Edmonton Economy · Business Census + Statistics Canada
Where the jobs are in Edmonton
The City of Edmonton's 2025 Business Census counts about 575,197 jobs across roughly 29,894 businesses inside the city — an average of about 19 people per business. Work concentrates downtown, around the University of Alberta, and in the big industrial districts; Downtown alone holds about 89,016 jobs. Below: where the jobs are, the sector mix, and how big the region's employers really are.
Jobs
575,197
City of Edmonton · 2025
Businesses
29,894
City of Edmonton · 2025
Avg per business
19
people employed · 2025
Top job centre
89,016
Downtown · 2025
Locations, 500+ staff
134
Edmonton CMA · December 2025 (StatCan)
Locations, 200–499
362
Edmonton CMA · December 2025 (StatCan)
Three different "Edmontons"
Employment data doesn't come on one map, so read each figure for what it actually measures:
- City of Edmonton (proper) — the City's annual Business Census. It's the only source with neighbourhood-level job and business counts, and it's current (2025). It stops at the city limits.
- Edmonton CMA (metro region) — Statistics Canada figures covering the whole metropolitan area, including Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Leduc/Nisku and Acheson. This is where Refinery Row and other employers outside the city show up — but the industry detail is from the 2021 Census.
- Neighbourhood — individual communities within the city, ranked below by the jobs located in them.
Each chart and table on this page is labelled with its geography and year so you're never comparing a 2025 city figure against a 2021 regional one by accident.
Edmonton's biggest job centres
The neighbourhoods with the most jobs, City of Edmonton Business Census 2025. Downtown and the University of Alberta lead on white-collar and institutional employment; the rest are the large industrial parks where warehousing, manufacturing and trades concentrate.
Reading the ranking: bars are scaled to Downtown, the largest, and show jobs; the smaller figure is how many businesses sit in each area. Across all 364 neighbourhoods the Business Census places about 571,527 of the 575,197 city jobs; the small remainder are at businesses not assigned to a specific neighbourhood.
The sector mix — businesses vs. jobs
Two honest views that don't agree, on purpose. By number of businesses (City, 2025) the mix is led by retail and consumer services — lots of small storefronts. By number of jobs across the wider region (2021 Census place of work) the picture shifts to health care, construction and government, where a few large employers carry many workers. Counting businesses is not the same as counting jobs.
Businesses by sector — City of Edmonton, 2025
Every sector — businesses vs. regional jobs
| Sector | Businesses (2025) | Share of businesses | Share of jobs (2021, CMA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 5,306 | 17.7% | 11.6% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 4,149 | 13.9% | 4.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 3,373 | 11.3% | 5.2% |
| Real estate and rental and leasing | 2,882 | 9.6% | 1.9% |
| Health care and social assistance | 2,682 | 9% | 14.2% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 2,452 | 8.2% | 7.5% |
| Construction | 1,700 | 5.7% | 10.1% |
| Manufacturing | 1,641 | 5.5% | 5.8% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,098 | 3.7% | 3.8% |
| Educational services | 819 | 2.7% | 7.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 797 | 2.7% | 3.5% |
| Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services | 794 | 2.7% | 4% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 654 | 2.2% | 5.7% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 536 | 1.8% | 1.3% |
| Public administration | 415 | 1.4% | 7.5% |
| Information and cultural industries | 407 | 1.4% | 1.2% |
| Management of companies and enterprises | 55 | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction | 50 | 0.2% | 2.6% |
| Utilities | 46 | 0.2% | 1.1% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting | 38 | 0.1% | 0.9% |
Business counts and their shares are the City of Edmonton Business Census (2025), city proper. The job-share column is Statistics Canada's 2021 Census place-of-work table for the whole Edmonton CMA (about 680,315 jobs) — a different geography and year, shown side by side so the gap between "where the businesses are" and "where the jobs are" is visible.
How big are Edmonton's employers?
Most Edmonton businesses are small. The City records each business in an employment-size band (not an exact headcount): about 98% of city businesses have fewer than 100 employees. The City also reports that small businesses (under 100 employees) make up roughly 97% of establishments and 61% of employment, excluding public administration.
