List of census divisions of Ontario

Last updated

First-level administrative divisions of Ontario
Ontario census divisions by type.png
Location Province of Ontario
Number51
Populations13,935 (Manitoulin District) – 2,794,356 (City of Toronto)
Areas631.10 km2 (City of Toronto) – 395,432.07 km2 (Kenora District)

The Province of Ontario has 51 first-level administrative divisions, which collectively cover the whole province. With two exceptions, [a] their areas match the 49 census divisions Statistics Canada has for Ontario.

Contents

The Province has four types of first-level division: single-tier municipalities, regional municipalities, counties, and districts. The first three are types of municipal government but districts are not—they are defined geographic areas (some quite large) used in many contexts. The last three have within them multiple smaller, lower-tier municipalities but the single-tier municipalities do not. Regional municipalities and counties differ primarily in the services that they provide to their residents. (Lower-tier municipalities are generally treated as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada.)

In some cases, an administrative division may retain its historical name even if it changes government type. For instance, Oxford County, Haldimand County, Norfolk County and Prince Edward County are no longer counties: Oxford is a regional municipality and the others are single-tier municipalities. Several administrative divisions in Ontario have significantly changed their borders or have been discontinued entirely. See: Historic counties of Ontario.

Types of administrative divisions

Single-tier municipalities

Single-tier municipalities of Ontario
Map of Ontario SINGLE TIER MUNICIPALITIES.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number11 [a]
Populations25,704 (Prince Edward County) – 2,794,356 (City of Toronto)
Areas631.10 km2 (City of Toronto) – 3,196.85 km2 (City of Greater Sudbury)
Government
Subdivisions
  • None

A single-tier municipality is governed by one municipal administration, with neither a county nor regional government above it, nor further municipal subdivisions below it (cf. independent city). [1] Single-tier municipalities are either former regional municipalities or counties whose municipal governments were amalgamated in the 1990s into a single administration. Some single-tier municipalities (e.g., Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Greater Sudbury) were created where a former regional municipality consisted of a single dominant urban centre and its suburbs or satellite towns or villages, while others (e.g., Brant County, Chatham-Kent, Haldimand-Norfolk, Kawartha Lakes, and Prince Edward County) were created from predominantly rural divisions with a collection of distinct communities.

A single-tier municipality should not be confused with a separated municipality ; such municipalities are considered as part of their surrounding county for census purposes, but are not administratively connected to the county.

With the exception of Greater Sudbury, single-tier municipalities that are not considered to be part of a county, regional municipality, or district are found only in Southern Ontario.

Current single-tier municipalities in Ontario that are also census divisions:

Single-tier municipalityPopulation
(2021) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
SeatSecondary
region
Primary
region
Municipality of Chatham-Kent [b] 104,3162,464.5342.3 Chatham Southwestern Southern
City of Greater Sudbury [c] 166,1283,196.8552.0 Sudbury Northeastern Northern
Haldimand-Norfolk [a] [d] 116,8722,883.8040.5 Cayuga, Simcoe SouthwesternSouthern
City of Hamilton [e] 569,3531,118.31509.1 Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Southern
City of Kawartha Lakes [f] 79,2473,033.6626.1 Lindsay Central Southern
City of Ottawa [g] 1,017,4492,788.20364.9 Ottawa Eastern Southern
Prince Edward County 25,7041,052.6124.4 Picton CentralSouthern
County of Brant [a] 144,7711,094.10132.3 Burford SouthwesternSouthern
City of Toronto [h] 2,794,356631.104,427.8 Toronto Golden HorseshoeSouthern

Regional municipalities

Regional municipalities of Ontario
Map of Ontario REGIONAL MUNICIPALITIES.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number8
Populations66,674 (District Municipality of Muskoka) – 1,451,022 (Peel)
Areas965.71 km2 (Halton) – 3,839.47 km2 (District Municipality of Muskoka)
Government
Subdivisions

Regional municipalities (or regions) are upper-tier municipalities that generally have more servicing responsibilities than the counties. They generally provide the following services: maintenance and construction of arterial roads in both rural and urban areas, transit, policing, sewer and water systems, waste disposal, region-wide land use planning and development, as well as health and social services. Regions are typically more urbanized than counties. Regional municipalities are typically an administrative division where an interconnected cluster of urban centres or suburbs forms the majority of the division's area and population, but no single centre is overwhelmingly dominant over the others. Regional municipalities are found only in Southern Ontario.

