Regina

Regina: growing from abroad, building little

Regina's labour market is among the strongest in the group. Employment grew 3.3% against a year earlier, second only to Halifax among the eight metropolitan areas, and the employment rate of 65.7% the highest. The unemployment rate was 5.9%, in the middle of the group and down from 6.4% a year earlier.

The population grew 2.2% in the year to July 2025, second only to Saskatoon among the eight. The growth comes from abroad: immigrants numbered 6,447, which is 22.1 per 1,000 residents, the highest of the fourteen metropolitan areas in the library, and net non-permanent residents rose by 687. Regina lost people to other provinces: net interprovincial migration was -1,689, or -5.8 per 1,000, the largest outflow relative to size of the fourteen.

Housing: little under way

At the end of September 2026, 2,087 homes were under construction, 7.2 per 1,000 residents, the lowest of the fourteen, and builders began 68 that month, the fewest of the eight. In the year to September 2026 new-home prices rose 1.5% and consumer prices 3.4%, a little above the national 3.1%.

Gross domestic product at basic prices was C$22.9 billion in 2022, the smallest of the eight, up 37.1% in five years in current dollars.

What it means for decisions

For an employer, labour is in demand and the supply of newcomers is coming from abroad rather than other provinces, so recruitment pipelines matter. For a builder or lender, low building for a population that grew 2.2% in the year to July 2025 is the figure to watch. For a household arriving from abroad, the data say little about the cost of finding a place to live, since rents on the whole housing stock and resale prices are not held.

What the data cannot say: they do not give rents on the whole housing stock, wages or resale prices, and the count under construction does not show how many homes are for rent. Nothing here is a forecast.

1. Jobs: 158 thousand people are employed, 3.3% against a year ago; unemployment is 5.9%. The employment rate, 65.7%, is 1st of 8 among the eight metropolitan areas in this group. Labour

2. Prices: inflation is 3.4%, against 3.1% for Canada. The city index is held here for all items only. Prices

3. People: the population changed 2.2% in the year to July 2025. Net non-permanent residents changed 687 in the latest demographic year. Population

4. Housing: new-home prices changed +1.5% in the twelve months to September 2026, with 2,087 homes under construction. Housing

5. Output: the economy produced C$22.9 billion in 2022. Output The industry mix from the 2021 Census is in Industry.

6. Connections: the links that reach Regina are national or provincial, and none is measured for the city. Connections

What happened

At basic prices and in current dollars, the Regina economy produced C$22.9 billion of output in 2022, the latest reference year in Statistics Canada's table. Measured in current dollars, output was 83.1% higher in 2022 than in 2009 and 24.1% higher than in 2019. Over the same period since 2009 Saskatoon grew 91.8%, Calgary 72.4%, Edmonton 54.6%, Toronto 85.0%, Vancouver 98.1% and Montréal 75.3%. Saskatchewan's real GDP changed 11.6% between 2019 and 2025; that is a different measure (market prices at 2017 constant prices, province) and is not comparable with the metropolitan current-dollar figures.

Why it happened

Not assessed. The table is in current dollars, so these changes include price increases, and it is not divided by population, so the figures do not separate growth in the number of people from growth in output per person. This section reports the data; attributed explanations of the differences are in the economic story and local-economy sections of this page.

Why it matters

GDP at basic prices is the broadest measure of local production that Statistics Canada publishes for metropolitan areas. It shows how large the local economy is, but not who earns the income, what is produced, or how the economy is doing now.

History

The series starts in 2009 and ends in 2022. A fall in output in any year in between would show in the chart; no year-by-year explanation is offered here.

Across geographies

The metropolitan series are comparable with each other because they come from one table with one definition and one price basis. Levels depend on city size; use growth rates for comparison.

What it influences

Not assessed. No relationship in the recorded graph links metropolitan output to another variable.

Risks

The table ends in 2022 and describes nothing since; it cannot show the effects of recent changes in interest rates, trade policy, population or commodity prices on Regina.

