Latest values, rankings and charts for Alberta, all computed from Statistics Canada data held by this platform. The economic story below explains with attributed statements from official sources; the profile only computes. Forecasts quoted are their publishers' and Northline publishes none.
Data profile with a sourced economic storyEvery statement in the data profile below is computed from a published series and links to its source in the chart footers. Rankings compare places on the same definition and period; they describe differences and do not explain them. The three territories have their own profiles.
The economy
What is driving Alberta's economy and public finances, and what could change them?
Alberta has led the provinces in population growth and net interprovincial migration while its government's forecast moved from a large deficit to a surplus in six months, mainly because of higher resource revenue
What happened
Alberta's unemployment rate was 7.3% in October 2026, employment was 1.6% higher than a year earlier and the population was 1.5% higher than four quarters earlier. Real GDP changed 22.5% from 2020, when the pandemic depressed output, to 2025, and 13.0% from 2019.
Why it happened
Historical context
The Government of Alberta's first-quarter fiscal update says strong activity in the energy sector has been accompanied by a pickup in manufacturing and agriculture exports, and that progress on major projects is boosting investment and construction activity.
The update reports that factory sales were up 11 per cent year to date through May, driven by petroleum products, petrochemicals and plastics, that active drilling rigs were up 24 per cent over the year in July, and that investment growth is increasingly being driven by major projects outside the resource sector.
In Statistics Canada's real GDP by industry for 2025, mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction was 19.1% of Alberta's output, real estate and rental and leasing 12.2%, construction 8.7% and manufacturing 6.7%.
Why it matters
Historical context
The first-quarter update forecasts a surplus of about 2 billion dollars for 2026-27, an improvement of 11.4 billion dollars from the 9.4-billion-dollar deficit estimated in February, mainly as a result of higher-than-expected non-renewable resource revenue.
A swing of this size in six months shows how much of provincial finances depends on one price; the sources cited here say the improvement is mainly higher resource revenue and do not give a view on how long the oil price will stay high.
History
Alberta's net interprovincial migration and population are described in the population and migration sections of the data profile.
Historical context
The province says its manufacturing sector has strengthened and fully recovered from the weakness in 2025.
The province says net interprovincial migration added people for the fifteenth consecutive quarter in which Alberta led the country, while its non-permanent resident population fell by more than 35,000 over the past year. That August figure was published before Statistics Canada's September 2026 estimates, whose current series shows a change of -7,957 over the four quarters to July 2026; the two figures cover different periods and come from different releases.
Statistics Canada reports that Alberta had the fastest growth among provinces from July 2025 to July 2026, at 1.5 per cent, while Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, which welcome the largest share of international migrants, are more affected by changes in international migration levels. The province's August update, using the estimates published before September, gave growth of 0.9 per cent in the year to April 2026; Statistics Canada's current series shows 1.7% for that year.
The province reports that nearly 15,000 single-family homes were completed in Calgary and Edmonton in 2025, the highest since the 2006-07 boom, that completed but unsold single-family inventory reached a record, and that housing starts are expected to reach 42,000 units, down 19 per cent from last year.
The province expects the Express Pipeline expansion, Enbridge Mainline optimization and a Trans Mountain drag-reducing agent project to increase export capacity by about 270,000 barrels a day over the next two years.
The province says significant uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy and global economic conditions continues to pose risks to investment and export demand.
It says the wider discount on Alberta heavy oil primarily reflects increased competition from Venezuelan crude and additional heavy oil supply from releases from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that inflation accelerated from 1.8 per cent in February to as high as 4.2 per cent in July, and that ongoing geopolitical instability and related revenue volatility are significant risks to its fiscal outlook.
In its August update the province forecast real GDP growth of 2.3 per cent in 2026, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from budget, and 2.5 per cent in 2027, with the unemployment rate averaging 6.6 per cent in 2026, down from 7.2 per cent in 2025. These are the province's forecasts, not Northline's. The next fiscal update and Statistics Canada's quarterly population estimates (release calendar) show how far the oil-price swing carries.
