List of towns in Alberta

A town is an urban municipality status type used in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta towns are created when communities with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m², apply to Alberta Municipal Affairs for town status under the authority of the Municipal Government Act. Applications for town status are approved via orders in council made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Alberta has 105 towns that had a cumulative population of 471,028 and an average population of 4,486 in the 2021 Canadian Census. Alberta's largest and smallest towns are Cochrane and Rainbow Lake with populations of 32,199 and 495 respectively. Diamond Valley is Alberta's newest town, which incorporated on January 1, 2023 via amalgamation of the former towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley.

When a town's population exceeds 10,000 people, the council may request a change to city status, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory. Towns with populations less than 1,000, whether their populations have declined below 1,000 or they were incorporated as towns prior to the minimum 1,000 population requirement, are permitted to retain town status.

A total of 699 elected town officials (107 mayors and 592 councillors)^{[needs update]} provide town governance throughout the province.

The highest frequency of towns in Alberta is found in the Queen Elizabeth II Highway/Highway 2A corridor between Calgary and Edmonton corridor including, from south to north, Crossfield, Carstairs, Didsbury, Olds, Bowden, Innisfail, Penhold, Blackfalds, Ponoka and Millet.

Administration

Pursuant to Part 5, Division 1 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), each municipality created under the authority of the MGA is governed by a council. As a requirement of the MGA, a town council consists of an odd number of councillors, one of which is the town's chief elected official (CEO) or mayor. A town council consists of seven councillors by default, but it can consist of a higher or lower odd number if council passes a bylaw altering its size (so long as it does not consist of fewer than three councillors). For the 2017–2021 term, 82 towns have a council of seven, and 25 have a council of five.

Town councils are governed by a mayor and an even number of councillors that are elected by popular vote, resulting in a total odd number of members to avoid tie votes on council matters. All council members are elected under the provisions of the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA). Mayoral or councillor candidates are required to be residents of their municipality for a minimum of six consecutive months prior to nomination day. The last municipal election was October 16, 2017.

Alberta Municipal Affairs, a ministry of the Cabinet of Alberta, is charged with coordination of all levels of local government.

Administrative duties of towns include public safety, local transit, roads, water service, drainage and waste collection, as well as coordination of infrastructure with provincial and regional authorities (including road construction, education, and health).

List

The below table is a list of only those urban municipalities in Alberta that are incorporated as towns.

The municipalities of Crowsnest Pass and Jasper are not listed because they are incorporated as specialized municipalities, not towns. For more information on specialized municipalities, see Specialized municipalities of Alberta.

