Population and Dwelling Count Highlight Tables, 2016 Census

This table shows the 2016 population and dwelling counts for reported forward sortation areas (FSAs^©), which are represented by the first three characters of a postal code^OM.

The population, dwelling and household counts for a forward sortation area (FSA^©) are based on the first three characters of the postal codes^OM captured from the first page of the 2016 Census questionnaire. The same postal code^OM was assigned to all members of a given household to allow for the calculation of various census data.

The postal code^OM is captured for all households from the address information provided or accepted by the respondent on the front page of the census questionnaire. For the 2016 Census, held on May 10, 2016, some census questionnaires contained a pre-printed postal code^OM that the respondents could either accept or correct; however, other census questionnaires did not contain a pre-printed postal code^OM and respondents were asked to provide one by writing it on the questionnaire.

The postal code^OM provided by respondents may not be the same as the one assigned to their dwelling by Canada Post Corporation. For example, respondents may have given the postal code^OM of their mailing address, such as a post office location (as in the case of general delivery) or of a business location.

The postal codes^OM were processed through a series of operations including data capture, and edit and imputation. The edit operation consisted of identifying applicable, acceptable and invalid postal codes^OM. Postal codes^OM were determined to be applicable for the 2016 Census, if they appeared on Canada Post Corporation’s Address Lookup File for May 2016, the month of the census. However, postal codes^OM provided by the respondents were considered acceptable if they were found in the file from Canada Post Corporation within the six months leading up to the census. This is consistent with the effort to represent the FSA^© and the postal code^OM whenever they could be considered as being in use at the time of the census. The imputation stage assigned applicable postal codes^OM where either no postal code^OM was reported or an invalid postal code^OM was provided.

While these processes allow census respondents to provide postal codes^OM of any category (for example, a commercial postal code^OM or a large volume receiver postal code^OM ), analysis of census results has shown that this occurs only for a small number of households. If an FSA^© is not reported on the census questionnaire, as in the case of many business FSAs^©, it is not included in the census products or the Census Forward Sortation Area^© Boundary File. Where a postal code^OM is not frequently reported in a dissemination area, it may not be represented in the 2016 Census Forward Sortation Area^© Boundary File which is built from dissemination areas. As a result, whereas 1,641 FSAs^© were reported in the 2016 Census, only 1,620 are represented in the boundary file.

All households that provided a postal code^OM with the same FSA^© were grouped to calculate FSA^© totals in census products. As a result, it is possible that households located in a particular province be included in an FSA^© found in another province. Therefore, calculating a provincial population, dwelling or household count by grouping FSAs^© will not necessarily yield the same count as the one provided in the provincial or territorial population, dwelling or household count tables.

© This data includes information copied with permission from Canada Post Corporation.

OM: Postal code is an official mark of Canada Post Corporation.

Learn more about the data

• Population estimates and projections by year, by province and territory
• Population and dwelling counts, 2011 Census
• Archived Population and dwelling counts, 2006 Census Archived
• Archived Population and dwelling counts, 2001 Census Archived
• Archived Population and dwelling counts, 1996 Census Archived