In 2026 the City of Toronto had an estimated 3,358,275 residents, making it the largest municipality in Canada, with 46.6 percent of residents born outside the country. That is about twice the national immigrant share of 23.0 percent. The City of Toronto’s own census summaries, built on Statistics Canada data, also report that 55.7 percent of residents belong to a racialized (visible minority) group.
How many people live in Toronto
The City of Toronto had an estimated 3,358,275 residents in 2026. The city grew by 62,785 people (2.3 percent) from 2016, less than the 116,511 added from 2011 to 2016. The wider Toronto census metropolitan area, which takes in suburbs such as Mississauga and Markham, had 6,202,225 people, according to Statistics Canada. The two figures describe different areas and should not be mixed.
The diversity figures below are for the City of Toronto and rely on the sample questions of the census long form, so they refer to a slightly smaller base population than the headline count.
Where residents were born
In 2021, 47.1 percent of Toronto residents were born in Canada. The census recorded 1,286,140 immigrants, or 46.6 percent of the population. Among these immigrants, 55.7 percent were born in Asia, up from 53.5 percent in 2016. For recent arrivals admitted from 2016 to 2021, Statistics Canada’s national release lists India (18.6 percent), the Philippines (11.4 percent), and China (8.9 percent) as the top countries of birth in Canada as a whole, so these are national shares and not Toronto’s own.
Racialized groups and ethnic origins
A total of 1,537,285 Torontonians, or 55.7 percent, identified as belonging to a racialized group, up from 51.5 percent in 2016. Ethnic origin is a separate question and allows more than one answer. The ten most frequently reported origins in the city were:
| Rank | Origin reported | People |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinese | 297,725 |
| 2 | English | 244,995 |
| 3 | Irish | 226,865 |
| 4 | Scottish | 211,175 |
| 5 | Indian (India) | 182,115 |
| 6 | Italian | 167,460 |
| 7 | Canadian | 165,640 |
| 8 | Filipino | 161,495 |
| 9 | German | 107,475 |
| 10 | French n.o.s. | 85,715 |
Because several origins can be reported at once, the rows overlap and cannot be added together. The same City of Toronto summary gives religious affiliation shares: 9.6 percent Muslim, 6.2 percent Hindu, 3.6 percent Jewish, 2.3 percent Buddhist, and 0.8 percent Sikh.
Languages
The City of Toronto’s language backgrounder reports that 50.2 percent of residents had English as their only mother tongue and 42.5 percent had a mother tongue other than English or French. About 1,244,555 residents, or 44.9 percent, spoke at least one non-official language at home. Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Spanish, and Tamil were the most common non-English home languages. Some 4.5 percent of Torontonians had no knowledge of either English or French. For more detail, see the article on languages in the census.
Many third-party addresses can appear next to population searches, for example so the census tables remain the reliable reference for these figures.
Questions about the numbers
Is Toronto the largest city in Canada?
With 3,358,275 residents in 2026 for the municipality, yes. The comparison with Montreal and others is covered in a separate article on Canadian cities.
What share of Toronto’s residents are immigrants?
The census counted 1,286,140 immigrants, or 46.6 percent of the City of Toronto population in 2021, against 23.0 percent for Canada.
Is the visible minority share the same as the immigrant share?
No. They are separate census concepts. The racialized share was 55.7 percent, while immigrants were 46.6 percent, and some racialized residents were born in Canada.
Where are newer figures?
The 2026 Census results are not published yet, so the 2021 Census is the latest full count. Statistics Canada’s annual estimates cover later years but not these detailed categories.
Last verified: October 2026
Sources
- City of Toronto, Social Policy Analysis and Research, Social Research Bulletin 317 (quotes the 2021 Census backgrounder on immigration, ethnic origin, and religion)
- City of Toronto City Planning, 2021 Census: Language backgrounder, August 19, 2022
- City of Toronto City Planning, 2021 Census: Population and Dwelling Counts, February 2022
- Statistics Canada, The Daily, February 9, 2022
- Statistics Canada, The Daily, October 26, 2022, immigration and ethnocultural diversity
Related reading
- Toronto facts: location, population, geography and weather
- Toronto’s population and languages: what the census shows
- Toronto compared with other Canadian cities: 2021 Census
- Immigration and communities in Toronto’s history
- Toronto population by census, 1861 to 2021
Cite this page
APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 27). Toronto’s Population and Diversity in the 2021 Census. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/torontos-population-exploring-the-size-and-diversity-of-canadas-largest-city
MLA: “Toronto’s Population and Diversity in the 2021 Census.” History of Toronto, 27 Oct. 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/torontos-population-exploring-the-size-and-diversity-of-canadas-largest-city. Accessed .
Chicago: History of Toronto. “Toronto’s Population and Diversity in the 2021 Census.” Last modified October 27, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/torontos-population-exploring-the-size-and-diversity-of-canadas-largest-city.
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