What to watch

Statistics Canada's next release of table 36-10-0468-01. No release date for it is in the calendar this site holds, and none is assumed.

What happened

Regina's unemployment rate was 5.9% in October 2026, from 6.4% a year earlier, while employment was 158 thousand, 3.3% on the year. The metropolitan population was 291 thousand on 1 July 2025, 11.7% above its 2022 level. The average two-bedroom rent in purpose-built rental apartments was C$1,478 in the October 2025 survey, with a vacancy rate of 2.6%. The net change in non-permanent residents was 687 in the latest demographic year, against 5,500 the year before.

Why it happened

Why it matters

Annual employment in health care and social assistance was 26 thousand in 2025, 19.8% on 22 thousand a year earlier; public administration was 15 thousand, 15.9%; manufacturing fell to 5,800, -21.6%. Total employment rose 4.5% to 151 thousand.

History

The metropolitan population was 257 thousand in 2021 and 291 thousand in 2025. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.8% (July 2022) to 11.6% (June 2020) over ten years.

Across geographies

Consumer prices rose 3.4% in Regina and 3.1% in Saskatoon in the year to September 2026. Regina's unemployment rate is 5.9% against 5.9% in Saskatoon and 5.0% in Winnipeg.

The province-wide picture, including trade and public finances, is in the Saskatchewan reports and is not repeated here.

What it influences

Risks

What to watch

What happened

Regina's unemployment rate was 5.9% in October 2026 and employment was 158 thousand, 3.3% on a year earlier; the employment rate was 65.7% and the participation rate 69.8% (Statistics Canada, metropolitan area). Consumer prices were 3.4% higher than a year earlier in September 2026, against 3.1% for Canada. 1,675 homes were started in the twelve months to September 2026, -0.9% on the twelve months before, and the new housing price index changed +1.5% in the twelve months to September 2026.

Why it happened

What Regina does for a living

By the 2021 Census, health care and social assistance accounted for 15.9% of jobs located in the Regina area, retail trade for 12.4% and public administration for 11.2%, followed by educational services (7.5%), finance and insurance (6.6%), professional, scientific and technical services (6.6%) and manufacturing (5.0%), out of 111 thousand jobs counted at the workplace in May 2021.

The shares set Regina apart from its neighbour. Public administration was 11.2% of jobs in Regina against 5.9% in Saskatoon and 7.6% in Winnipeg; finance and insurance was 6.6% against 3.6% in Saskatoon; mining, quarrying and oil and gas was 0.9% against 2.2%, and educational services 7.5% against 10.5%. These are observed counts.

Where the jobs are moving

Annual averages from the labour force survey (Statistics Canada, metropolitan area) show where employment moved. Total employment was 151 thousand in 2025, 4.5% on 144 thousand a year earlier and 9.3% above 2019. Health care and social assistance rose to 26 thousand from 22 thousand (19.8%); public administration to 15 thousand from 13 thousand (15.9%), 31.9% above 2019; construction to 10 thousand from 9,100 (14.3%); and information, culture and recreation to 8,000 (14.3%).

Manufacturing fell to 5,800 from 7,400 (-21.6%), professional, scientific and technical services to 8,300 (-13.5%) and accommodation and food services to 8,500, -16.7% against 2019. (chart: Employment in Regina: goods and services, indexed)

Employers and clusters

Why it matters

Investment: funded, paused and announced

History

The metropolitan population was 257 thousand on 1 July 2021 and 291 thousand on 1 July 2025, up 13.1%. (chart: Population: eight more metropolitan areas, indexed) Metropolitan GDP (Statistics Canada, current dollars, latest year 2022) was C$22.9 billion, 24.1% above 2019. (chart: GDP at basic prices: eight more metropolitan areas, indexed) No later metropolitan GDP is held.

Across geographies

On migration, the metropolitan area added 6,447 immigrants in the latest demographic year against 8,732 the year before; the net change in non-permanent residents fell from 5,500 to 687; net interprovincial migration was -1,689 and net movement from elsewhere in Saskatchewan was 265. (chart: Where Regina's population change came from) Saskatoon's non-permanent resident change was 1,272 and Winnipeg's -1,559 in the same year.