Written profile
What do the data show about the Alberta economy?
Alberta's unemployment rate was 7.3% in October 2026, its prices were up 3.6% in the year to September 2026 and its government's net operating balance, on Statistics Canada's basis, was 8.5% of revenue in the fiscal year that began in April 2024
Alberta against the other nine
Alberta's recent story is about people arriving. Its population grew 1.5% over the latest four quarters, faster than any other province, and net movement from the rest of Canada added 22 thousand persons, the largest inflow of any province. Employment changed by 1.6% from a year earlier, fifth of ten, and retail sales rose 7.6%, also fifth. Average weekly earnings rose 3.9% in the twelve months to August 2026, the fifth-fastest earnings growth of the ten provinces, while consumer prices rose 3.6% in the twelve months to September 2026, so earnings about kept pace with prices.
The unemployment rate is 7.3%, down from 7.6% a year earlier, level with Ontario and behind Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Non-permanent residents changed by -7,957 over the same four quarters.
One commodity, four different sizes
Alberta is often described by a single industry, and the data show why and also where the description misleads. Energy products were 76.1% of Alberta's C$178.0 billion of domestic goods exports in 2025, and 85.4% of its domestic goods exports went to the United States, the second-highest share after New Brunswick. Oil and gas extraction was 41.3% of the capital spending reported for the province. The energy sector produced 23.0% of real output. Yet mining and oil and gas extraction employed 5.4% of Alberta's workers.
The gap between the export share and the job share is consistent with a capital-intensive industry: its real output per worker is roughly 3.5 times that of the average worker on a rough scale. The spending, taxes and royalties such an industry generates reach the rest of the economy through channels the employment figure does not show, and the data here do not measure them. The companion note on Alberta's energy exports and jobs works through that gap. The four measures use different industry definitions and are not additive.
Growth since 2019 was broad
Real output across all industries is 11.9% higher in 2025 than in 2019. Health care and social assistance grew 15.2%, construction 15.1%, professional services 16.5% and mining and oil and gas extraction 16.6%. Agriculture grew 13.4%, the fourth-largest gain of the ten provinces, and manufacturing fell 6.0%. Mining and oil and gas extraction, the group that defines the province's exports, grew faster than the economy as a whole and about as fast as professional services, so the gains since 2019 were broad and energy was among the leaders.
From 2020, when the pandemic depressed output, to 2025 real GDP grew 22.5%, second only to Prince Edward Island among the ten provinces; measured from 2019 it grew 13.0%, fifth of ten. The population grew quickly over the same years, 15.4% from 1 July 2019 to 1 July 2025, which is more than real GDP grew, so output per resident was slightly lower in 2025 than in 2019, though higher than in 2020.
The fastest-building province
Housing starts averaged 49,529 units a year over the latest twelve months, which is 9.7 per thousand residents, the highest rate of the ten provinces and more than twice Ontario's 3.8. The five-year average rate is 8.7, so building is running above the recent norm. Construction employs 10.0% of Alberta's workers, the second-highest share of the ten provinces. Starts are a measure of supply being added, not of affordability or of what the units cost.
The strongest public accounts, on one year's evidence
In the fiscal year that began in April 2024 Alberta's government had a net operating balance of C$6.9 billion on revenues of C$81.2 billion, a surplus of 8.5% of revenue, the largest relative surplus of any province. Its liabilities were 1.48 times annual revenue, the second-lowest multiple of the ten provinces. Statistics Canada's presentation differs from the province's own accounts, and the figures here do not separate resource revenue from other revenue. Resource-linked revenue moves with prices, so a single year's surplus should not be read as a permanent position.
Historical context
On the province's own accounts, the surplus for fiscal 2024-25 was $8.3 billion. Its year-end report for fiscal 2025-26 records a smaller surplus, $2.2 billion.
