Region at a glance

The Calgary region covers an area of 28,632 square kilometers, larger in size than the state of Maryland.  The region accounts for 4.4% of Alberta’s land mass and for 36.7% of Alberta’s population.  

According to Statistics Canada’s latest estimates, the region’s population totaled 1.36 million in 2010, an increase of 10.5% from 2006.  According to the Labour Force Survey, over 765,000 people were employed in the region in 2010, and the unemployment rate was 6.7%, up from 6.6% in 2009. 

The region’s largest industry on an employment basis is retail trade at 11% of total employment in 2010, followed by: professional, scientific and technical services (10%); health care and social assistance (10%); and construction (10%).  The fastest growing industry between 2006 and 2010 was health care and social assistance, which increased its employment level by more than 10,000, followed by construction with a 9,000 increase and retail trade with an 8,000 gain. 

The Calgary region, which includes Banff National Park and Kananaskis Provincial Park, is Alberta’s top tourism destination, accounting for just over one-third of Alberta’s total number of hotel rooms.  Many other of the region’s large industries, such as manufacturing, construction, professional, scientific and technical services (for instance engineering), and finance, insurance and real estate, are heavily dependent on Alberta’s large oil and gas sector.  The region’s top manufacturing sectors are food processing, machinery and metal fabrication.

According to personal income taxfiler data, the average individual income was $49,200 in 2007, a 41% increase from 2003.  Average income for couples was $147,600 in 2007, a large 47% rise from 2003.

Although very few current indicators are available on a regional basis, it is clear that the impacts of the global economic crisis have also subsided in this region; for instance the number of Employment Insurance beneficiaries receiving regular benefits in the Calgary region fell by 11% between 2009 and 2010.  Moreover, the number declined sharply by 33% between June 2010 and June 2011.

Date Updated:
RDP-2453