Compare Museums in Canadian Cities: Count vs. Rate per Capita

Toronto had the most museums of the five large urban areas measured in June 2019, with 95, while Vancouver had the highest rate per 100,000 residents at 6.9, according to Statistics Canada (2019). The answer depends on the metric: raw counts and per-capita rates produce different rankings.

Museums: Which Canadian Cities Have the Most?

Raw count and rate, large urban areas (June 2019)

Toronto and Montreal lead on raw count, but Vancouver leads on rate per 100,000 residents. Winnipeg’s rate (4.8) is close to Toronto’s (4.9) despite its much smaller total.

Census metropolitan areas with the highest and lowest rates

Statistics Canada (2019) also ranked census metropolitan areas (CMAs) by museums per 100,000 residents:

Halifax had the lowest rate in this ranking, at 1.0. Both St. John’s and Moncton recorded 1.6.

Museums and archives in the national count (2022)

Hill Strategies Research, based on a Statistics Canada survey (2022), counted 5,376 public arts, culture and heritage spaces across Canada. Of these, 1,496 were museums and archives, the second-largest category after libraries (2,825). The count excludes spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments. The consulted sources do not provide a city-level breakdown for 2022.

Museums per capita: small towns or major metros?

Raw museum counts favour the largest cities, but per-capita rates give a different ranking. In June 2019, Toronto had the most museums of the five large cities Statistics Canada reported, with 95, but its rate was 4.9 per 100,000 residents. Vancouver had 55 museums and the highest rate of the group at 6.9 per 100,000. Counts reflect the size of the supply, while rates measure museum density relative to population.

Five large cities, June 2019

Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily (2019-08-12).

Census metropolitan areas: highest and lowest rates

Statistics Canada also ranked all census metropolitan areas (CMAs) by museum rate. Mid-sized and smaller regions appear at both ends of the list.

Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily (2019-08-12).

The data shows no simple link between metro size and museum density. Saint John and Belleville rank near the top, while Halifax and Kingston rank near the bottom. The official sources consulted do not specify the reasons for these differences.

National totals are not city comparisons

In 2022, Canada counted 5,376 public arts, culture and heritage spaces, including 1,496 museums and archives combined, according to Hill Strategies Research (2022), based on a Statistics Canada survey. This national figure combines museums with archives and excludes spaces run by First Nations and other Indigenous governments. It cannot replace city-level rates.

Theatres and performing arts venues: what the data shows

The sources consulted do not give city-level counts of theatres or performing arts venues in Canada. The only national figure is from a 2022 survey: Canada had 628 public performing arts venues, out of 5,376 public arts, culture and heritage spaces. That total excludes spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments, so it understates Indigenous cultural infrastructure.

Performing arts venues make up about 12% of the total, behind libraries and museums and archives. Because the survey is national, it cannot tell you whether a given city has more or fewer theatres than another.

How to compare theatre access between cities

• Use per-capita rates. Divide the venue count by population and express it per 100,000 residents, the same method Statistics Canada used for museums in 2019. Raw counts favour large cities.
• Define the venue. Check whether a count includes concert halls, community centres with stages, or only professional theatres. Definitions change results.
• Match the year. Compare cities using the same reference year, since openings and closures shift counts quickly.

How to compare a city’s cultural offer

Comparing cultural venues across Canadian cities requires two steps: counting institutions and normalising those counts by population. Raw totals favour the largest cities. Rates per 100,000 residents show how dense the offer is for the people who live there.

The June 2019 Statistics Canada figures show why both measures matter:

Toronto and Montreal have almost the same number of museums, but Vancouver has the highest rate in this group despite having fewer institutions. Ranked by rate across all census metropolitan areas (CMAs), Vancouver (6.9), Saint John (6.6) and Belleville (5.4) lead, while Halifax (1.0) and Kingston (1.3) sit at the bottom, with St. John’s and Moncton at 1.6 each, according to Statistics Canada (2019).

