Milton, Oshawa, Clarington and Oakville among fastest-growing towns in Ontario – census

When it comes to big towns, nobody’s growing ‘em faster than Durham and Halton regions.

The 2021 national census results have been released and Milton is the fastest growing town over 100,000 in the GTA (by a long shot), with its population exploding from 110,128 in 2016 to 132,979 in 2021 – an increase of a whopping 20.7 per cent – followed by Halton neighbour Oakville (213,759 – up 10.3 per cent) and Clarington (101,427 – up 10.2 per cent) and Oshawa (175,383 – up 10 per cent) in Durham.

Halton also took top spot in growth among the province’s urban regions, with its population spiking from 548,435 in 2016 to 596,637 in 2021, an increase of 8.8 per cent. Durham Region enjoyed a 7.9 per cent increase to 696,992 to slip into second place.

Among the Census Metropolitan Areas, Oshawa (which includes Whitby and Clarington) was tops in the GTA, with its numbers rising from 379,848 to 415,311, a 9.3 per cent increase. Oshawa, however, was not number one in Ontario as the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA saw its population jump 9.9 per cent to 575,847 and London did that one tiny bit better, growing by 10 per cent to 543,551.

Other smaller communities who enjoyed strong growth over the past five years include Wasaga Beach (20.3 per cent), Tillsonburg (17.3 per cent), Collingwood (13.8 per cent), Woodstock (13.6 per cent) and Centre Wellington (10.3 per cent).

In Durham, Bowmanville-Newcastle jumped to 56,742 from 48,929 – an increase of 16 per cent – and the Brock Township hamlets of Sunderland (19.9 per cent) and Beaverton (18.6) both experienced relatively rapid growth.

Nationally, Canada’s population grew 5.2 per cent from 35,151,728 to its new official population of 36,991,981. Ontario experienced similar growth (5.8 per cent) jumping from 13,448,494 in 2016 to 14,223,942 in 2021.