A town is a sub-type of municipalities in the Canadian province of Ontario. A town can have the municipal status of either a single-tier or lower-tier municipality.
Ontario has 88 towns that had a cumulative population of 1,813,458 and an average population of 22,316 in the 2016 Census. In the 2021 Census, Ontario's largest and smallest towns are Oakville and Latchford with populations of 213,759[1] and 355[2] respectively.
Under the former Municipal Act, 1990, a town was both an urban and a local municipality.[3] Under this former legislation, a locality with a population of 2,000 or more could have been incorporated as a town by Ontario's Municipal Board upon review of an application from 75 or more residents of the locality.[3] It also enabled the Municipal Board to change the status of a village or township to a town if it had a population of 2,000 upon review of an application from the village or township.[3]
In the transition to the Municipal Act, 2001, these requirements were abandoned and, as at December 31, 2002, every town that:[4]
The current legislation also provides lower and single-tier municipalities with the authority to name themselves as "towns", or other former municipal status types such as "cities", "villages" or "townships", or generically as "municipalities".[5]
| Name | Municipal status[6] | Geographic area | Population (2016)[7] | Population (2011)[8] | Change (%) | Area (km2) | Population density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower-tier | Durham | 119,677 | 109,600 | ||||
| Lower-tier | Essex | 21,936 | 21,556 | ||||
| Lower-tier | Renfrew | ||||||
| Single-tier | Rainy River | ||||||
| Lower-tier | York | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Elgin | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Hastings | ||||||
| Single-tier | Algoma | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Muskoka | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Single-tier | Algoma | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Peel | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Lanark | ||||||
| Single-tier | Timiskaming | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Northumberland | ||||||
| Single-tier | Cochrane | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Renfrew | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Hastings | ||||||
| Lower-tier | York | ||||||
| Single-tier | Timiskaming | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Wellington | ||||||
| Single-tier | Sudbury | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Essex | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Niagara | ||||||
| Single-tier | Rainy River | ||||||
| Single-tier | Leeds and Grenville | ||||||
| Lower-tier | York | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Huron | ||||||
| Single-tier | Manitoulin | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Dufferin | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Muskoka | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Lennox and Addington | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Niagara | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Halton | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Grey | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Prescott and Russell | ||||||
| Single-tier | Cochrane | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Muskoka | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Oxford | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Single-tier | Cochrane | ||||||
| Single-tier | Cochrane | ||||||
| Single-tier | Parry Sound | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Essex | ||||||
| Single-tier | Timiskaming | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Essex | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Essex | ||||||
| Single-tier | Timiskaming | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Renfrew | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Niagara | ||||||
| Single-tier | Thunder Bay | ||||||
| Single-tier | Nipissing | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Halton | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Wellington | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Lanark | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Dufferin | ||||||
| Single-tier | Cochrane | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Lower-tier | York | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Niagara | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Halton | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Dufferin | ||||||
| Single-tier | Parry Sound | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Niagara | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Lanark | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Renfrew | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Lambton | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Lambton | ||||||
| Single-tier | Leeds and Grenville | ||||||
| Single-tier | Rainy River | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Renfrew | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Bruce | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Dufferin | ||||||
| Single-tier | Lanark | ||||||
| Single-tier | Cochrane | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Bruce | ||||||
| Single-tier | Algoma | ||||||
| Single-tier | Perth | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Essex | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Grey | ||||||
| Single-tier | Algoma | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Oxford | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Simcoe | ||||||
| Lower-tier | Durham | ||||||
| Lower-tier | York | ||||||
| Total towns | 1,810,744 | 1,683,241 | 7.6 | 16,226.84 | 111.59 | ||
| Total lower-tier towns | 1,712,616 | 1,583,983 | 8.1 | 11,902.32 | 143.89 | ||
| Total single-tier towns | 98,128 | 99,258 | -1.1 | 4,324.52 | 22.69 | ||