Practical method

1. Match the scope. Compare the same category: museums with museums, not museums with theatres. Some categories are only published at national level. Hill Strategies Research (2022), based on a Statistics Canada survey, reports 5,376 public arts, culture and heritage spaces across Canada: 2,825 libraries, 1,496 museums and archives, 628 performing arts venues, 343 art galleries and 84 Indigenous cultural venues. This total excludes spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments, and it cannot be broken down by city.
2. Check the geographic unit. A city proper and a CMA can differ substantially. Confirm which boundary the source uses before comparing two cities.
3. Use the same reference year. Figures from different years are not directly comparable.
4. Calculate the rate. Divide the count by the population and multiply by 100,000.

Which public data should you use?

For Canadian cities, the most usable public figures are Statistics Canada’s museum counts for June 2019 and its census metropolitan area (CMA) rates, which allow city-to-city comparison after adjusting for population. Theatre data is less granular: the sources consulted report performing arts venues only at the national level for 2022, so theatre comparisons by city need a different approach. Always check the reference year and the geography before comparing two figures.

Museum counts by city (June 2019)

Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily (2019).

Toronto and Montreal have similar raw counts, but Vancouver and Winnipeg move up once the population denominator is applied. Use the per-100,000 column for any comparison between cities of different sizes.

Museum rates across census metropolitan areas

Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily (2019).

National cultural venue inventory (2022)

Source: Hill Strategies Research, based on a Statistics Canada survey (2022).

This inventory excludes spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments. It also merges museums with archives, so it cannot be compared directly with the museum-only 2019 counts.

How to combine these figures

• Use the 2019 CMA rates to rank museum density. Do not mix them with 2022 totals.
• Compute your own rate for theatres only if you can obtain a city-level venue count for the same year and geography, then divide by the population for that geography.
• Keep museums and theatres separate in your tables, since the datasets use different categories.

Museum rates and performing arts venues: comparing cultural supply

Cultural supply in Canadian cities is measurable, but raw venue counts and per-capita rates lead to different conclusions. A city with the most venues is not necessarily the one with the most venues per resident. Museums and performing arts venues also come from different data collections, so they should be compared separately.

Museums: count versus rate

According to Statistics Canada, The Daily (12 August 2019), these five cities had the following museum counts in June 2019:

Across census metropolitan areas (CMAs), Vancouver (6.9), Saint John (6.6) and Belleville (5.4) had the highest rates. Halifax (1.0), Kingston (1.3), St. John’s and Moncton (1.6 each) had the lowest.

Performing arts venues

According to Hill Strategies Research (2022), based on a Statistics Canada survey, Canada had 5,376 public arts, culture and heritage spaces in 2022. The breakdown was:

This count excludes spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments. The official sources consulted do not give a city-level breakdown of performing arts venues, so theatre comparisons between specific cities need to be built from venue-level listings.

Method for comparing two cities

• Use the same year and base. Compare rates per 100,000 residents from the same reference period. The 2019 museum rates and 2022 national venue counts cannot be combined into one score.
• Keep the categories apart. Museums, performing arts venues, galleries and libraries serve different uses. Adding them into one index hides differences that matter for a move decision.
• Match the geography. A city proper and its CMA can rank differently. Confirm which boundary a figure uses before comparing.

Frequently asked questions

Which Canadian city has the most museums?

By raw count, Toronto led the five large urban areas measured in June 2019 with 95 museums, followed by Montreal with 93, according to Statistics Canada (2019). Vancouver had fewer venues (55) but the highest rate relative to population.

How do I compare museum density between cities of different sizes?

Use the rate per 100,000 residents, which adjusts for population. In June 2019, Vancouver recorded 6.9 per 100,000, compared with 4.9 for Toronto and 4.0 for Montreal (Statistics Canada, 2019).

Does the 2022 national count show how many museums each city has?

Hill Strategies Research (2022), based on a Statistics Canada survey, counted 1,496 museums and archives across Canada, excluding spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments. The official sources consulted do not specify a city-level breakdown for 2022.

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