List of cities in British Columbia

As of 2024, British Columbia has 161 municipalities,^[1] out of which 53 are classified as cities.^[2] According to the 2021 Canadian census, British Columbia is the third most populous province in Canada, with 5,000,879 inhabitants, and the second largest province by land area, covering 920,686.55 square kilometres (355,479.06 square miles).^[3]

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia.

Cities, towns, district municipalities and villages in British Columbia are referred to as municipalities and all are included in local governments in the province, which may be incorporated under the Local Government Act of 2015. In order for a municipality in British Columbia to be classified as a city, it must have a minimum population of 5,000.^[4][5] Although the populations of Enderby, Grand Forks, Greenwood and Rossland fall below this threshold, they are still classified as cities.^[3]

The largest city by population in British Columbia is Vancouver, with 662,248 residents, and the smallest is Greenwood, with 702 residents. The largest city by land area is Abbotsford, which spans 375.55 square kilometres (145.00 square miles), while the smallest is Duncan, at 2.07 square kilometres (0.80 square miles).^[2] The first municipality to incorporate as a city was New Westminster on July 16, 1860,^[6] while the province's newest city is Mission, a district municipality that was reclassified as a city on March 29, 2021.^[7] Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia.^[8]

Cities

Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia by population.

Abbotsford is the largest city in British Columbia by area.