Name	Specialized/rural municipality	Incorporation date (town)	Population (2021)	Population (2016)	Change (%)	Land area (km²)	Population density (per km²)
Athabasca	Athabasca County	Sep 19, 1911	2,759	2,965	−6.9%	17.79	155.1
Banff	Improvement District No. 9 (Banff)	Jan 1, 1990	8,305	7,851	+5.8%	4.08	2,035.5
Barrhead	Barrhead No. 11, County of	Nov 26, 1946	4,320	4,579	−5.7%	8.20	526.8
Bashaw	Camrose County	May 1, 1964	848	830	+2.2%	2.72	311.8
Bassano	Newell, County of	Jan 16, 1911	1,216	1,206	+0.8%	5.23	232.5
Beaverlodge	Grande Prairie No. 1, County of	Jan 24, 1956	2,271	2,465	−7.9%	5.38	422.1
Bentley	Lacombe County	Jan 1, 2001	1,042	1,078	−3.3%	2.24	465.2
Blackfalds	Lacombe County	Apr 1, 1980	10,470	9,328	+12.2%	16.58	631.5
Bon Accord	Sturgeon County	Nov 20, 1979	1,461	1,529	−4.4%	3.99	366.2
Bonnyville	Bonnyville No. 87, M.D. of	Feb 3, 1948	6,404	5,975	+7.2%	14.17	451.9
Bow Island	Forty Mile No. 8, County of	Feb 1, 1912	2,036	1,983	+2.7%	5.68	358.5
Bowden	Red Deer County	Sep 1, 1981	1,280	1,240	+3.2%	3.46	369.9
Bruderheim	Lamont County	Sep 17, 1980	1,329	1,323	+0.5%	9.28	143.2
Calmar	Leduc County	Jan 19, 1954	2,183	2,228	−2.0%	4.67	467.5
Canmore	Bighorn No. 8, M.D. of Kananaskis Improvement District	Jun 1, 1966	15,990	13,992	+14.3%	68.47	233.5
Cardston	Cardston County	Jul 2, 1901	3,724	3,585	+3.9%	8.58	434.0
Carstairs	Mountain View County	Sep 1, 1966	4,898	4,077	+20.1%	11.77	416.1
Castor	Paintearth No. 18, County of	Jun 27, 1910	803	929	−13.6%	2.61	307.7
Claresholm	Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of	Aug 31, 1905	3,804	3,790	+0.4%	10.51	361.9
Coaldale	Lethbridge County	Jan 7, 1952	8,771	8,331	+5.3%	13.58	645.9
Coalhurst	Lethbridge County	Jun 1, 1995	2,869	2,668	+7.5%	3.08	931.5
Cochrane	Rocky View County	Feb 15, 1971	32,199	25,853	+24.5%	31.58	1,019.6
Coronation	Paintearth No. 18, County of	Apr 29, 1912	868	940	−7.7%	3.57	243.1
Crossfield	Rocky View County	Aug 1, 1980	3,599	2,983	+20.7%	11.89	302.7
Daysland	Flagstaff County	Apr 2, 1907	789	824	−4.2%	1.77	445.8
Devon	Leduc County	Feb 24, 1950	6,545	6,578	−0.5%	14.26	459.0
Diamond Valley	Foothills County	Jan 1, 2023	5,341	5,264	+1.5%	12.57	424.9
Didsbury	Mountain View County	Sep 27, 1906	5,070	5,268	−3.8%	16.12	314.5
Drayton Valley	Brazeau County	Feb 1, 1957	7,291	7,235	+0.8%	30.90	236.0
Drumheller	Kneehill County Special Area No. 2 Starland County Wheatland County	Mar 2, 1916 January 1, 1998	7,909	7,982	−0.9%	107.56	73.5
Eckville	Lacombe County	Jul 1, 1966	1,014	1,125	−9.9%	1.61	629.8
Edson	Yellowhead County	Sep 21, 1911	8,374	8,414	−0.5%	29.43	284.5
Elk Point	St. Paul No. 19, County of	Jan 1, 1962	1,399	1,452	−3.7%	4.91	284.9