Across the wider Edmonton CMA, Statistics Canada's Canadian Business Counts (December 2025) records about 362 business locations with 200–499 employees and 134 with 500 or more, out of roughly 55,906 employer locations in total. These are business locations grouped by size band — not named employers, and not exact employee counts.
Where the jobs are in Edmonton — FAQ
Where are the most jobs in Edmonton?
On the City of Edmonton's 2025 Business Census, the biggest job centre by far is Downtown (about 89,016 jobs), followed by the University of Alberta area and Edmonton's industrial parks such as Strathcona Industrial Park. The city core and the large industrial districts in the north-east and south-east hold most of the concentrated employment.
How many jobs and businesses are there in Edmonton?
The City's 2025 Business Census identified about 29,894 businesses employing roughly 575,197 people inside the City of Edmonton — an average of about 19 people per business. That counts the city proper only, not the wider metro region.
What are the biggest industries in Edmonton?
It depends whether you count businesses or jobs. By number of businesses (City, 2025), the largest sectors are Retail trade, Other services, Accommodation and food services, Real estate and rental and leasing, Health care and social assistance — together about 61.5% of all businesses. By number of jobs across the metro region (Statistics Canada, 2021), the leaders shift to Health care and social assistance, Retail trade, Construction, because a few large employers (hospitals, government, construction) carry many jobs in relatively few businesses.
Does "Edmonton" include Sherwood Park, Nisku and Refinery Row?
Not in the City figures. "Edmonton" means three different things here: the City of Edmonton proper (the City Business Census — neighbourhoods, business counts, sector mix), the wider Edmonton census metropolitan area or CMA (the Statistics Canada layers — which include Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Leduc/Nisku and Acheson), and individual neighbourhoods. Major industrial nodes like Refinery Row sit in Strathcona County, so they appear in the StatCan CMA layers but not in the City data. Each layer on this page is labelled with its geography and year.
How many large employers does Edmonton have?
Across the Edmonton CMA, Statistics Canada (Canadian Business Counts, December 2025) counts about 362 business locations with 200–499 employees and 134 with 500 or more. Those are business locations grouped into size bands — not named employers, and not exact headcounts. Within the city itself, about 98% of businesses have fewer than 100 employees, so big employers are rare but carry a large share of the jobs.
Who are Edmonton's biggest employers?
The well-known anchors include the Government of Alberta, the University of Alberta, the provincial health system (Alberta Health Services / Acute Care Alberta), the City of Edmonton, EPCOR, Stantec and PCL Construction. We list these as cited context and link to each employer's own reporting rather than republishing headcount tables — and a company's global workforce is not the same as its Edmonton-area job count.
How current is this data?
The City of Edmonton Business Census figures are 2025 (refreshed annually). Statistics Canada's place-of-work industry data is from the 2021 Census and won't update until the next census results (~2027). The Canadian Business Counts large-employer figures are December 2025, refreshed twice a year.
About this data
Neighbourhood job and business counts, the sector mix and the employment-size bands come from the City of Edmonton's 2025 Business Census, an annual survey of businesses operating inside the city. The regional jobs-by-sector view comes from Statistics Canada's 2021 Census place-of-work table, which covers the whole Edmonton metropolitan area but won't refresh until the next census (~2027). The large-employer-location counts come from Statistics Canada's Canadian Business Counts (December 2025), refreshed twice a year. Employment-size bands are ranges, not exact headcounts, and the City and StatCan figures use different geographies — so they're labelled separately rather than added together.
Sources & licence
- Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton.
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0470 (2021 Census, place of work) and 33-10-1097 (Canadian Business Counts), 2021 / December 2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
City of Edmonton layers (neighbourhood job & business counts, sector mix, employment-size bands) are the City's 2025 Business Census for the City of Edmonton proper, under the City's open-data licence. The regional jobs-by-sector layer is Statistics Canada's 2021 Census place-of-work table (98-10-0470) for the Edmonton census metropolitan area — next update ~2027. Large-employer-location counts are Statistics Canada's Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1097, December 2025) for the Edmonton CMA — business locations by employment-size band, not named employers or headcounts. Named employers are editorial context, cited and linked, not republished tables. Size bands are not exact employee counts.
Content on this site does not constitute financial or investment advice. Trevor Tardif is a licensed REALTOR® with REAL Broker AB Ltd, Edmonton, Alberta.
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