Toronto is the Fourth Largest City in North America!

According to the Economic Dashboard, Toronto is now the fourth-largest city in North America (population wise), overcoming Chicago by just a wee bit. The top three spots are held by Mexico City, New York, and Los Angeles.

The Economic Dashboard relied on Statistics Canada for their report, which estimated Toronto’s population at 2,791,140 in July 2012. The U.S. Census Bureau was used for Chicago’s population, which came in at 2,707,120 – but that number is from 2011, so who knows what Chicago’s population is now.

This population count is for the cities proper, not the metropolitan areas. If we were to compare the population of Chicago’s metropolitan area to Toronto’s, they would beat us out by millions. But that’s not what we’re focusing on here. Toronto proper is the fourth-largest city in North America, and it’s definitely something of which to be proud.

Here’s the hard question though: Are we accommodating the growth? Would Toronto’s population be even larger if things were a little different?

For 2012, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported a 9% decrease in house sales, but oddly enough, the average price went up by 7%. According to the report, the change of the mortgage rules in July 2012 may have played a role in the low sales numbers. But these are all resale stats; Toronto is still first place in North America for the number of buildings under construction, which according to the Economic Dashboard number 184.

We can’t help but think that Toronto could be even larger if slightly higher heights were being approved, or if the application process wasn’t so lengthy, and maybe if NIMBYism wasn’t such an issue in certain neighbourhoods.

With our new Chief Planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, perhaps the building process will be streamlined — then maybe we’ll be competing for the third place spot in a few years!