Cities in British Columbia

Name	Regional district[6]	Incorporation date[6]	Population (2021)[9]	Population (2016)[2]	Change (%)[2]	Area (km2)[2]	Population density[2]
Abbotsford	Fraser Valley	December 12, 1995	153,524	141,397	8.6%	375.33 km2	409.0
Armstrong	North Okanagan	March 31, 1913	5,323	5,114	4.1%	5.22 km2	1020.0
Burnaby	Metro Vancouver	September 22, 1892	249,125	232,755	7.0%	90.57 km2	2750.7
Campbell River	Strathcona	June 24, 1947	35,519	32,588	7.6%	144.38 km2	246.0
Castlegar	Central Kootenay	January 1, 1974	8,338	8,039	3.7%	19.67 km2	419.6
Chilliwack	Fraser Valley	April 26, 1873	93,203	83,788	11.2%	261.34 km2	356.6
Colwood	Capital	June 24, 1985	18,961	16,859	12.5%	17.66 km2	1073.6
Coquitlam	Metro Vancouver	July 25, 1891	148,625	139,284	6.7%	122.15 km2	1216.7
Courtenay	Comox Valley	January 1, 1915	28,420	25,599	10.8%	32.42 km2	876.7
Cranbrook	East Kootenay	November 1, 1905	20,499	20,047	2.3%	31.97 km2	641.2
Dawson Creek	Peace River	May 26, 1936	12,323	12,178	1.2%	26.72 km2	461.1
Delta	Metro Vancouver	September 22, 2017[10]	108,455	102,238	6.1%	179.66 km2	603.7
Duncan	Cowichan Valley	March 4, 1912	5,047	4,944	2.1%	2.06 km2	2444.5
Enderby	North Okanagan	March 1, 1905	3,028	2,964	2.2%	4.26 km2	710.4
Fernie	East Kootenay	July 28, 1904	6,320	5,249	17.1%	15.11 km2	418.3
Fort St. John	Peace River	December 31, 1947	21,465	20,155	5.9%	32.67 km2	656.9
Grand Forks	Kootenay Boundary	April 15, 1897	4,112	4,049	1.6%	10.37 km2	396.4
Greenwood	Kootenay Boundary	July 12, 1897	702	665	5.6%	2.42 km2	290.2
Kamloops	Thompson-Nicola	October 17, 1967	97,902	90,280	8.4%	297.93 km2	328.6
Kelowna	Central Okanagan	May 4, 1905	144,576	127,380	13.5%	211.85 km2	682.4
Kimberley	East Kootenay	March 29, 1944	8,115	7,425	9.3%	60.51 km2	134.1
Langford	Capital	December 8, 1992	46,584	35,342	31.8%	41.43 km2	1124.4
Langley	Metro Vancouver	March 15, 1955	28,963	25,888	11.9%	10.18 km2	2845.2
Maple Ridge	Metro Vancouver	September 12, 2014[11]	90,990	82,256	10.6%	267.82 km2	339.7
Merritt	Thompson-Nicola	April 1, 1911	7,051	7,139	-1.2%	26.04 km2	270.7
Mission	Fraser Valley	March 29, 2021[7]	41,519	38,833	7.7%	226.98 km2	182.9
Nanaimo	Nanaimo	December 24, 1874	99,863	90,504	10.3%	90.45 km2	1104.1
Nelson	Central Kootenay	March 18, 1897	11,106	10,572	5.1%	11.93 km2	930.6
New Westminster	Metro Vancouver	July 16, 1860	78,916	70,996	11.2%	15.62 km2	5052.4
North Vancouver	Metro Vancouver	August 10, 1891	58,120	52,898	9.9%	11.83 km2	4913.0
Parksville	Nanaimo	June 19, 1945	13,642	12,514	9.5%	14.52 km2	939.5
Penticton	Okanagan-Similkameen	January 1, 1909	36,885	33,761	9.3%	44.03 km2	857.3
Pitt Meadows	Metro Vancouver	April 25, 1914	19,146	18,573	3.1%	86.34 km2	221.7
Port Alberni	Alberni-Clayoquot	October 28, 1967	18,259	17,678	3.3%	19.66 km2	928.9
Port Coquitlam	Metro Vancouver	March 7, 1913	61,498	58,612	4.9%	29.16 km2	2108.7
Port Moody	Metro Vancouver	March 11, 1913	33,535	33,551	0.0%	25.85 km2	1297.3
Powell River	Powell River	October 15, 1955	13,943	13,157	6.0%	28.91 km2	482.4
Prince George	Fraser-Fort George	March 6, 1915	76,708	74,003	3.7%	316.74 km2	242.2
Prince Rupert	North Coast	March 10, 1910	12,300	12,220	0.7%	66.00 km2	186.4
Quesnel	Cariboo	March 21, 1928	9,889	9,879	0.1%	35.35 km2	279.8
Revelstoke	Columbia Shuswap	March 1, 1899	8,275	7,547	9.4%	41.28 km2	200.5
Richmond	Metro Vancouver	November 10, 1879	209,937	198,309	5.9%	128.87 km2	1629.0
Rossland	Kootenay Boundary	March 18, 1897	4,140	3,729	11.0%	59.72 km2	69.3
Salmon Arm	Columbia Shuswap	May 15, 1905	19,432	17,706	9.7%	155.19 km2	125.2
Surrey	Metro Vancouver	November 10, 1879	568,322	517,887	9.7%	316.11 km2	1797.9
Terrace	Kitimat–Stikine	December 31, 1927	12,017	11,643	3.2%	57.33 km2	209.6
Trail	Kootenay Boundary	June 14, 1901	7,920	7,709	2.7%	34.90 km2	226.9
Vancouver[BC 1]	Metro Vancouver	April 6, 1886	662,248	631,486	4.9%	115.18 km2	5749.9
Vernon	North Okanagan	December 30, 1892	44,519	40,116	11.0%	96.43 km2	461.7
Victoria[BC 2]	Capital	August 2, 1862	91,867	85,792	7.1%	19.45 km2	4722.3
West Kelowna	Central Okanagan	June 26, 2015[12]	36,078	32,655	10.5%	122.09 km2	295.5
White Rock	Metro Vancouver	April 15, 1957	21,939	19,952	10.0%	5.17 km2	4240.6
Williams Lake	Cariboo	March 15, 1929	10,947	10,753	1.8%	33.12 km2	330.5
Total cities	—	—	3,327,824	3,133,081	4.5%	4263.15	1081.81

Former cities

Former cities in British Columbia

Name	Held city status
Kaslo	1893–1959[13]
Phoenix	1900–1919[14]
Sandon	1898–1920[15]

See also

• List of communities in British Columbia
• List of municipalities in British Columbia
  • List of district municipalities in British Columbia
  • List of towns in British Columbia
  • List of villages in British Columbia

Notes

1. Vancouver is Canada's eighth-largest city and British Columbia's largest city by population. The Vancouver CMA includes the cities of Burnaby, Coquitlam, Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, Surrey, Vancouver and White Rock.
2. Victoria is British Columbia's capital. The Victoria CMA includes the cities of Colwood, Langford and Victoria.