An overview of three decades of interprovincial migration in Canada

Canada is a large and diverse country with a number of distinct provinces and regions from coast-to-coast that offer unique opportunities for residents. Every Canadian has the right to freely move, live and work in any province, which means the choices Canadians ultimately make offer some insight into the success or failure of a province to attract migrants.

As anyone who has uprooted themselves and their families will know, the costs of migrating to a different part of the country (leaving family and friends, selling your house and finding new accommodations, etc.) are significant. Therefore, the benefits of moving (a new job opportunity, more favourable taxes, better climate, personal reasons, etc.) must be sufficient enough to offset those costs. A province that can successfully offer enough benefit to enough people, relative to other provinces, will generally attract more migrants than it loses and see a net gain.

This carries real consequences for the jurisdiction as a whole. A province that can attract migrants on net will enjoy greater overall levels of economic activity and a larger base from which the government can levy taxes from (the opposite is true for provinces that lose migrants). Net migration may also affect demand for things such as housing, health care and education, which also impacts the existing population and/or provincial government (can be positive or negative). And the characteristics of the migrants themselves may also matter—for example, the impacts on a province (receiving or giving) are different depending on whether migrants are primarily younger or older.

Simply put, interprovincial migration trends offer important information regarding whether or not a province is viewed as an attractive place to live and work relative to the rest of the country, which then provides insight into the opportunities or challenges faced by each province. To that end, our recent study examines interprovincial migration data across all 10 provinces over the 30-year period from 1995/96 to 2024/25 (the latest year of available data) as a way to highlight the key trends. The following is a summary of the study.

British Columbia

British Columbia was the second-most popular destination for interprovincial migrants over the past three decades (behind only Alberta). The province attracted 214,883 migrants on net from seven other provinces—only losing migrants to Alberta and Nova Scotia. Migrants coming to B.C. (on net) were of all ages, though roughly half (104,780) of the incoming migrants were 18 to 44 years old. Though B.C. typically enjoyed a strong inflow of migrants each year, the rate of total net migration recently dropped precipitously from a net inflow of 5.0 people per 1,000 residents in 2021/22 (the third-highest rate experienced in the province since 1995/96) to a net outflow of people in 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Alberta

Alberta was the top destination for interprovincial migrants in Canada. From 1995/96 to 2024/25, Alberta saw a total of 538,824 migrants come to the province on net from every other province in Canada, which was by far the largest level of net in-migration experienced by any province. Migrants coming to Alberta were of all ages, though the province was particularly attractive to university and working-age migrants—indeed, 409,008 of the incoming (net) migrants were aged 18 to 44. Though Alberta attracted a net inflow nearly every year in the last three decades, there was one six-year stretch from 2015/16 to 2020/21 where the province experienced a sustained wave of out-migration to the rest of the country.

The Prairies (Saskatchewan and Manitoba)

The prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba experienced strong levels of out-migration over the past 30 years. Indeed, Saskatchewan saw a net outflow of migrants in 23 out of 30 years—Saskatchewan only attracted migrants on net from 2006/07 to 2012/13—while Manitoba saw a net outflow every year during the entire period. Cumulatively, both provinces lost (on net) the equivalent of roughly one-tenth of their 2025 populations. Saskatchewan saw 123,603 migrants leave while Manitoba lost 155,919 people. Migrants leaving both provinces were of all ages, and were primarily destined for Alberta and B.C. However, while Saskatchewan was able to attract migrants on net from four other provinces (Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba), Manitoba was only able to attract more migrants than it lost with Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ontario

From 1995/96 to 2024/25, Ontario saw a total of 168,166 migrants leave (on net) for somewhere else in Canada. This was the second-highest absolute level of any province (behind Quebec), though it represents just 1.0 per cent of Ontario’s 2025 population. Migrants leaving the province (on net) were of all ages and were primarily destined for Alberta or B.C. Ontario did attract a substantial number of migrants on net (168,466) from neighbouring Quebec. Ontario has seen a net outflow of migrants in 18 of the past 30 years, and notably that outflow has reached its highest rates in the years since 2020/21.

Quebec

Quebec is the only other province (in addition to Manitoba) that saw a net outflow of migrants in every year over the last three decades. In total, the province lost 255,988 more migrants than it gained over the period. Quebec’s inability to attract migrants (on net) was persistent across all age groups, while it only attracted migrants on net from three other provinces—Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Manitoba. While almost two-thirds of the migrants coming to or leaving Quebec were coming from/going to Ontario, Quebec ultimately saw a substantial net flow of migrants leave for Ontario.

Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador)

Migration to and from the Atlantic provinces over the past three decades has followed roughly the same pattern in three of four provinces. Leading up to 2015/16 or 2016/17, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. each experienced sustained net outflows of migrants to the rest of the country interspersed with brief periods when they attracted more than they gained (P.E.I. did see a six-year inflow of migrants from 1998/99 to 2003/04). Following this, all three provinces experienced strong waves of net in-migration that lasted for roughly the decade from 2015 to 2024. Overall, Nova Scotia (23,299) and P.E.I. (4,335) both experienced a cumulative net inflow of migrants over the entire period, while New Brunswick only lost (on net) a total of 5,862 migrants. Newfoundland and Labrador had a different experience, as it saw a massive net outflow in the years leading up to 2007/08. From 2008/09 onwards, the province experienced a relatively consistent (albeit slow) inflow of migrants, though that was interrupted by a four-year stretch of strong out-migration from 2016/17 to 2019/20. In total, Newfoundland and Labrador lost 58,319 migrants on net to the rest of Canada during this period—for perspective, this represents 10.6 per cent of its 2025 population.

All four Atlantic provinces generally experienced a net outflow of migrants aged 18 to 44 and a net inflow of those aged 45 and older over the past three decades—Nova Scotia was the exception as it attracted 1,183 migrants aged 25 to 44 on net. Newfoundland and Labrador lost an astounding 40,480 migrants (on net) aged 18 to 24, which represents 97.3 per cent of province’s 2025 population of that age group. Migrants who moved within the region were generally destined for Nova Scotia, while those who left the region went primarily to Alberta. Those moving into the region primarily came from Ontario. Whereas Nova Scotia attracted migrants (on net) from every other province except Alberta over the past 30 years, Newfoundland and Labrador lost migrants to every other province.

Since Canadians have the freedom to live and work anywhere they wish within Canada, the choices they do make are very telling about which provinces offer the best opportunity for migrants. They show that over the last 30 years, Alberta and B.C. have generally been the two most attractive provinces across Canada, while Nova Scotia also stood out as an attractive destination. Despite their size, Ontario and Quebec failed to attract more migrants than they lost overall during the period—with Quebec in particular losing migrants (on net) for 30 years straight. Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba largely stood out as the least-attractive provinces to migrants in Canada.