What it influences

Housing supply and rents

Risks

What to watch

What happened

Regina's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (three-month average) was 5.9% in October 2026, from 6.4% a year earlier. For comparison, Saskatoon's was 5.9%; among the six large metropolitan areas: Calgary's 6.6%, Edmonton's 7.1%, Toronto's 7.1%, Vancouver's 6.7%, Montréal's 6.9%, Ottawa–Gatineau's 7.1%. Employment of 158 thousand changed 3.3% over the year, against 6.2% in Calgary, 1.9% in Toronto and 1.2% in Vancouver.

The participation rate is 69.8% and the employment rate 65.7%, against 66.7% in Calgary, 62.2% in Toronto and 63.4% in Vancouver. Among the eight smaller metropolitan areas covered here (Winnipeg, Halifax, Québec, Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Saskatoon, Regina) its employment rate ranks 1st of 8.

By industry, Statistics Canada's annual Labour Force Survey estimates (table 14-10-0468-01, annual averages, not seasonally adjusted) put average employment in Regina at 151 thousand in 2025, a change of 4.5% on the year before and of 9.3% since 2019. Goods-producing industries account for 14.2% of employed persons and services-producing industries for 85.8%; among the individual groups, health care and social assistance 17.2%, wholesale and retail trade 15.8% and manufacturing 3.8% of employment. The table counts people by the industry of their main job and by where they live, so it is a measure of employment, not of output, wages or the number of businesses. Estimates for a single industry group in one metropolitan area come from a small survey sample and are less steady than the total: Statistics Canada suppresses some cells, and the table is annual, so a one-year move in a small group should not be read as a trend. No sampling-error range is held with these series, so none is quoted. Wages for the metropolitan area are not held here; the Statistics Canada wage tables used cover provinces and Canada.

Why it happened

The data show where Regina stands, not why. Since the end of 2019 employment has changed 17.4% in Regina, 20.3% in Saskatoon, 27.1% in Calgary and 10.9% in Toronto; the data held here cannot say why those paths differ.

Why it matters

Jobs matter for household income and housing demand. The employment rate says more than the unemployment rate about how much of the adult population is working, because people who stop looking for work leave the unemployment count.

History

Over ten years Regina's unemployment rate has averaged 6.0%, with a high of 11.6% in June 2020 and a low of 3.8% in July 2022. The Labour Force Survey series for the metropolitan area start in 2011 for employment and participation (earlier months are not held).

Across geographies

Regina's rate minus Saskatoon's is 0.0 percentage points. As context, on a different definition (monthly, province-wide), Saskatchewan's unemployment rate is 5.9% and Canada's 6.7%; these must not be read against the metropolitan three-month averages.

What it influences

Jobs matter for household income and housing demand in the region. No link from Regina's employment to another variable is measured here.

Risks

Not assessed: the exposure of Regina's employment to particular industries or to US demand over time, beyond what the annual industry employment shown above describes; that table does not measure exposure to US demand.

What to watch

Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey (release dates in the calendar).

What happened

Regina's consumer prices were 3.4% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier (from 2.8% a year before), against 3.1% in Saskatoon, 3.4% in Calgary, 2.1% in Toronto and 3.0% in Vancouver, and 3.1% for Canada.

Why it happened

Why it matters

The CPI measures changes in prices, not their level, so a rate of change says nothing about how expensive the city is. A rate that is falling or rising against its own recent past tells more than a comparison with one other city: a year earlier Regina's rate was 2.8%. Because the index covers all items together, it cannot show whether housing, food or energy explains a difference.

History

Regina's rate has averaged 2.6% over ten years and peaked at 8.2% in July 2022.

Across geographies

Regina's rate minus Canada's is 0.3 percentage points, and minus Saskatoon's is 0.3 percentage points.

