Chart of the Week: Are you coming or going? Interprovincial migration to Alberta

Alberta has added people from the rest of Canada for 11 straight quarters, keeping population growth much stronger in Alberta than the rest of the country.

What do we mean by interprovincial migration? We’re usually referring to a ‘net’ number—the difference between people coming to Alberta and the people leaving Alberta.

This begs the question - are fewer people leaving the province, or more people coming?

It’s both, but with much more emphasis on the ‘coming’ part.  Our Chart of the Week breaks down the net flows between in-migration and out-migration (we take a 4-quarter moving average to smooth out massive seasonal swings in the migration data).

Since 2022, inflows have averaged over 23,700 a quarter, well above the 10-year average of 18,100. Meanwhile, outflows have averaged 15,100 a quarter, slightly below the 10-year average of 16,300.