Online census opens to Calgarians in annual count

Door-to-door canvassers will be heading to households that don't fill out online by April 20

Image | Calgary cyclist skyline bike

Caption: Each year the city census looks at Calgary's population, community growth, net migration, natural increase and housing. (Robson Fletcher/CBC)

The city's online census launched Monday morning to help track Calgary's population and housing.
The data is used to help plan city services, and allows the city to apply for some provincial grants — like for transportation and libraries.
The city mailed out access codes to Calgarians last week. You need a code to complete the census. If you don't have one, you can request one online or by phoning the city.
Door-to-door canvassing begins April 20. If you want more information, head to calgary.ca/census(external link).
The annual civic census is not related to the census conducted every five years by the federal government.

Last year's census

The city's population was found to be at 1,246,337 in last year's census — an increase over the past year of 11,166 people, or about 0.9 per cent, mainly because of more babies born in Calgary.
The city used to gain people in much larger numbers, like the more than 36,000 people who moved to Calgary between in 2012 and 2013. But growth has stalled since the recession.
The population totals in the majority of the city's communities stayed stagnant last year, with growth in parts of downtown and in the outskirts.
Most of the population increases are on the edges of the city in newly built subdivisions, such as Cityscape, Nolan Hill, Skyview Ranch, Redstone and Evanston in the north, and Legacy and Mahogany in the south.
Calgary's fastest growing community last year was a newer suburb in the far southeast, called Auburn Bay.