Get started
  1. Home
  2. Census Atlas
  3. Cities
  4. Vancouver
Census Atlas profile

Who lives in Vancouver.

2,642,825 people lived in the Vancouver census metropolitan area in 2021. 41.8% were immigrants, ranking 2 of 41 metropolitan areas, and 54.5% belonged to a visible minority group.

Data 2021 CensusNext update Census 2026 (from Feb. 2027)

Population, 20212,642,825+7.3% since 2016
Immigrants41.8%5.9% arrived 2016–2021
Visible minority54.5%
Median household income (2020)$90,000rent $1,500/mo
Map

Vancouver, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

535 census tracts, small areas of about 2,500 to 8,000 people. Pick a topic, then click a tract for its profile or compare two.

Loading map…

Scroll or pinch to zoom · drag to move · click an area for details

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population; boundaries: Statistics Canada 2021 boundary files. Adapted from Statistics Canada. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

Profile

Who lives in Vancouver, in charts.

Visible minority groups

Share of the population in private households. Statistics Canada term, defined in the Employment Equity Act.

GroupSharePeople
Chinese19.6%512,260
South Asian14.2%369,290
Filipino5.5%142,125
West Asian2.5%64,640
Korean2.4%63,465
Southeast Asian2.2%56,815
Latin American2.0%51,500
Multiple visible minorities1.9%50,600
Black1.6%41,180
Japanese1.2%31,195
Arab0.9%22,440
Visible minority, n.i.e.0.6%14,750

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Languages spoken most often at home

Non-official languages, single responses.

GroupSharePeople
Mandarin5.8%152,805
Punjabi (Panjabi)5.2%136,300
Yue (Cantonese)5.0%131,660
Korean1.5%40,050
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)1.4%37,890
Iranian Persian1.2%30,985
Spanish1.0%25,050
Vietnamese0.7%17,160
Hindi0.6%15,285
Russian0.5%12,840

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Top 15 ethnic or cultural origins

People can report more than one origin, so shares add up to more than 100%.

GroupSharePeople
Chinese18.2%475,160
English14.0%365,150
Scottish10.8%281,420
Irish9.1%235,970
Indian (India)8.2%213,795
German7.1%184,145
Canadian6.7%174,095
Filipino5.4%141,230
French4.2%108,315
Italian3.2%83,200
Ukrainian3.1%81,155
British Isles3.0%79,115
Punjabi2.7%71,020
Dutch2.5%64,120
Korean2.4%62,885

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Immigrants: top places of birth

Share of all residents born in each place (immigrants only).

GroupSharePeople
China18.8%204,825
India13.9%151,400
Philippines10.0%109,405
Hong Kong7.0%76,115
United Kingdom4.7%51,440
Iran4.0%43,245
Korea, South3.9%42,090
Taiwan3.6%38,670
United States of America2.5%27,615
Viet Nam2.5%27,175
Germany1.1%11,545
Pakistan1.0%11,125

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Recent immigrants (2016 to 2021): top places of birth

Share of all residents.

GroupSharePeople
India19.7%30,545
China18.7%28,970
Philippines9.8%15,095
Korea, South4.0%6,125
Iran3.6%5,615
United States of America3.5%5,465
Brazil3.0%4,625
United Kingdom2.9%4,555
Syria2.2%3,380
Mexico1.6%2,460

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Immigrants by period of arrival

CategoryShare of residents
Before 19806.1%
1980 to 19904.9%
1991 to 20009.8%
2001 to 201010.0%
2011 to 20155.1%
2016 to 20215.9%

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Immigrants admitted 1980 to 2021, by category

Share of residents.

CategoryShare of residents
Economic immigrants59.5%
Immigrants sponsored by family30.4%
Refugees8.7%
Other immigrants1.4%

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

More data

Related

DataNew permanent residents to Vancouver
AtlasBritish Columbia
AtlasCompare cities on the map

About this data. Adapted from Statistics Canada. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. Counts are randomly rounded to multiples of 5 or 10 and very small areas are suppressed by Statistics Canada; we show those as “not available”. Ethnic or cultural origin allows several answers per person, so shares add up to more than 100%. Origin and language data describe ancestry and language use; they are not a measure of who is Canadian. These pages describe what happened, using official statistics. They do not predict policy, estimate anyone’s chances, or rank communities. See methods and definitions.