Rural and specialized municipalities, cities, towns, and select hamlets in AlbertaDistribution of Alberta's 6 specialized municipalities (red) and 74 rural municipalities, which include municipal districts that are often branded as counties (orange), improvement districts (dark green) and special areas (light green) (2020)
Alberta also has numerous unincorporated communities (including urban service areas, hamlets and a townsite) that are not independent municipalities in their own right. However, they are all recognized as sub-municipal entities by Ministry of Municipal Affairs under the jurisdiction of specialized municipalities or rural municipalities, with the exception of the lone townsite (its jurisdiction is shared with an Indian reserve that surrounds it).
With the exception of Métis settlements, Statistics Canada recognizes all of Alberta's municipalities as census subdivisions and groups them into 19 census divisions based on geography. Within census divisions, Statistics Canada groups some of Alberta's municipalities/census subdivisions into two census metropolitan areas (CMAs) or 12 census agglomerations (CAs) for enumeration purposes. All CMAs include large urban centres and surrounding census subdivisions. All CAs also include large urban centres and in some cases their surrounding census subdivisions.
With the exception of Indian reserves, the administration of municipalities in Alberta is regulated by the Municipal Government Act,[1] the Special Areas Act[2] and the Metis Settlements Act.[3]
As of 2019, the combined unofficial population of all of Alberta's municipalities was 4,271,759.[4]
According to Section 81 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a town if:
it has a population of 1,000 people or more; and
the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m2 (19,900 sq ft).[1]
Essentially, towns are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 1,000 people. When a town's population exceeds 10,000 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of a city, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory.[5]
Communities with shrinking populations are allowed to retain town status even if the number of residents falls below the 1,000 limit. Some of Alberta's towns have never reached a population of 1,000 people, but were incorporated as towns before the current requirement to have a population of 1,000 or more.
Alberta currently has a total of 107 towns, with a combined population totalling 466,470 as of 2019.[4]
According to Section 80 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a village if:
it has a population of 300 people or more; and
the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m2 (19,900 sq ft).[1]
Essentially, villages are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 300 people. When a village's population exceeds 1,000 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of a town, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory.
Communities with shrinking populations are allowed to retain village status even if the number of residents falls below the 300 limit. Some of Alberta's villages have never reached a population of 300 people, but were incorporated as villages before there was a requirement to have a population of 300 or more.
Alberta currently has a total of 81 villages, with a combined population totalling 34,600 as of 2021.[16]
According to former Section 79 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), a summer village is an area that:
has at least 60 parcels of land developed with dwelling buildings; and
has a population of less than 300 persons where the majority of the persons who would be electors do not permanently reside in that area.
As a result of Section 79 being repealed,[1] summer villages can no longer be formed in Alberta.[5]
Essentially, summer villages were once formed from urban communities with populations of less than 300 people and significant non-permanent populations. When a summer village's population exceeds 300 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of a village, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory.
Alberta currently has a total of 51 summer villages, with a combined population totalling 5,200 as of 2019.[4]
According to Section 83 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), a municipality may incorporate as a specialized municipality under one of the following three scenarios:
where the Minister of Alberta Municipal Affairs (AMA) is satisfied that the other incorporated statuses under the MGA do not meet the needs of the municipality's residents;
to form a local government that, in the opinion of the Minister of AMA, will provide for the orderly development of the municipality in a similar fashion to the other incorporated statuses within the MGA; or
for any other circumstances that are deemed appropriate by the Minister of AMA.[1]
Essentially, specialized municipalities are municipalities that are unconventional in nature compared to other municipalities in Alberta, and they are incorporated under the authority of the existing MGA instead of relying on the creation of their own separate acts (i.e., the Special Areas Act[2] allowed the incorporation of Alberta's three special areas and the Metis Settlements Act[3] allowed the incorporation of Alberta's eight Métis settlements).[5]
Alberta's six specialized municipalities have a combined population totalling 242,395 as of 2019.[4]
Essentially, municipal districts are large rural areas in which their citizens reside on farms, country residential subdivisions or unincorporated communities (i.e., hamlets, localities and other settlements).[5]
In Alberta, the term county is synonymous with the term municipal district – it is not its own incorporated municipal status that is different from that of a municipal district. As such, Alberta Municipal Affairs provides municipal districts with the opportunity to brand themselves either as municipal districts or counties in their official