For a business, Alberta combines the fastest-growing customer base of the ten provinces with pay growth in the middle of the table. Demand that depends on new households, such as housing, renovation, household services and retail, has the strongest tailwind of any province. Demand that depends on rising real incomes has less of one. For an investor or lender, the export base is dominated by one industry selling mainly to one customer, which makes the province unusually exposed to both energy prices and trade policy, while the public balance sheet is stronger than most. For a household moving there, the data say jobs and construction are expanding and earnings have about kept pace with prices over the past year.
What the data cannot say: they are provincial totals that hide the difference between Calgary, Edmonton, the oil sands region and rural Alberta, they do not give the price of energy that drives much of the exports and revenue, and the labour survey is a sample. Nothing here is a forecast.
Labour market and prices
The unemployment rate was 7.3% in October 2026, against 6.7% for Canada. Employment changed by 1.6% over the year and the participation rate was 68.8%. Average weekly earnings were C$1,410 a week in August 2026, ranking 1st of 10 among the ten provinces (1st = highest). Consumer prices were up 3.6% in September 2026 on a year earlier, ranking 6th of 10.
Unemployment rate by province
Percent, seasonally adjusted, monthly. Province series, Labour Force Survey.
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Latest values: Alberta 7.3 (2026-10); British Columbia 6.3 (2026-10); Saskatchewan 5.9 (2026-10); Manitoba 5 (2026-10); and 6 more in the data table.
The population was 1.5% higher than four quarters earlier. Net interprovincial migration over the latest four quarters was 22 thousand persons (negative = net outflow), and non-permanent residents changed by -7,957. Real GDP changed 22.5% from 2020, when the pandemic depressed output, to 2025, and 13.0% from 2019. Retail sales in August 2026 were 7.6% higher than a year earlier.
Population by province, indexed
Quarterly estimates; start of period = 100.
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Latest values: Alberta 5,101,000 (2026 Q3); British Columbia 5,711,000 (2026 Q3); Saskatchewan 1,278,000 (2026 Q3); Manitoba 1,517,000 (2026 Q3); and 6 more in the data table.
Annual, 2017 constant prices (not chained); start of the period = 100. Expenditure-based.
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Latest values: Alberta 382,600,000,000 (2025); British Columbia 356,100,000,000 (2025); Saskatchewan 90,590,000,000 (2025); Manitoba 79,430,000,000 (2025); and 6 more in the data table.
Economic structure and trade exposure
In 2025 (the year of the table's latest annual average), health care and social assistance employed 13.1% of Alberta's workers, retail trade 10.2%, construction 10.0% and public administration 5.1%. Among goods-producing groups, agriculture 1.5%; forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas 5.6%; and manufacturing 5.8%. Finance and insurance employed 3.5% and professional, scientific and technical services 9.5%.
How much of each province’s employment is in one industry
Share of provincial employment, 2025 annual average (Labour Force Survey). A measured exposure to an industry, not an estimate of how much output or income depends on it. “Resources” combines forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying and oil and gas.
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Top values: Newfoundland and Labrador 6.37%; Alberta 5.58%; Saskatchewan 3.76%.
Domestic merchandise exports were C$178.0 billion in calendar year 2025. 85% went to the United States and energy products were 76% of the total; energy products sent to the United States were 70% of all the province's domestic exports. These are customs-basis goods exports assigned to the province of origin as Statistics Canada defines it; they exclude services, which are a large part of some provincial economies, and the province of export clearance can differ from the province of production for some commodities.
Where each province’s goods exports go, and what they are, 2025
Share of each province’s domestic merchandise exports (customs basis). A measured exposure of export value to one market or one commodity group, not an estimate of how much income or employment depends on it.
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Top values: New Brunswick 90.4%; Alberta 85.43%; Prince Edward Island 80.05%.
Employment shares and export shares describe the structure of the economy; they do not by themselves show which industries drive growth, incomes or public revenue, or how exposed the province is to a given shock.
