Hundreds of thousands more Canadians are leaving Toronto than moving here

While some research asserts that Toronto has become the fastest-growing city in all of Canada and the U.S. as far as population is concerned, Statistics Canada figures indicate that the city is actually losing more Canadians than it is gaining as they flee to other parts of the province and country.

The latest interprovincial and intraprovincial migration numbers from the government agency — which are actually a few years old, from 2019 to 2021 — have been spurring a ton of discussion on social media this week, showing that 220,000 more residents departed the Toronto area than relocated here over that time period.

This data point made headlines over the weekend that have since been recirculating across the internet, with the general consensus appearing to be that people living in the city understand why others would want to leave.

Toronto is notoriously home to an offensively high cost of living for everything from rent and real estate to groceries and activities.

It is now estimated that it costs an average single person in T.O. between $61,654 and $83,680 per year to live a normal and “healthy” life — an amount higher than many salaries, with full-time, minimum-wage workers in the metropolis earning about $25,994 after taxes here, per a recent study.

There is also a perceived decline of government services and dissatisfaction with our leadership, with worrying changes to healthcare, education, crime rates, and overall morale in Toronto and in some cases, Ontario at large.

And, of course, the global pandemic prompted a mass exodus from expensive, bustling hubs like Toronto, with many no longer tied to offices as they were temporarily or permanently laid off, or switched to remote work.

Surrounding municipalities like Hamilton and Burlington saw real estate booms as people moved out of the downtown core to slightly cheaper, calmer and less dense suburbs, leading to Toronto’s record-high population losses in 2020 and 2021.

Spending and lifestyle habits changed thanks to COVID-19, while the work-from-home trend took over many industries, with hybrid work becoming more of the norm in the few years since.

As the Star noted in its coverage of the subject on Saturday, the metropolis only used to see an exodus of about 20,000 people per year to elsewhere in Canada.

This count started accelerating rapidly around 2017, according to StatCan, hitting 203,115 emigrants (to within Canada) in 2021 alone, compared to 92,175 immigrants (also from within Canada).

Most of those who left — a staggering 80 per cent — remained in Ontario, moving to Peel Region locales like Oshawa, or other cities near the 6ix, like Hamilton and London. The other 20 per cent settled in provinces like Alberta, which has seen relative success from its targeted ad campaigns to achieve just that.

Many online are noting that it’s important to keep in mind StatCan is here only measuring migrants going to or coming from other places in Canada, not those relocating to or from other parts of the world. 

One recent study from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) said the GTA welcomed a whopping 221,588 new people between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023 (125,756 in Toronto proper), largely due to Canada’s record immigration numbers recently. Last year marked the highest population growth rate in the country since 1957, with 97.6 per cent of that growth a product of immigration.