Fairview	Fairview No. 136, M.D. of	Apr 25, 1949	2,817	2,998	−6.0%	10.67	264.0
Falher	Smoky River No. 130, M.D. of	Jan 1, 1955	1,001	1,047	−4.4%	2.83	353.7
Fort Macleod	Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of	Mar 29, 1912	3,297	2,967	+11.1%	22.54	146.3
Fox Creek	Greenview No. 16, M.D. of	Sep 1, 1983	1,639	1,971	−16.8%	12.26	133.7
Gibbons	Sturgeon County	Apr 1, 1977	3,218	3,159	+1.9%	9.46	340.2
Grimshaw	Peace No. 135, M.D. of	Feb 2, 1953	2,601	2,718	−4.3%	7.08	367.4
Hanna	Special Area No. 2	Apr 14, 1914	2,394	2,559	−6.4%	8.40	285.0
Hardisty	Flagstaff County	Nov 9, 1910	548	554	−1.1%	4.50	121.8
High Level	Mackenzie County	Sep 1, 1983	3,922	3,159	+24.2%	28.70	136.7
High Prairie	Big Lakes County	Jan 10, 1950	2,380	2,564	−7.2%	7.01	339.5
High River	Foothills No. 31, M.D. of	Feb 12, 1906	14,324	13,594	+5.4%	22.19	645.5
Hinton	Yellowhead County	Dec 29, 1958	9,817	9,882	−0.7%	33.32	294.6
Innisfail	Red Deer County	Nov 20, 1903	7,985	7,847	+1.8%	19.39	411.8
Irricana	Rocky View County	Jun 9, 2005	1,179	1,216	−3.0%	3.23	365.0
Killam	Flagstaff County	May 1, 1965	918	989	−7.2%	6.40	143.4
Lamont	Lamont County	May 31, 1968	1,744	1,774	−1.7%	9.14	190.8
Legal	Sturgeon County	Jan 1, 1998	1,232	1,345	−8.4%	3.18	387.4
Magrath	Cardston County	Jul 24, 1907	2,481	2,374	+4.5%	5.88	421.9
Manning	Northern Lights, County of	Jan 1, 1957	1,126	1,183	−4.8%	3.71	303.5
Mayerthorpe	Lac Ste. Anne County	Mar 20, 1961	1,259	1,320	−4.6%	4.39	286.8
McLennan	Smoky River No. 130, M.D. of	Feb 11, 1948	695	701	−0.9%	3.58	194.1
Milk River	Warner No. 5, County of	Feb 7, 1956	824	827	−0.4%	2.42	340.5
Millet	Wetaskiwin No. 10, County of	Sep 1, 1983	1,890	1,955	−3.3%	6.62	285.5
Morinville	Sturgeon County	Apr 21, 1911	10,385	9,848	+5.5%	11.15	931.4
Mundare	Lamont County	Jan 4, 1951	689	852	−19.1%	4.12	167.2
Nanton	Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of	Aug 9, 1907	2,167	2,181	−0.6%	5.11	424.1
Nobleford	Lethbridge County	Feb 28, 2018	1,438	1,278	+12.5%	1.69	850.9
Okotoks	Foothills No. 31, M.D. of	Jun 1, 1904	30,405	29,016	+4.8%	38.55	788.7
Olds	Mountain View County	Jul 1, 1905	9,209	9,184	+0.3%	14.92	617.2
Onoway	Lac Ste. Anne County	Sep 1, 2005	966	1,029	−6.1%	3.31	291.8
Oyen	Special Area No. 3	Sep 1, 1965	917	1,001	−8.4%	5.15	178.1
Peace River	Northern Lights, County of Northern Sunrise County Peace No. 135, M.D. of	Dec 1, 1919	6,619	6,842	−3.3%	25.34	261.2
Penhold	Red Deer County	Sep 1, 1980	3,484	3,287	+6.0%	11.20	311.1
Picture Butte	Lethbridge County	Jan 1, 1960	1,930	1,810	+6.6%	3.02	639.1
Pincher Creek	Pincher Creek No. 9, M.D. of	May 12, 1906	3,622	3,642	−0.5%	9.87	367.0
Ponoka	Ponoka County	Oct 15, 1904	7,331	7,229	+1.4%	17.22	425.7