Long-run perspective
Population is 126.7% higher on 1 July 2026 than on 1 January 1981, against 69.5% for Canada as a whole. Real GDP (at 2017 constant prices) is 236.5% higher in 2025 than in 1981; this is a level comparison between two years, not an average annual rate, and it is not compared with a national figure here because the national real GDP series is monthly and on a different basis.
Employment is 106.4% higher in October 2026 than in June 1993, the start of the national series used here (65.1% for Canada). Over the past forty years the unemployment rate has ranged from 3.2% (February 2006) to 15.4% (May 2020); it was 7.3% in October 2026, against 6.7% for Canada.
Employment by province, indexed
Seasonally adjusted; start of period = 100.
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Latest values: Alberta 2,660,000 (2026-10); British Columbia 2,941,000 (2026-10); Saskatchewan 624,600 (2026-10); Manitoba 752,500 (2026-10); and 6 more in the data table.
Average weekly earnings, in current dollars and not seasonally adjusted, are 109.6% higher in August 2026 than in the same month twenty-five years earlier (106.8% for Canada). These are nominal figures: they include the effect of price increases over twenty-five years and are not a measure of the change in purchasing power.
These comparisons describe the size of changes between two dates. They do not say why this jurisdiction differs from Canada, and the end points can matter: a different starting year changes the percentage.
Public finances
For the fiscal year that began in April 2024, on Statistics Canada's basis, the provincial government's revenue was C$81.2 billion and its expense C$74.4 billion, leaving a net operating balance of C$6.9 billion (8.5% of revenue). Grants received from other governments (mostly federal transfers; the table does not split them by payer) were C$11.6 billion, 14.3% of revenue. Liabilities at the end of the year were C$120.6 billion and net worth C$350.5 billion. These are past-year accounts, not the current budget.
Alberta's metropolitan areas are covered on their own pages: Calgary and Edmonton. Metropolitan figures are never substituted for provincial ones.
What is not assessed
Why these figures differ from other provinces, industry structure beyond the latest employment shares, housing prices and rents, exports by destination over time, the current budget and credit ratings, major projects, and policy changes. This profile cites no source that explains Alberta's position, and nothing here is a forecast.
1 · Where it ranks
Alberta among the ten provinces
Same values as the Canada atlas layers. Rank 1 is the highest value, which is not always the most favourable outcome. A measure the source does not publish for a place is simply absent.
Latest values: Alberta 2,660,000 (2026-10); British Columbia 2,941,000 (2026-10); Saskatchewan 624,600 (2026-10); Manitoba 752,500 (2026-10); and 6 more in the data table.
Current dollars per hour, all industries, employees aged 15 and over, not seasonally adjusted.
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Latest values: Alberta 39 (2026-10); British Columbia 39.54 (2026-10); Saskatchewan 34.21 (2026-10); Manitoba 32.46 (2026-10); and 6 more in the data table.
Average weekly earnings by province
Current dollars per week, industrial aggregate incl. overtime, not seasonally adjusted.
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Latest values: Alberta 1,410 (2026-08); British Columbia 1,366 (2026-08); Saskatchewan 1,303 (2026-08); Manitoba 1,248 (2026-08); and 6 more in the data table.
3 · Prices
Inflation
12-month change in the all-items CPI, derived by this project from the index.
Consumer price inflation by province
12-month change in the all-items CPI (derived by this project from the index).
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Latest values: Alberta 3.6 (2026-09); British Columbia 2.96 (2026-09); Saskatchewan 3.3 (2026-09); Manitoba 4.36 (2026-09); and 6 more in the data table.
Quarterly population estimates and four-quarter migration flows.
Population by province, indexed
Quarterly estimates; start of period = 100.
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Latest values: Alberta 5,101,000 (2026 Q3); British Columbia 5,711,000 (2026 Q3); Saskatchewan 1,278,000 (2026 Q3); Manitoba 1,517,000 (2026 Q3); and 6 more in the data table.
New permanent residents arriving over the previous four quarters.