Although Oxford County and the District Municipality of Muskoka are not called regions, they are defined as regional municipalities under Part 1, Section 1 of the Municipal Act, 2001. [3]

Between 1998 and 2001, four regional municipalities that formed their own central city-dominated metropolitan areas were amalgamated and are now single-tier municipalities.

Current regional municipalities in Ontario:

Regional municipalityPopulation
(2021) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
Regional
seat
Secondary
region
Primary
region
Regional Municipality of Durham 696,9922,521.11276.5 Whitby Golden HorseshoeSouthern
Regional Municipality of Halton 596,637965.71617.8 Oakville Golden HorseshoeSouthern
District Municipality of Muskoka 66,6743,839.4717.4 Bracebridge NortheasternNorthern
Regional Municipality of Niagara 477,9411,852.82258.0 Thorold Golden HorseshoeSouthern
Oxford County 121,7812,038.1859.7 Woodstock SouthwesternSouthern
Regional Municipality of Peel 1,451,0221,247.451,163.2 Brampton Golden HorseshoeSouthern
Regional Municipality of Waterloo 587,1651,370.07428.6 Kitchener SouthwesternSouthern
Regional Municipality of York 1,173,3341,758.27667.3 Newmarket Golden HorseshoeSouthern

Counties

Counties of Ontario
Map of Ontario COUNTIES.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number22
Populations20,571 (Haliburton) – 533,169 (Simcoe)
Areas1,486.77 km2 (Dufferin) – 7,357.94 km2 (Renfrew)
Government
Subdivisions

Counties have fewer responsibilities than regions, as the lower-tier municipalities (cities, towns, villages, townships) within the counties typically provide the majority of municipal services to their residents. The responsibilities of county governments are generally limited to the following: maintenance and construction of rural arterial roads, health and social services, and county land use planning. Counties are only found in Southern Ontario and are also mostly census divisions.

Counties may be as large as regional municipalities in population, but their population density is generally lower (although not as low as in a district.) Counties may include major cities, such as London, Kingston and Windsor, geographically located within them, but these communities are usually separated municipalities that are only considered part of the county for census purposes, but are not administratively connected to the county. Municipalities are separated when regional or single-tier status is not appropriate for the municipality's population patterns, but their population is still large enough that it may adversely affect the county's ability to provide services to its smaller communities. Also, these cities have not evolved into large urban agglomerations with other communities, as in regions and single-tier cities, but may have small suburbs such as Point Edward.

Current counties in Ontario:

CountyPopulation
(2021) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
County
seat
Secondary
region
Primary
region
Bruce County 73,3964,076.2218.0 Walkerton SouthwesternSouthern
Dufferin County 66,2571,486.7744.6 Orangeville CentralSouthern
Elgin County 94,7521,878.5750.4 St. Thomas SouthwesternSouthern
Essex County 422,8601,844.21229.3 Essex SouthwesternSouthern
Frontenac County 161,7803,725.8243.4 Kingston EasternSouthern
Grey County 100,9054,497.9322.4 Owen Sound SouthwesternSouthern
Haliburton County 20,5714,009.475.1 Minden CentralSouthern
Hastings County 145,7466,013.3524.2 Belleville CentralSouthern
Huron County 61,3663,398.2818.1 Goderich SouthwesternSouthern
Lambton County 128,1542,999.9342.7 Wyoming SouthwesternSouthern
Lanark County 75,7602,986.7125.4 Perth EasternSouthern
United Counties of Leeds and Grenville 104,0703,355.6131.0 Brockville EasternSouthern
Lennox and Addington County 45,1822,792.7216.2 Napanee EasternSouthern
Middlesex County 500,5633,317.76150.9 London SouthwesternSouthern
Northumberland County 89,3651,907.4046.9 Cobourg CentralSouthern
Perth County 81,5652,218.2436.8 Stratford SouthwesternSouthern
Peterborough County 147,6813,779.4739.1 Peterborough CentralSouthern
United Counties of Prescott and Russell 95,6392,004.2747.7 L'Orignal EasternSouthern
Renfrew County 106,3657,357.9414.5 Pembroke EasternSouthern
Simcoe County 533,1694,818.93110.6 Midhurst CentralSouthern
United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry 114,6373,308.8534.6 Cornwall EasternSouthern
Wellington County 241,0262,665.3690.4 Guelph SouthwesternSouthern

Districts

Districts of Ontario
Map of Ontario DISTRICTS.svg
Location Province of Ontario
Number10
Populations13,935 (Manitoulin) – 146,862 (Thunder Bay)
Areas3,073.54 km2 (Manitoulin) – 395,432.07 km2 (Kenora)
Government
  • None

Districts are regional areas in Northern Ontario that do not serve any municipal government purpose. Although districts do still contain incorporated cities, towns and townships, they do not have an upper-tier county or regional municipality level of government, and are largely composed of unorganized areas. Some districts may have District Social Service Administration Boards, which are designed to provide certain social services, but they do not serve a governmental function.

In a district, all services are provided either by the municipalities themselves, by local services boards in some communities within the unorganized areas, or directly by the provincial government. Much of Northern Ontario is sparsely populated, so a county government structure would not be an efficient or cost-effective method of administration.

The former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, created in 1973, was the only division in Northern Ontario ever incorporated with a structure like those of counties, regional municipalities, and single-tier municipalities in the southern part of the province. That division was dissolved in 2000, and now constitutes the single-tier municipality of Greater Sudbury.

The term "district" can also refer to second-level districts of the current City of Toronto that make up the six former municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto when it was amalgamated in 1998: East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Old Toronto and York.

Current districts in Ontario:

DistrictPopulation
(2021) [2]
Area
(km2)
Density
(/km2)
District
seat
Secondary
region
Primary
region
Algoma District 113,77748,281.362.4 Sault Ste. Marie NortheasternNorthern
Cochrane District 77,963139,784.030.6 Cochrane NortheasternNorthern
Kenora District 66,000395,432.070.2 Kenora Northwestern Northern
Manitoulin District 13,9353,073.544.5 Gore Bay NortheasternNorthern
Nipissing District 84,71616,986.205.0 North Bay NortheasternNorthern
Parry Sound District 46,9099,113.925.1 Parry Sound NortheasternNorthern
Rainy River District 19,43715,400.951.3 Fort Frances NorthwesternNorthern
Sudbury District 22,36839,896.790.6 Espanola NortheasternNorthern
Thunder Bay District 146,862102,895.481.4 Thunder Bay NorthwesternNorthern
Timiskaming District 31,42413,247.402.4 Haileybury NortheasternNorthern

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Statistics Canada treats Norfolk County and Haldimand County as one single census division; the County of Brant and City of Brantford are also treated as one single census division. There would otherwise be 51 census divisions instead of the 49 official ones used by Statistics Canada.
  2. Formerly Kent County
  3. Formerly Regional Municipality of Sudbury
  4. Formerly the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk
  5. Formerly the Regional Municipality of Hamilton–Wentworth
  6. Formerly Victoria County
  7. Formerly the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton
  8. Formerly Metropolitan Toronto

References

  1. "List of Ontario municipalities". Government of Ontario. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada and census divisions, 2021 and 2016 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
  3. Ontario Municipal Act, 2001.