Provost	Provost No. 52, M.D. of	Dec 29, 1952	1,900	1,998	−4.9%	4.75	400.0
Rainbow Lake	Mackenzie County	Sep 1, 1995	495	795	−37.7%	10.76	46.0
Raymond	Warner No. 5, County of	Jul 1, 1903	4,199	3,713	+13.1%	7.63	550.3
Redcliff	Cypress County	Aug 5, 1912	5,581	5,600	−0.3%	16.15	345.6
Redwater	Sturgeon County	Dec 31, 1950	2,115	2,053	+3.0%	19.93	106.1
Rimbey	Ponoka County	Dec 13, 1948	2,470	2,567	−3.8%	11.38	217.0
Rocky Mountain House	Clearwater County	Aug 31, 1939	6,765	6,635	+2.0%	13.05	518.4
Sedgewick	Flagstaff County	May 1, 1966	761	811	−6.2%	2.71	280.8
Sexsmith	Grande Prairie No. 1, County of	Oct 15, 1979	2,427	2,620	−7.4%	13.01	186.5
Slave Lake	Lesser Slave River No. 124, M.D. of	Aug 2, 1965	6,836	6,651	+2.8%	14.31	477.7
Smoky Lake	Smoky Lake County	Feb 1, 1962	1,127	964	+16.9%	4.26	264.6
Spirit River	Spirit River No. 133, M.D. of	Sep 18, 1951	849	995	−14.7%	3.11	273.0
St. Paul	St. Paul No. 19, County of	Dec 15, 1936	5,863	5,827	+0.6%	8.64	678.6
Stavely	Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of	May 25, 1912	544	541	+0.6%	1.78	305.6
Stettler	Stettler No. 6, County of	Nov 23, 1906	5,695	5,952	−4.3%	13.19	431.8
Stony Plain	Parkland County	Dec 10, 1908	17,993	17,189	+4.7%	35.45	507.6
Strathmore	Wheatland County	Jul 6, 1911	14,339	13,756	+4.2%	26.98	531.5
Sundre	Mountain View County	Jan 1, 1956	2,672	2,729	−2.1%	10.84	246.5
Swan Hills	Big Lakes County	Jan 1, 1967	1,201	1,301	−7.7%	25.87	46.4
Sylvan Lake	Red Deer County	May 20, 1946	15,995	14,816	+8.0%	23.09	692.7
Taber	Taber, M.D. of	Jul 1, 1907	8,862	8,428	+5.1%	19.32	458.7
Thorsby	Leduc County	Jan 1, 2017	967	985	−1.8%	3.80	254.5
Three Hills	Kneehill County	Jan 1, 1929	3,042	3,212	−5.3%	6.74	451.3
Tofield	Beaver County	Sep 10, 1909	2,045	2,081	−1.7%	8.21	249.1
Trochu	Kneehill County	Aug 1, 1962	998	1,058	−5.7%	2.78	359.0
Two Hills	Two Hills No. 21, County of	Jan 1, 1955	1,416	1,352	+4.7%	3.11	455.3
Valleyview	Greenview No. 16, M.D. of	Feb 5, 1957	1,673	1,863	−10.2%	9.17	182.4
Vauxhall	Taber, M.D. of	Jan 1, 1961	1,286	1,222	+5.2%	2.71	474.5
Vegreville	Minburn No. 27, County of	Aug 15, 1906	5,689	5,708	−0.3%	14.08	404.0
Vermilion	Vermilion River, County of	Aug 27, 1906	3,948	4,084	−3.3%	12.72	310.4
Viking	Beaver County	Nov 10, 1952	986	1,083	−9.0%	3.45	285.8
Vulcan	Vulcan County	Jun 15, 1921	1,769	1,917	−7.7%	6.28	281.7
Wainwright	Wainwright No. 61, M.D. of	Jul 14, 1910	6,606	6,285	+5.1%	12.17	542.8
Wembley	Grande Prairie No. 1, County of	Aug 1, 1980	1,432	1,516	−5.5%	4.74	302.1
Westlock	Westlock County	Jan 7, 1947	4,921	5,101	−3.5%	13.37	368.1
Whitecourt	Woodlands County	Dec 20, 1971	9,927	10,209	−2.8%	29.51	336.4
Total towns	—	—	471,028	455,389	+3.4%	1,294.84	363.8

