Edmonton's population grew even more than expected in 2024, new numbers from the provincial government show.
Last year at this time, the City of Edmonton projected the population would increase by 3.6% in 2024. The new provincial numbers show, however, that Edmonton's population increased by 5.76% in 2024, an increase of 65,000 people, bringing the city's total number of residents to about 1,185,000.
One year ago, Ward Nakota Isga Coun. Andrew Knack warned that Edmonton wasn't ready for the projected influx of new people. "Well, guess what? We're still not ready, and, I mean, that shouldn't shock anyone," Knack told Taproot in a recent interview. "Obviously, the challenging or even somewhat terrifying point of this is, how do you keep up with that?"
New residents need homes, schools, services, and transportation options. Edmonton's City Plan, approved in 2020, is meant to chart how the city grows toward a population of two million people. The plan aims to see 50% of new housing units added through infill and to add 600,000 residents in neighbourhoods generally within the boundary of Anthony Henday Drive, instead of them being added predominantly outside of it through continued sprawl development. The progress on City Plan goals is tracked on the Open Performance dashboard.
In 2024, developers in the Edmonton region started construction on more than 18,000 units of housing, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data, a 39% increase over 2023. Apartment starts saw a particularly large increase of 49% from 2023. The city is ahead of schedule in meeting its goals of building missing middle housing, a January news release said.
Knack, who is not running for reelection in October's city election, said the proportion of new housing that is created through infill is important to guard against potential property tax increases. He added that while he understands why people can be hesitant about infill development in their neighbourhoods, he thinks some who may have previously objected to it have now changed their tune. "I think there are a lot of people who are just realizing now that in order to accomplish fiscal sustainability and environmental sustainability, we have to change, and that is hard, and it's causing some challenges," Knack said.
Row housing under construction in Strathcona County. (Stephanie Swensrude)
Another way Knack proposes the city welcome its new residents in a financially sustainable way is by simplifying infrastructure. He used the Jasper Place branch of the Edmonton Public Library, which won architecture awards, as an example.
"Goodness, I love that we have that, but at the same time, what if that is causing an issue? What if we can go build three new medium-sized recreation centres that all look the same, and because we're building three at the same time, we get a discount," he suggested. "You're essentially just copying the exact same design. You can still have a nice design, but maybe it's not going to be unique in each space."
Knack said this is something that the proposed infrastructure committee could decide on. Council is set to vote on that committee on March 18.
The Edmonton region's population as a whole increased by 4.71%. St. Albert and Strathcona County's population grew by 1.63% and 1.17% respectively. Leduc's population grew by 3.71% and Beaumont's grew by 5.85%.
With the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board set to dissolve on March 31, municipalities will not be required to follow the Regional Growth Plan, which set minimum density targets for the municipalities of the region. Knack said he worries about what would happen if regional municipalities stopped following the growth plan.
"If we start growing outside of those plans, then we're creating greater headaches and we're creating a much greater pressure on property taxes. And you might say, 'Well, isn't that the region's problem?'… Yes, but we also know folks that move into the region, many of them come into Edmonton to work every day," Knack said. "More often, we see greater traffic coming in than out. What does that mean on wear and tear, on infrastructure? What does that mean for financial viability for certain areas, if they're using up premium agricultural land to now put in new development because they're not going to follow the growth plan?"
Knack added that he doesn't believe most of the region will prioritize short-term planning because the region was thoughtful when developing the growth plan, "but that is going to loom in the background until we have a clear path on how that gets dealt with."