighbourhood by its map location. Medians are across the 105 Ottawa Neighbourhood Study areas with at least 1,000 residents.

Edmonton

Areas: 102 of Edmonton’s neighbourhoods: all of those with at least 4,500 residents in the 2021 census, plus 40 with 3,000 to 4,500 residents. More are being added. We left out industrial and very small areas and the newest neighbourhoods, which do not yet have census housing figures. Boundaries come from the City’s Neighbourhoods map.
People and homes: resident counts are from the City’s 2021 Federal Census table. Age shares are from the 2019 City Census (residents who gave an age), and homes and renting are from the 2016 Census dwelling table, the latest the City publishes by neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods that have grown since then are flagged. Resident counts shown are estimates for mid-2025: the 2021 count, plus new homes permitted from June 2021 to December 2024 (General Building Permits, new construction) at 2.3 residents per home, plus an equal percentage increase everywhere so the city total matches Statistics Canada’s July 2025 population estimate for Edmonton. Crime rates use these estimates. Oliver’s new homes are filed under the wider Wîhkwêntôwin area, so they aren’t counted. The 2026 census will replace the estimates.
Home values: the median 2026 assessment of residential properties from the City’s Property Assessment Data. It includes condos, so apartment-heavy areas look cheap. Oliver is listed in the assessment data as Wîhkwêntôwin, which covers a wider area.
Growth: General Building Permits, counted by neighbourhood and year issued, excluding commercial permits. This includes renovation permits.
Safety: Edmonton Police Service, Historic Occurrences (open data), with 2021 census population. 12 months from October 2025 to September 2026. The open data is updated through the current month, but Edmonton Police place each report at the nearest intersection, so counts are approximate. Crime = assault and robbery of a person as violent, plus break and enter (homes and businesses) and motor vehicle theft as property, chosen to match Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. Theft under $5,000 (which includes shoplifting), theft over $5,000 and mischief are shown separately and left out of the rate. Each report is placed in a neighbourhood by its map location. Medians are across the 102 Edmonton neighbourhoods covered here, all with at least 3,000 residents.

Winnipeg

Areas: 39 of Winnipeg’s neighbourhoods, chosen for size and for covering every part of the city. More can be added. Boundaries are from the City’s Census Boundaries.
People and homes: all figures are from the 2016 Census as published on the City’s open data portal, the latest the City publishes by neighbourhood, so they are older than the other cities. Home values are what owners estimated in the census, not assessments. Resident counts are estimates for mid-2025: the 2016 count, plus net new homes from the City’s Building Permit Data (permits issued July 2016 to December 2024, dwelling units created less lost) at 2.3 residents per home, plus an equal percentage increase everywhere so the city total matches Statistics Canada’s July 2025 estimate.
Safety: the Winnipeg Police Service doesn’t publish crime counts by neighbourhood in the City’s open data, so these pages don’t show a crime rate. We’d rather show nothing than guess.
Growth: no neighbourhood building-permit chart yet.

Keep in mind

Census years differ: Calgary mixes 2021 (residents and ages) with the 2019 civic census (homes and renting); Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal and Ottawa use the 2021 Census; Edmonton mixes 2019 (ages) and 2016 (homes); resident counts everywhere are estimates for mid-2025: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Montréal from new housing in building permits plus Statistics Canada’s city estimate (see their sections), Toronto from the Toronto Police 2025 neighbourhood estimates, and Ottawa and Metro Vancouver (no usable permit data by neighbourhood) by scaling each neighbourhood’s census count by its city’s growth in Statistics Canada’s July 2025 population estimates Scaled estimates assume every neighbourhood grew at the same rate, so they update the totals but not where growth happened. Age and housing shares are still from the census years listed above.
Home values come from different sources: current assessments in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, 2021 census owner estimates in Toronto, Montréal and Ottawa. Compare each area with its own city, not across cities.
Crime rates count incidents where they happen, so areas with busy shopping streets, transit or nightlife score higher than their residents' own experience might suggest. Rates are a starting point, not a verdict.
Each police service counts crime differently and publishes different categories, so a rate of 15 in one city and 15 in another don't mean the same thing. Use each city's median as the yardstick. Toronto's figures are for calendar 2025; the other cities use the last 12 months.
Descriptions and hot spots are written by us, not the cities. Tell us what we've missed.

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary and the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. Vancouver crime data from the Vancouver Police Department, used under its open data terms. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Toronto, and Toronto Police Service open data. Montréal data from the Ville de Montréal and SPVM under CC BY 4.0. Census data from Statistics Canada. Last pulled 2026-10-18.