What it influences

Inflation bears on wage bargaining, the policy rate and mortgage renewals; those links are national and not measured for the city.

Risks

The risks that published sources attribute to Regina specifically are in the local-economy section of this page; the national risks are energy prices and tariffs (see the Canada report).

What to watch

Statistics Canada's monthly Consumer Price Index release (calendar).

What happened

The Regina metropolitan area had 291 thousand residents on July 1, 2025, 2.2% more than a year earlier. Over five years it grew 13.0%, against 15.5% in Saskatoon, 20.1% in Calgary and 9.5% in Toronto. In the latest year the growth rates were 2.9% in Calgary, 3.1% in Edmonton, 0.0% in Toronto, 0.2% in Vancouver and 0.5% in Montréal. Among the eight smaller metropolitan areas covered here it ranks 8th of 8 by population.

Why it happened

In the demographic year that began in July 2024, the Regina metropolitan area recorded 2,713 births and 2,174 deaths, 6,447 immigrants, a net change of 687 non-permanent residents, net interprovincial migration of -1,689 and net intraprovincial migration (movement to and from the rest of the province) of 265. The year before, immigrants numbered 8,732 and the net change in non-permanent residents was 5,500. Net non-permanent residents averaged 2,219 a year over the latest five demographic years.

Why it matters

Population growth adds workers and households. A fast-growing metropolitan area can need more housing, schools and services, and it also gains consumers. Over five years Regina's growth was 13.0%.

History

Over ten years Regina's population grew 21.2%, and since 2001 it has grown 46.7%. The components of change are available from 2001.

Across geographies

The provincial population grew 1.0% in the four quarters to 1 July 2026; net interprovincial migration for Saskatchewan over the four quarters to Q2 2026 was -2,837. The metropolitan area's own net interprovincial migration is among the components above.

What it influences

Population growth bears on housing demand, labour supply and public service needs. Those links are national and not measured for the city.

Risks

What to watch

Statistics Canada's next annual metropolitan population estimates and quarterly provincial estimates.

What happened

Regina started 1,675 homes over the past twelve months and completed 1,217. At the end of September 2026, 2,087 were under construction, 30.2% against a year earlier (Saskatoon 4,373, Toronto 88,108, Vancouver 61,680, Calgary 26,252).

The New Housing Price Index for Regina is 107.4, 1.5% on a year ago and 7.3% since February 2022. Saskatoon's index changed 1.1% over the year, Vancouver's -2.1% and Toronto's -4.9%. Index levels are not comparable across cities because each is indexed to its own base.

The value of building permits (all types, seasonally adjusted, current dollars) over the twelve months to August 2026 was C$911 million, +41.2% on the twelve months before; the series starts in 2018.

In the October 2025 Rental Market Survey the average rent for a two-bedroom unit in purpose-built rental structures of three or more units in Regina was C$1,478 a month, 4.2% higher than a year earlier (CMHC's same-sample figure, for structures surveyed in both years, is 4.2%) and 27.7% higher than five years earlier, ranking 12th of 14 among fourteen cities (highest = 1); the same measure was C$1,908 in Calgary, C$2,045 in Toronto, C$2,364 in Vancouver. The vacancy rate was 2.6%, from 2.7% a year earlier, ranking joint 12th of 14 among the fourteen (against 2.6% in Halifax, 4.9% in Calgary, 3.0% in Toronto, 3.7% in Vancouver). The table covers purpose-built rental structures only; condominium, house and basement-suite rentals, and the asking rents on new listings, are not in it.

Why it happened

The data show how much is being built and what is happening to new-home prices; they do not separate demand, land and construction costs, interest rates and incomes. Posted mortgage rates are national: since the first week of January 2026 the posted five-year rate has changed by +0.10 percentage points and the posted one-year rate by -0.35 percentage points, to 6.19% and 5.49% in the week of 28 October 2026 (see the Canada report).

Why it matters

Housing is a large household expense. New-home prices are one part of the picture: resale prices are not included, and the rent figures above cover purpose-built rental structures only.

