Where Are Canadians Moving in 2026? What I See From the Back of a Moving Truck

A mover’s-eye look at where Canadians are moving in 2026, with real migration and housing stats, and what the westward shift means for buyers, sellers and renters. I run a moving company, so I notice things most people scroll past. The trucks I send east come back with room to spare. The ones heading west book out weeks ahead. If you want to know where Canadians are moving in 2026, skip the headlines for a minute. Look at who is hiring a mover, and which way they are pointing. Almost always, it is west.

I move families between British Columbia and Alberta for a living. What I see on the ground matches what the numbers say. So let me walk you through both, and what it means for you if you are buying, selling, or investing this year.

15 quarters | Alberta has led every province in net interprovincial migration - nearly four straight years.
~19% | How much Calgary’s metro population has grown since 2021.
~11,195 | More people Calgary gained from other provinces than it lost in 2024/25.
~12,698 | Residents of the Toronto area lost to other provinces in the same year.
~30% less | Roughly how much cheaper a typical Calgary home is than a Toronto one.
~70% drop | How much Alberta’s quarterly migration gain cooled in early 2026 from a year earlier.

Sources: Statistics Canada; Government of Alberta; CREB / CREA price data. Price comparison is arithmetic on the figures cited below.

Alberta has led Canada in interprovincial migration for fifteen quarters straight, according to Statistics Canada. In 2024/25, Calgary pulled in about 11,195 more people from other provinces than it lost. The metro has grown roughly 19 per cent since 2021. Edmonton is right behind it.

Most of those people come from one place. The GTA has been shedding residents to the rest of the country for fifteen quarters running, and in 2024/25 the Toronto area alone lost around 12,698 people to other provinces. British Columbia is losing some too, quietly, mostly out of the Lower Mainland.

I feel this in my inbox. The quote requests that used to trickle in from Alberta now arrive in waves, and a lot of them open the same way: we are leaving Toronto.

People do not uproot their kids for an adventure. They do it for a mortgage they can actually carry. And the gap is brutal. A typical home in Toronto runs near $1,009,000. In Vancouver it is closer to $1,206,000. In Calgary, you are looking at around $700,000 for something comparable. That is roughly 30 per cent less than Toronto, which on a mortgage is the difference between drowning and breathing.

Then the smaller stuff piles on. Rent in Calgary sits about a third below Toronto and Vancouver. Alberta charges no provincial sales tax, so the everyday bills shrink. Wages run a touch higher. None of it is a secret. But stacked against a GTA carrying cost, the math makes the decision for a lot of families before they even call me.

If you are house-hunting in Calgary or Edmonton, know what you are walking into. All those arrivals mean competition. That demand is why Alberta held firm while much of the country softened. This past spring, Calgary prices stayed roughly flat while Toronto and Vancouver slipped about 7 per cent year over year.

The upside is that even now, the Prairies are a bargain next to Ontario or BC. The catch is you cannot dawdle. Get your financing sorted before you fly out. Know your number. Be ready to sign when the right place shows up, because someone fresh off the 401 is probably circling it too.

If you are selling in Toronto, Vancouver, or the suburbs around them, this migration story is part of why your street feels quieter than it did in 2022. Some of your buyers have left the province. You can still sell well. You just have to price for the market in front of you, not the peak you remember. In a thinner market, a fair price and a sharp listing do the heavy lifting.

Migration is one of the few housing signals that shows up before the price does. People chase jobs and affordability, and rental demand trails them by a beat. The steady pull into Alberta, and into mid-sized cities across the Prairies, is a fair map of where tenant demand is firming up next.

Here is what most coverage leaves out. The westward wave is cooling. Alberta’s net interprovincial gain in the first quarter of 2026 was 5,358 people, down roughly 70 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier, going by provincial data. Still growth. Just calmer.

For a buyer, that is good news. Less frenzy means a little more room to negotiate and less pressure to throw money over asking. If Calgary’s hot streak priced you out last year, the next few months may treat you kinder. Renters in those same cities should feel the squeeze ease a little too.

The move west is not the stampede it was two years back. But it has not stopped either. If you are weighing it, let the numbers set your timing and your expectations, then go see the place for yourself before you commit. I will keep booking the trucks. Lately, most of them still point the same way.

John Anthony is the founder of MiniMove, a moving company that helps families relocate across British Columbia and Alberta. After years of loading trucks headed west, he has a front-row view of how Canadians move. Learn more at minimove.ca.