List of census divisions of Ontario


There are 49 census divisions of Ontario used by Statistics Canada to aggregate census data. With two exceptions, they correspond to Ontario's first-level administrative divisions, of which there are three types: single-tier municipalities, upper-tier municipalities, and districts. These differ primarily in the services that they provide to their residents, and their different structures result from the vast disparities among Ontario's different regions. They may comprise smaller municipalities or other types of administrative divisions, which are generally treated as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada.
In some cases, a census division may retain its historical name even if it changes government type. For instance, Oxford County, Haldimand County, Norfolk County and Prince Edward County are no longer counties: Oxford is a regional municipality and the others are single-tier municipalities. Several census divisions in Ontario have significantly changed their borders or been discontinued entirely: see Historic counties of Ontario.

Types of census divisions

Single-tier municipalities

A single-tier municipality is a census division which is governed by one municipal administration, with neither a county nor regional government above it, nor further municipal subdivisions below it. A single-tier municipality is either a former regional municipality or a former county, whose municipal governments were amalgamated in the 1990s into a single administration. A single-tier municipality should not be confused with a separated municipality, which is a municipality that is administratively separated from its county, but is not considered a separate census division. With the exception of Greater Sudbury, single-tier municipalities are found only in Southern Ontario.
Single-tier municipalities of this type were created where a former regional municipality consisted of a single dominant urban centre and its suburbs or satellite towns or villages.
Current single-tier municipalities in Ontario:
Census divisionPopulation
Area
Density
Regional
seat		Secondary
region		Primary
region
ChathamSouthwesternSouthern
SudburyNortheasternNorthern
Haldimand-NorfolkCayuga, SimcoeSouthwesternSouthern
HamiltonGolden HorseshoeSouthern
LindsayCentralSouthern
OttawaEasternSouthern
Prince Edward CountyPictonCentralSouthern
BurfordSouthwesternSouthern
TorontoGolden HorseshoeSouthern

Regional municipalities

Regional municipalities are upper-tier municipalities that generally have more servicing responsibilities than the counties. They generally provide the following services: maintenance and construction of arterial roads in both rural and urban areas, transit, policing, sewer and water systems, waste disposal, region-wide land use planning and development, as well as health and social services. Regions are typically more urbanized than counties. Regional municipalities are usually census divisions where an interconnected cluster of urban centres or suburbs forms the majority of the division's area and population, but no single centre is overwhelmingly dominant over the others. Regional municipalities are found only in Southern Ontario.
Although Oxford County and the District Municipality of Muskoka are not called regions, they are defined as regional municipalities under Part 1, Section 1 of the Ontario Municipal Act, 2001.
Between 1998 and 2001, four regional municipalities that formed their own central city-dominated metropolitan areas were amalgamated and are now single-tier municipalities.
Current regional municipalities in Ontario:
Census divisionPopulation
Area
Density
Regional
seat		Secondary
region		Primary
region
WhitbyGolden HorseshoeSouthern
OakvilleGolden HorseshoeSouthern
BracebridgeNortheasternNorthern
ThoroldGolden HorseshoeSouthern
Oxford CountyWoodstockSouthwesternSouthern
BramptonGolden HorseshoeSouthern
KitchenerSouthwesternSouthern
NewmarketGolden HorseshoeSouthern

Counties

Counties have fewer responsibilities than regions, as the lower-tier municipalities within the counties typically provide the majority of municipal services to their residents. The responsibilities of county governments are generally limited to the following: maintenance and construction of rural arterial roads, health and social services, and county land use planning. Counties are only found in Southern Ontario.
Counties may be as large as regional municipalities in population, but their population density is generally lower Counties may include major cities, such as London, Kingston and Windsor, geographically located within them, but these communities are usually separated municipalities that are only considered part of the county for census purposes but are not administratively connected to the county. Municipalities are separated when regional or single-tier status is not appropriate for the municipality's population patterns, but their population is still large enough that it may adversely affect the county's ability to provide services to its smaller communities. Also, these cities have not evolved into large urban agglomerations with other communities, as in regions and single-tier cities, but may have small suburbs such as Point Edward.
Current counties in Ontario:
Census divisionPopulation
Area
Density
Regional
seat		Secondary
region		Primary
region
Bruce CountyWalkertonSouthwesternSouthern
Dufferin CountyOrangevilleCentralSouthern
Elgin CountySt. ThomasSouthwesternSouthern
Essex CountyEssexSouthwesternSouthern
Frontenac CountyKingstonEasternSouthern
Grey CountyOwen SoundSouthwesternSouthern
Haliburton CountyMindenCentralSouthern
Hastings CountyBellevilleCentralSouthern
Huron CountyGoderichSouthwesternSouthern
Lambton CountyWyomingSouthwesternSouthern
Lanark CountyPerthEasternSouthern
BrockvilleEasternSouthern
NapaneeEasternSouthern
Middlesex CountyLondonSouthwesternSouthern
Northumberland CountyCobourgCentralSouthern
Perth CountyStratfordSouthwesternSouthern
Peterborough CountyPeterboroughCentralSouthern
L'OrignalEasternSouthern
Renfrew CountyPembrokeEasternSouthern
Simcoe CountyMidhurstCentralSouthern
CornwallEasternSouthern
Wellington CountyGuelphSouthwesternSouthern

Districts

Districts are regional areas in Northern Ontario that do not serve any municipal government purpose. Although districts do still contain incorporated cities, towns and townships, they do not have an upper-tier county or regional municipality level of government, and are largely composed of unorganized areas. Some districts may have District Social Service Administration Boards, which are designed to provide certain social services, but they do not serve a governmental function.
In a district, all services are provided either by the municipalities themselves, by local services boards in some communities within the unorganized areas, or directly by the provincial government. Much of Northern Ontario is sparsely populated, so a county government structure would not be an efficient or cost-effective method of administration.
The former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, created in 1973, was the only census division in Northern Ontario ever incorporated with a structure like those of census divisions in the southern part of the province. That division was dissolved in 2000, and now constitutes the single-tier municipality of Greater Sudbury.
Current districts in Ontario:
Census divisionPopulation
Area
Density
Regional
seat		Secondary
region		Primary
region
Algoma DistrictSault Ste. MarieNortheasternNorthern
Cochrane DistrictCochraneNortheasternNorthern
Kenora DistrictKenoraNorthwesternNorthern
Manitoulin DistrictGore BayNortheasternNorthern
Nipissing DistrictNorth BayNortheasternNorthern
Parry Sound DistrictParry SoundNortheasternNorthern
Rainy River DistrictFort FrancesNorthwesternNorthern
Sudbury DistrictEspanolaNortheasternNorthern
Thunder Bay DistrictThunder BayNorthwesternNorthern
Timiskaming DistrictHaileyburyNortheasternNorthern