History

The monthly peak of units under construction in the past ten years was 2,258 in August 2026, and the lowest was 403 in December 2019.

Across geographies

On the comparison with the large cities, units under construction changed 30.2% in Regina, 6.0% in Saskatoon, -4.2% in Toronto, -2.3% in Vancouver and 4.0% in Edmonton over the twelve months to September 2026. Counts depend on city size and are not rates per person.

What it influences

The Bank of Canada describes a link between mortgage costs and housing, and CMHC a link between supply and affordability; neither is estimated for Regina.

Risks

What to watch

CMHC's monthly starts, Statistics Canada's New Housing Price Index and building permits (release dates in the calendar), and the Bank of Canada's next announcement on 9 December 2026.

What happened

In the 2021 Census, 111 thousand jobs were located in the Regina metropolitan area (people who worked at home or had a usual workplace there; people with no fixed workplace address are not in the table). The three largest sectors were Health care and social assistance (15.9% of jobs), Retail trade (12.4%) and Public administration (11.2%).

Measured as its share of jobs divided by the six large metropolitan areas' combined share (among sectors that make up at least one fiftieth of Regina's jobs), the sector in which Regina stood furthest above them was Public administration: 11.2% of its jobs, against 4.2% in Calgary, 8.2% in Edmonton, 4.6% in Toronto, 4.9% in Vancouver, 5.3% in Montréal, 25.7% in Ottawa–Gatineau. The ranking is fixed to these 2021 Census figures.

Why it happened

Not assessed. The table counts jobs by sector at one date and says nothing about why a metropolitan area has the mix it has. Attributed descriptions of Regina's industry structure are in the local-economy section of this page.

Why it matters

The industry mix shows what a local economy does for a living, which bears on how it is exposed to changes in demand, prices and policy. It does not measure output, wages or how the economy is performing; those need other tables.

History

Not available from this table: the Census is taken every five years and the platform holds only the 2021 reference week (May 2021). Annual industry employment for the metropolitan area comes from the Labour Force Survey and is in the labour section of this page.

Across geographies

The metropolitan areas come from one table with one definition, so the shares can be compared with one another. They are not comparable with provincial Labour Force Survey industry shares, which use a different survey, year and definition. Saskatchewan's provincial industry mix is on its province page.

What it influences

Not assessed. No relationship in the recorded graph links the metropolitan industry mix to another variable.

Risks

What to watch

The release of 2026 Census results on industry for metropolitan areas. No release date for them is in the calendar this site holds, and none is assumed.

What happened

The recorded connections that reach Regina are provincial or national. Saskatchewan's exposure to the United States is 54% of its goods exports in 2025 (total domestic goods exports C$43.6 billion), and energy products were 33% of that total; the national export shares that year were 72% to the United States and 4.5% to China.

Oil prices and metropolitan employment are compared in the relationship graph only for Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto; Regina is not compared.

Why it happened

Not assessed. Trade and investment links that published sources describe for Regina are in the local-economy section of this page; no city-level trade data are held.

Why it matters

The currency, interest rates and trade partners that matter for Regina are covered at national level in the Global report: one US dollar cost C$1.4135 on average in October 2026; Canada's posted five-year mortgage rate is 6.19%, which rose 0.10 percentage points over the past year. The US ten-year Treasury yield is 4.84% and Canada's ten-year yield 3.67%; how much of any move in either reaches Regina's housing market is not measured here.

History

Not assessed.

Across geographies

What it influences

Three chains bear on Regina, each national or provincial: US trade measures to exports (hypotheses nationally, with a sourced provincial statement), rates to mortgage costs and housing (documented nationally) and immigration policy to population (documented nationally).

Risks

The risks that published sources attribute to this city specifically are in the local-economy section of this page; beyond those, see the national risks in the Canada report and the global risks in the Global report.

What to watch

The Bank of Canada's next announcement on 9 December 2026, tariff changes and Statistics Canada's monthly trade release (calendar).