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Latest values: Alberta 50,160 (2026 Q2); British Columbia 45,800 (2026 Q2); Saskatchewan 14,390 (2026 Q2); Manitoba 19,350 (2026 Q2); and 6 more in the data table.
Net interprovincial migration (4-quarter total)
In-migrants minus out-migrants over the previous four quarters (derived).
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Latest values: Alberta 78,320 (2026 Q2); British Columbia 58,490 (2026 Q2); Saskatchewan 18,270 (2026 Q2); Manitoba 14,610 (2026 Q2); and 6 more in the data table.
Annual real GDP and monthly activity indicators, indexed so the start of the period equals 100 where noted.
Real GDP by province, indexed
Annual, 2017 constant prices (not chained); start of the period = 100. Expenditure-based.
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Latest values: Alberta 382,600,000,000 (2025); British Columbia 356,100,000,000 (2025); Saskatchewan 90,590,000,000 (2025); Manitoba 79,430,000,000 (2025); and 6 more in the data table.
Retail sales by province, indexed
Seasonally adjusted; start of period = 100.
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Latest values: Alberta 9,649,000,000 (2026-08); British Columbia 9,970,000,000 (2026-08); Saskatchewan 2,315,000,000 (2026-08); Manitoba 2,530,000,000 (2026-08); and 6 more in the data table.
Manufacturing sales by province, indexed
Seasonally adjusted shipments; start of period = 100.
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Latest values: Alberta 10,510,000,000 (2026-08); British Columbia 6,093,000,000 (2026-08); Saskatchewan 2,300,000,000 (2026-08); Manitoba 2,367,000,000 (2026-08); and 6 more in the data table.
Investment in new building construction by province, indexed
Current dollars, not seasonally adjusted, 12-month sum; start of the period = 100.
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Latest values: Alberta 21,980,000,000 (2026-08); British Columbia 26,550,000,000 (2026-08); Saskatchewan 3,138,000,000 (2026-08); Manitoba 4,591,000,000 (2026-08); and 6 more in the data table.
Housing starts by province (12-month average)
Seasonally adjusted annual rate, averaged over 12 months (smoothed); units per year. CMHC data distributed by Statistics Canada.
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Latest values: Alberta 49,530 (2026-09); British Columbia 43,320 (2026-09); Saskatchewan 6,443 (2026-09); Manitoba 8,790 (2026-09); and 6 more in the data table.
Latest shares only. A measured exposure, not an estimate of how much output or income depends on an industry.
Industry
Share of provincial employment
Period
World oil price (WTI)
76.1%
2025
Health care and social assistance
13.1%
2025
Construction
10.0%
2025
Professional, scientific and technical services
9.5%
2025
Transportation and warehousing
5.9%
2025
Manufacturing
5.8%
2025
Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing
5.6%
2025
Forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas
5.6%
2025
Agriculture
1.5%
2025
Real output by industry in Alberta, indexed
Real GDP at basic prices, chained 2017 dollars, annual (Statistics Canada table 36-10-0711-01); first year shown = 100. Goods and services against the total, with mining and oil and gas, manufacturing and the public sector. Chained-dollar levels are not additive, so only changes are compared.
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Latest values: All industries 364,800,000,000 (2025); Goods-producing industries 138,400,000,000 (2025); Services-producing industries 225,700,000,000 (2025); Mining, quarrying and oil and gas 69,670,000,000 (2025); and 2 more in the data table.
Labour productivity by province
Real value added per hour worked, all industries, chained 2017 dollars (Statistics Canada table 36-10-0713-01), annual. A level, not an index: it compares output per hour across provinces, and is high where capital-intensive industries such as oil and gas or mining weigh heavily in the economy.
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Latest values: Alberta 78.3 (2025); Newfoundland and Labrador 72 (2025); Prince Edward Island 47.6 (2025); Nova Scotia 52.3 (2025); and 6 more in the data table.
