As of 2023, Statistics Canada will release an update of the Index of Remoteness (IOR), a research that attempts to assign a “remoteness” rating to each Canadian inhabited location. Canada’s statistics data revealed that top Canadian cities to live with easy access to big cities.
In a large population center, there must be at least 1,000 people per square kilometer, and no fewer than 400 people per square kilometer must live in a major population center. As part of the study, various census subdivisions (i.e., cities, municipalities, villages, and towns) in Canada were evaluated to determine their distance and ease of travel from major population centers.
Based on the study, the CSDs are ranked from 0 (closest to a population center) to 1 (farthest from a population center). As a proxy of the quality of goods and services, the number of population centers that can be reached by a specific CSD is taken into account, as is the cost of travel. The number of population centers that can be reached with a CSD for $36 CAD (2.5 hours travel time) travel cost is taken into account as well. In this way, a score between 0 and 1 is produced based on this formula score.
Based on the IOR, we can determine how easy it is to access resources and services (such as healthcare, education, and economic opportunity) that are predictors of socioeconomic outcomes (by taking into account physical distance, travel costs, and the number of population centers accessible on a daily basis).
Top Canadian cities index of remoteness – How can you use it?
A good starting point for applicants and successful candidates is the IOR. Readers can use the scores to gain a rough understanding of the distances, transportation costs, and services of each site. Readers can use this number to determine neighborhoods, travel times, and cost of living in a particular area(s).
Applicants for the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), whose acceptance as permanent residents to Canada usually depends on the province or city where they live, may be particularly interested in this information.
Based on the most recent immigration data, these are the cities with the highest remoteness scores in 2022:
| Location | Index of Remoteness Score |
| Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo | 0.07 (averaged score) |
| Québec | 0.14 |
| Hamilton | 0.11 |
| London | 0.10 |
| Moncton | 0.26 |
| Windsor | 0.15 |
| St. Catherines—Niagara | 0.09 |
| Abbotsford-Mission | 0.14 (averaged score) |
| Victoria | 0.14 |
| St. John’s | 0.24 |
| Toronto | 0.00 |
| Montréal | 0.03 |
| Vancouver | 0.06 |
| Calgary | 0.10 |
| Edmonton | 0.11 |
| Ottawa—Gatineau (Ontario part) | 0.11 |
| Winnipeg | 0.14 |
| Halifax | 0.19 |
| Saskatoon | 0.21 |
| Regina | 0.22 |
From Statistics Canada, you can obtain the full spreadsheet of data if your desired location isn’t included. By entering your search criteria, you can easily locate the IOR score between 0 and 1 (keep in mind that special characters may not be properly formatted in the spreadsheet).
General Insights
All provinces and territories are shown below with their average remoteness scores, based on information from the 2021 census. A newcomer’s likelihood of settling in one of the CSDs (cities, communities, municipalities, townships, and villages) is taken into account when calculating the score.
It is important to note that few provinces had CSDs that were ideal. The ones with some but not all are marked with an asterisk (“*”).
Those provinces marked with a “**” do not have any of the desired CSDs. The average of the number of CSDs in the province is computed by adding up the number of CSDs in the province.
| Province | Provincial Score on Index of Remoteness |
| Newfoundland and Labrador* | 0.29 |
| Prince Edward Island** | 0.32 |
| Nova Scotia* | 0.35 |
| New Brunswick* | 0.37 |
| Quebec | 0.23 |
| Ontario | 0.25 |
| Manitoba | 0.37 |
| Saskatchewan* | 0.38 |
| Alberta* | 0.29 |
| British Columbia | 0.32 |
| Yukon* | 0.62 |
| Northwest Territories* | 0.70 |
| Nunavut** | 0.47 |
Impact of immigration policy on remoteness scores in Canada
Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia are among the provinces that receive the most immigrants, while provinces and territories with lower populations receive higher scores for remoteness.
A notable lack of CSDs (excluding Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia) exists in all provinces and territories, which should be considered when evaluating remoteness.
Population reports indicate that when one moves north in Canada, the remoteness score tends to increase (becomes more remote). A study of remoteness supports this claim.
IOR scores for most CSDs are between 0.10 and 0.55, but the sheer size of Canada may have skewed scores higher for CSDs with higher remoteness brackets, since it has the lowest population density in the world (4 people per square kilometer of land).
While IRCC promotes immigration to areas of Canada with small populations and a greater need for immigrants, despite a concentration of population in a few provinces, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser stated in 2022. Overall remoteness scores should significantly be lowered as a result of this policy, which is already being implemented. PNP is now the main way to gain entry to Canada under the most recent immigration levels plan.