New towns

New town is a former urban municipal status in Alberta that is no longer in use. The authority to incorporate a community as a new town came from The New Towns Act, which was chapter 39 of the Statutes of Alberta, 1956.

At least 12 communities incorporated as a new town between 1956 and 1967. Cynthia and Drayton Valley were the first communities in Alberta to incorporate as new towns on June 1, 1956. Drayton Valley did so after only six months of incorporation as a village, and was also the community that operated under new town status for the shortest period – eight months from June 1, 1956, to February 1, 1957.

The last community to incorporate as a new town was Fox Creek on July 19, 1967. Fox Creek was previously unincorporated prior to this date. It remained a new town for just over sixteen years until September 1, 1983, when it changed to town status.

Rainbow Lake was the last community to be recognized as a new town. Its status was changed to that of a town in 1994 when numerous former acts under the authority of Alberta Municipal Affairs were transitioned into the current Municipal Government Act. Rainbow Lake was also the community that operated under new town status for the longest period – nearly 28 years from September 1, 1966, to May 2, 1994.

Other communities that applied for new town status included Slave Lake and Smith. Slave Lake applied, despite already being incorporated, to access additional provincial funding but the application was denied by the provincial cabinet. In the case of Smith, after applying in 1968, its application was denied after the province's feasibility study for the community determined Smith was unlikely to attract further economic development.

Below is a list of the 12 communities that were once incorporated as a new town. All but one of them are resource communities in northern or west–central Alberta and were recently founded communities at their dates of incorporation as new towns. St. Albert was the only community that was not in northern or west–central Alberta and had been incorporated as its own municipality since December 7, 1899.

Former new town	Incorporation date (new town)	Previous status	Subsequent status change date	Subsequent status
Cynthia	June 1, 1956	Unincorporated	May 1, 1959	Hamlet
Drayton Valley	June 1, 1956	Village	February 1, 1957	Town
Fort McMurray	June 30, 1964	Town	September 1, 1980	City
Fox Creek	July 19, 1967	Unincorporated	September 1, 1983	Town
Grande Cache	September 1, 1966	Unincorporated	September 1, 1983	Town
High Level	June 1, 1965	Hamlet	September 1, 1983	Town
Hinton	November 1, 1956	Hamlet	December 29, 1958	Town
Lodgepole	July 1, 1956	Unincorporated	March 1, 1970	Hamlet
Rainbow Lake	September 1, 1966	Unincorporated	May 2, 1994	Town
St. Albert	January 1, 1957	Town	July 3, 1962	Town
Swan Hills	September 1, 1959	Unincorporated	January 1, 1967	Town
Whitecourt	August 15, 1961	Village	December 20, 1971	Town

Former towns

All cities in Alberta and the former cities of Fort McMurray and Strathcona previously held town status in their histories. Other communities that previously held town status include Beverly, Big Valley, Blairmore, Bowness, Black Diamond, Carmangay, Coleman, Cynthia, Diamond City, Forest Lawn, Gleichen, Grande Cache, Grand Centre, Grouard, Irvine, Jasper Place, Lac La Biche, Lodgepole, Montgomery, Turner Valley and Youngstown. Of these, the villages of Big Valley, Carmangay and Youngstown are the only communities that remain incorporated municipalities. The others either amalgamated to form other municipalities (Blairmore, Coleman, Grand Centre and Lac La Biche), were absorbed through annexation by Calgary (Bowness, Forest Lawn and Montgomery) or Edmonton (Beverly and Jasper Place) or dissolved to become hamlets under the jurisdiction of municipal districts (Cynthia, Diamond City, Gleichen, Grande Cache, Grouard, Irvine and Lodgepole).

Town status eligibility

The villages of Stirling, Duchess, and Alberta Beach, with population counts of 1,269, 1,085, and 1,018 respectively, meet the legislated population requirements for town status. There are also at least ten hamlets – Cardiff, Clairmont, Dunmore, Fort Chipewyan, Grande Cache, La Crete, Lac La Biche, Langdon, Springbrook, and Wabasca – that meet the population requirements for town status.

City status eligibility

There are currently nine towns – Blackfalds, Canmore, Cochrane, High River, Okotoks, Stony Plain, Strathmore, Sylvan Lake and Whitecourt – that are eligible for city status having populations in excess of 10,000. In addition, the Town of Hinton has expressed interest in incorporating as a city once it surpasses 10,000 people. Its population in 2016 was 9,882. In 2016, the Town of Morinville conducted a municipal census in which it anticipated the town would surpass 10,000; thus the town investigated city status as well as a specialized municipality model with Sturgeon County. The census reported a population of 9,893, which was 107 people shy of the milestone.

Gallery

Towns in Alberta

Athabasca
Banff
Bowden
Canmore
Carstairs
Cochrane
Crossfield
Didsbury
Fort Macleod
Innisfail
Okotoks
Olds
Peace River
Slave Lake
Stettler
Taber
Vauxhall
Vulcan
Whitecourt