Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area | |
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Nickname: GTHA | |
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Country | ![]() |
Province | ![]() |
Area | |
• Total | 8,244.42 km2 (3,183.19 sq mi) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 7,281,694 |
• Density | 844/km2 (2,216/sq mi) |
Combined population of the cities of Toronto and Hamilton and the regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham | |
GDP | |
• Total | CA$479.758 billion US$361.642 billion (2019) [1] |
Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
Postal Code | |
Area code(s) | 226, 519, 548, 416, 437, 647, 249, 705, 905, 289, 365 |
The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is an urban conurbation that is composed of some of the largest cities and metropolitan areas by population in the Canadian province of Ontario. The GTHA consists of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the City of Hamilton. Unlike the Golden Horseshoe, which covers a larger area, the GTHA specifically refers to the urban conurbation of these regions. Despite not being in the conurbation's name, it also includes the City of Oshawa and its sub-metropolitan area. [2] The GTA is Canada's most populous metropolitan area that includes the core City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York, and Durham (which contains Oshawa). The GTHA forms the core of a larger urban agglomeration known as the Golden Horseshoe.
Beginning in the late-2000s, the term "Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area" was introduced by a few public bodies [lower-alpha 1] to refer to the GTA and the city of Hamilton as a single entity. The population of the combined area is 7,281,694 as of 2021, [6] and is projected to grow to 8.6 million by 2031. [7] The main series of roadways that connects all the areas together (going from Durham to Hamilton) includes highways 401, 427, 403, and the Queen Elizabeth Way. The GTHA has regional public transport served by GO Transit and local service by multiple agencies, which mostly use the Presto card as fare payment.
Census division | Population (2016) [6] | Population (2021) [6] | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Toronto | 2,731,571 | 2,794,356 | +2.30% |
Hamilton | 536,917 | 569,353 | +6.04% |
Halton | 548,435 | 596,637 | +8.79% |
Peel | 1,381,739 | 1,451,022 | +5.01% |
York | 1,109,909 | 1,173,334 | +5.71% |
Durham | 645,862 | 696,992 | +7.92% |
Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area | 6,954,433 | 7,281,694 | +4.71% |
Clarington is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the Village of Newcastle and the townships of Clarke and Darlington, and was established on January 1 1974. In 1993, the town was renamed Clarington, a blending of the names of the two former townships. Darlington today is largely suburban, while Clarke remains largely rural. Bowmanville is the largest community in the municipality and is the home of the municipal offices.
The Regional Municipality of Durham, informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, Durham forms the east-end of the Greater Toronto Area and part of the Golden Horseshoe region. It has an area of approximately 2,500 km2 (970 sq mi). The regional government is headquartered in Whitby.
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urbanised area in which transportation has developed to link areas. They create a single urban labour market or travel to work area.
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater Toronto Area begins in Burlington in Halton Region to the west, and extends along Lake Ontario past downtown Toronto eastward to Clarington in Durham Region.
The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The region is the most densely populated and industrialized in Canada. Based on the 2021 census, with a population of 7,759,635 people in its core and 9,765,188 in its greater area, the Golden Horseshoe accounts for over 20 percent of the population of Canada and more than 54 percent of Ontario's population. It is part of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, itself part of the Great Lakes megalopolis.
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven million across an area over 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi) stretching from Kitchener in the west to Peterborough in the east, and from Barrie in the north to Niagara Falls in the south. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 56,036,900. GO Transit operates diesel-powered double-decker trains and coach buses, on routes that connect with all local and some long-distance inter-city transit services in its service area.
The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills. Policing in the Region is provided by the Halton Regional Police Service. The regional council's headquarters are located in Oakville. Burlington, Oakville, and Milton are largely urban and suburban, while Halton Hills is more rural.
A regional municipality is a type of Canadian municipal government similar to and at the same municipal government level as a county, although the specific structure and servicing responsibilities may vary from place to place. Regional municipalities were formed in highly populated areas where it was considered more efficient to provide certain services, such as water, emergency services, and waste management over an area encompassing more than one local municipality. For this reason, regions may be involved in providing services to residents and businesses.
The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government of their own. They exist on four levels: the top-level (first-level) divisions are Canada's provinces and territories; these are divided into second-level census divisions, which in turn are divided into third-level census subdivisions and fourth-level dissemination areas.
Area codes 416, 647, and 437 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Area code 416 is one of the original North American area codes created by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1947. Area codes 647 and 437 are additional area codes for the same numbering plan area (NPA), forming an overlay numbering plan.
York County is a historic county in Upper Canada, Canada West, and the Canadian province of Ontario. It was organized by the Upper Canada administration from the lands of the Toronto Purchase and others.
Durham Region Transit (DRT) is the regional public transit operator in Durham Region, Ontario, Canada, east of Toronto. Its headquarters are at 110 Westney Road South in Ajax, Ontario, and there are regional centres in Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa. DRT was formed by the merger of Ajax/Pickering Transit, Whitby Transit, Oshawa Transit, and Clarington Transit on January 1, 2006.
The Greenbelt is a protected area of green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds, located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It surrounds a significant portion of the Golden Horseshoe.
Metrolinx is a transportation agency in Ontario, Canada. It is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It was created as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority on June 22, 2006, and adopted its present name as a brand name in 2007 and eventually as the legal name in 2009. It is headquartered at Union Station in Toronto.
Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir is a French-language Catholic school board that manages elementary and secondary French schools in South-Central Ontario. The school board operates 47 elementary schools, 12 secondary schools, and two combined institutions within that area; in all major cities, including throughout the GTA. Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir is headquartered in the Centre d'éducation catholique Omer-Deslauriers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
GO Transit is an interregional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada, operated by the provincial crown agency Metrolinx. It primarily serves the conurbation referred to by Metrolinx as the "Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area" (GTHA) with operations extending to several communities in the area centred around Toronto and Hamilton.
King's Highway 413, known as the GTA West Corridor or GTA West until 2021, is an 400-series highway and bus transitway that will be under construction in the western Greater Toronto Area of the Canadian province of Ontario. The approximately 52-kilometre (32 mi) route is currently undergoing planning and analysis under an environmental impact assessment (EA) by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) and the Government of Ontario. If approved, a new four-to-six lane controlled-access highway would be built between the existing interchange of Highway 401 and the 407 ETR at the Halton–Peel boundary, and Highway 400 north of Vaughan. In addition, two new extensions would be built to connect Highway 410 and Highway 427 with Highway 413.
Toronto has a large Italian Canadian community, with 30.3 per cent of the ethnic Italians in Canada living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as of 2021. Toronto is home to the fourth largest population of people of Italian descent after Buenos Aires, São Paulo and New York City, respectively. As of the Canada 2021 Census, there were 468,970 Italian Canadians located in the Greater Toronto Area, with 444,755 located within the Toronto CMA.