Community Statistics

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The Canmore Community Monitoring Report summarizes key Town of Canmore indicators that provide local information about past and current trends. 

 

  • Community Progress Monitoring shows key indicators that track progress toward the goals articulated in the Town of Canmore’s 2023-2026 Strategic Plan.
  • Canmore Community Profile Report summarizes key facts and figures that provide an overview of Canmore’s population, housing, economy, community life, and environmental conditions.

 

Past Reports

2018 Canmore Community Monitoring Report

2016 Canmore Community Monitoring Report

2014 Canmore Community Monitoring Project

Background

The Town of Canmore’s Community Monitoring program began in 1995 based on recommendations from the Growth Management Strategy. As the monitoring program evolved to meet our community needs, the resulting report grew from a 32-page threshold and monitoring report to a 288-page compendium of data, which included detailed department, organization, and community-level information. It is now an interactive, web-based monitoring report that provides the most current information available. 

The Town of Canmore uses the Citizen Perspectives Survey results to understand the needs and perceptions of residents, determine satisfaction with municipal services, identify spending priorities, identify areas for improvement, and overall quality of life in Canmore.
 
The data in the telephone survey was randomly collected from residents to reflect the age/gender distribution of the actual population in Canmore according to the most recent Census data. 

There is real value in conducting this exercise every few years to gather data on a broad number of benchmark questions as a tool to inform future priorities and direction for Town of Canmore Council and administration. The most recent survey results from the 2023 survey are below.

 

Highlights from the random telephone survey include: 

  • 93% of residents continue to rate the overall quality of life in Canmore as good or very good.
  • 47% of the respondents indicated their quality of life in Canmore had improved or stayed the same over the past four years, and 52% indicated it had worsened.
  • Top of mind issues are: cost of living, growth and development, housing affordability/availability, and governance/leadership were noted as a reasons for a deterioration in quality of life.
  • 99% of residents continue to feel safe in Canmore, and 93% feel a sense of belonging in their own neighbourhood.
  • 72% of the respondents feel they are getting good or very good value for their tax dollars.
  • 86% are satisfied with the overall level and quality of services and programs provided by the Town of Canmore with 75% satisfied with what we’re doing to reduce our community impact on climate change, and 74% satisfied with our efforts to address the issue of human-wildlife interaction in Canmore.

The five key takeaways are: 

  1. Overall, the results are positive but lower than previous years.
  2. Issues around housing and the cost of living are more pronounced this year.
  3. Growth and development remains a priority but less so than 2021.
  4. Perceptions of the Town’s overall communications are positive but there is room to improve opportunities for engagement. Perceptions of availability and responsiveness have also slipped this year.
  5. Perceptions of environmental sustainability have improved.

Past Survey Results

Permanent Population
According the 2021 federal census, the permanent population of Canmore is 15,990. For more details about the 2021 federal census please visit Statistics Canada. 

Non-Permanent Population
There are many people who reside in Canmore occasionally but whose primary residence is elsewhere. We refer to our occasional residents as our "non-permanent population." While there is no official count of the non-permanent population, the federal census provides details on the total number of private dwellings, and the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents. 

  2021 2016
 Change
Total private dwellings 9,173 7,963 +1,210
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents 6,804 5,738 +1,066
Calculated private dwellings not occupied by usual residents  2,369 2,225  +144
Percentage of private dwellings occupied by usual residents 74% 72% -2%

Municipal Census Results from Previous Years

View a map of Canmore's census districts

For more information email the municipal clerk at municipal.clerk@canmore.ca or call 403.678.1550

The Alberta Municipal Benchmarking Initiative is a collaboration of small and large-municipalities. The objective is to develop and implement a framework that will enable a continuous, multi-year benchmarking process for participating municipalities. The initiative includes identifying and gathering comparable metrics and preparing benchmarking reports to prompt questions, start discussions, identify and share leading practices, and ultimately improve the municipal services provided to Albertans.

Initiative History

The program began in November 2012 with a grant from Municipal Affairs' Regional Collaboration Program. The grant was used to engage a consultant for initial data collection from 2009 to 2012, comparative analysis, and reporting. Participating municipalities in phase two updated the data from 2012 to 2014.

What is Benchmarking?

A benchmark is an established point of reference against which things can be measured and compared. In this case, the benchmark is municipal service delivery metrics over time. 

The data gathered in the benchmarking exercise sets the stage for each municipality to identify trends, compare their process with other municipalities, and encourage continuous improvement and effective positive change in the delivery of services to their residents.

Why Benchmarking?

  • It helps tell the municipal "performance story"
  • Benchmarking is a sound business practice often used by governments and private sector
  • It assists municipalities in sharing knowledge and best practices, and builds awareness of the value of collaboration
  • It identifies opportunities to improve service delivery and cost savings
  • It helps to align service requirements with budget
  • It encourages a culture of continuous improvement
  • It demonstrates transparency and accountability and value for money

One of the key benefits is to share ideas, partners use the network to discuss results and share their practices and strategies. It often starts with a question. Why did we get these results? How can we improve? What does your program look like? It ends with collaboration on creative solutions to improve performance.

Participating Municipalities

  • Airdrie
  • Banff
  • Canmore
  • Cochrane
  • Red Deer
  • Medicine Hat
  • Lethbridge
  • Okotoks
  • Wetaskiwin

The following service areas benchmarked for efficiency and effectiveness performance measures are:

  1. Drinking Water Supply
  2. Wastewater Collection, Treatment and Disposal 
  3. Fire Protection
  4. Residential Solid Waste Management
  5. Roadway Operations and Maintenance
  6. Snow and Ice Management
  7. Transit

The following Benchmarking Reports have been completed.

Additional reports will be published as they become available.

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