Planning and land use data

Waterloo is home to a young and growing population. Planning for this involves tracking growth trends and information.

Use this page to find out more about population and land use trends.

The stats above are based on data from the 2023 Year-End Population and Household Estimates for Waterloo Region Report. The numbers are based on available data from the 2016 and 2021 census, and include adjustments for recent residential development, students and other foreign or temporary residents, net census undercount and vacancy rates. Due to various corrections and adjustments, direct comparisons to previous years' estimates are not valid.

Growth rate

Along with the rest of southern Ontario, the City of Waterloo's population growth rate is among the fastest in Canada. Since the release of the previous census in 2016, the city has grown faster than the regional and provincial average.

From 2016 to 2021:

the City of Waterloo's grew 15.7%.
the Region of Waterloo grew 9.7%
the Province of Ontario grew 5.8%.

Projections by 2051

Based on projections from the 2021 Census, there will be 185,000 permanent residents living in Waterloo by 2051. This does not include students.

Residential development

We track the amount and type of residential development taking place across the city. Residential development is the construction of places for people to live.

Density

Residential development can be categorized based on how many people can live in a unit. This measure is called density.

Buildings such as detached homes and townhouses have low numbers of units while apartment- style 'multi-residential' buildings have many more. The more units in a building the greater the density.

Density of development% low density% multi-unit201820192020050100

Year	% low density	% multi-unit
2018	25	75
2019	18	82
2020	13	87
2021	15	85

% multi-unit

Units built per year

The amount of residential development can be measured by the number of:

units - such as a house or condo
bedrooms - places to sleep inside a unit

A detached home with 3 bedrooms would count as 1 unit and 3 bedrooms, for example.

Since 2015, new units have gradually increased while the number of overall bedrooms has decreased. This is due to increasing construction of multi-unit buildings with a lower number of bedrooms per unit.

Number of new units and bedrooms created through new development permits onlyUnitsBedrooms2015201620172018201920202021202202,0004,0006,000

Year	Units	Bedrooms
2015	295	3,214
2016	428	4,168
2017	1,175	2,139
2018	594	1,199
2019	1,126	1,763
2020	1,181	2,051
2021	1,249	1,876
2022	1,142	2,027

Bedrooms

Building locations

Land where new units are built is put into two categories:

built-up areas - where development has historically occurred, such as uptown and older neighbourhoods
designated greenfield areas - previously undeveloped land

As the supply of greenfield becomes limited, provincial and city policy has focused on ‘intensification’ in built-up areas. Over the last 15 years (2007 to 2022), there has been a 28% increase in the percentage of units constructed in the built-up area.

Residential development locations% units in greenfields% units in built-up areas2006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920200204060801002011% units in built-up areas:72

Year	% units in greenfields	% units in built-up areas
2006	32	68
2007	42	58
2008	27	73
2009	32	68
2010	7	93
2011	28	72
2012	18	82
2013	25	75
2014	17	83
2015	27	73
2016	20	80
2017	33	67
2018	34	66
2019	10	90
2020	8	92
2021	14	86

Non-residential development

Non-residential development refers to the construction of places such as offices, stores, factories, university buildings and other places where people do not live.

Square footage built per year

Non-residential development is categorized by:

industrial - such as factories
commercial - such as retail stores
institutional - such as religious buildings

Type of non-residential development (square feet)InstitutionalCommercialIndustrial2009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920200200,000400,000600,000800,000

Year	Institutional	Commercial	Industrial
2009	171,558	166,530	339,896
2010	662,887	315,327	585,428
2011	136,304	93,766	53,281
2012	281,079	49,894	239,246
2013	289,826	28,672	19,902
2014	63,976	23,766	25,143
2015	213,868	94,209	56,040
2016	209,180	167,198	5,833
2017	419,956	19,517	181,330
2018	112,713	85,874	2,852
2019	40,666	15,563	393,313
2020	60,154	41,147	9,442
2021	29,939	20,545	312

Industrial

Data use disclaimer

This collection of data is intended to provide general information, and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the data are correct.

When addressing a specific issue or question, data should be verified with technical experts in the appropriate field.

The City of Waterloo does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the data set, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage associated with the direct or indirect use of, or reliance on, the contents this collection of planning and land use data.

For more information contact torin.whitnell@waterloo.ca.

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