Labour productivity in Alberta: goods and services
Real value added per hour worked, chained 2017 dollars, annual (Statistics Canada table 36-10-0713-01). Goods-producing industries include mining and oil and gas, so their level reflects capital-intensive resource extraction as well as manufacturing and construction.
Change in real output by industry in each province, 2015 to 2025
Percent change in real GDP at basic prices (chained 2017 dollars, annual) over ten years. Each industry is compared with itself; chained-dollar levels are not additive, so shares of the total are not shown. A measure of the change in output, not of income or employment.
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Top values: Prince Edward Island 38.2%; British Columbia 32.5%; Nova Scotia 26.3%.
How much of each province’s employment is in one industry
Share of provincial employment, 2025 annual average (Labour Force Survey). A measured exposure to an industry, not an estimate of how much output or income depends on it. “Resources” combines forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying and oil and gas.
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Top values: Newfoundland and Labrador 6.37%; Alberta 5.58%; Saskatchewan 3.76%.
Where each province’s goods exports go, and what they are, 2025
Share of each province’s domestic merchandise exports (customs basis). A measured exposure of export value to one market or one commodity group, not an estimate of how much income or employment depends on it.
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Top values: New Brunswick 90.4%; Alberta 85.43%; Prince Edward Island 80.05%.
7 · Cities
Metropolitan areas in Alberta
City pages use metropolitan data; this province page must not be read as any of them.
From the relationship graph, each with its evidence class.
Calgary is a census metropolitan area located in Alberta (Statistics Canada Standard Geographical Classification). institutional relationshipdetails
Edmonton is a census metropolitan area located in Alberta (Statistics Canada Standard Geographical Classification). institutional relationshipdetails
Alberta is a province of Canada. institutional relationshipdetails
85.43% of Alberta's domestic merchandise exports went to the United States in 2025 (customs basis). documented exposuredetails
Correlation of 12-month change in the Bank of Canada energy price index and 12-month change in Alberta employment: lag 0 months: r = 0.41 (n = 309); lag 3 months: r = 0.394 (n = 307); lag 6 months: r = 0.325 (n = 304); lag 12 months: r = 0.231 (n = 298). All four pre-specified lags are shown. This is an observed association, not a causal estimate. observed correlationdetails
Correlation of 12-month change in the WTI price and 12-month change in Alberta employment: lag 0 months: r = 0.376 (n = 430); lag 3 months: r = 0.328 (n = 427); lag 6 months: r = 0.282 (n = 424); lag 12 months: r = 0.216 (n = 418). All four pre-specified lags are shown. This is an observed association, not a causal estimate. observed correlationdetails
The provincial or territorial government's accounts
Statistics Canada government finance statistics (public-accounts basis), fiscal years ended 31 March. Annual, and about two years behind: past position, not this year's budget.
Measure
Latest
Fiscal year beginning in April
Year before
Revenue
C$81.2 billion
2024
C$76.3 billion
Grants received from other governments (part of revenue)
C$11.6 billion
2024
C$12.9 billion
Expense
C$74.4 billion
2024
C$70.4 billion
Net operating balance (revenue minus expense)
C$6.9 billion
2024
C$5.9 billion
Liabilities (end of fiscal year)
C$120.6 billion
2024
C$114.0 billion
Net worth (end of fiscal year; negative = liabilities exceed assets)
C$350.5 billion
2024
C$347.4 billion
Computed: grants from other governments were 14.3% of revenue in the fiscal year that began in April 2024; the table does not say which government paid them, and most are federal transfers. Compare on the atlas →
Computed: the net operating balance was 8.5% of revenue in the fiscal year that began in April 2024. Compare on the atlas →
10 · Not assessed
What this profile does not cover
Listed so that silence is not mistaken for absence of an issue.
The current budget, credit ratings and fiscal plan (only past fiscal years are held)
Housing prices and rents
Employment by industry over time (only the latest provincial shares are held)
Exports by destination over time (only the latest year is held)
