Extra Canadians packed up and left the nation in 2025 than at any level in over a decade. And one province is driving the majority of the departures.
In response to liv.rent’s 2026 Canada Rental Market Trend Report, which pulls on information from Statistics Canada, 95,733 Canadians emigrated within the first three quarters of 2025. That is up 17% from 2024 and the best degree since 2011. The rise was widespread too: 11 of 13 provinces and territories posted double-digit year-over-year will increase in residents leaving the nation.
Ontario led the exodus by a large margin, accounting for 47% of all departures nationwide, with 44,758 individuals leaving the province. That marks a brand new file for Ontario emigration and continues a pattern that has been constructing for years. For context, Ontario makes up roughly 39% of Canada’s whole inhabitants, that means residents are leaving at a disproportionately excessive fee relative to its dimension.
Collectively, B.C. and Ontario accounted for practically 70% of all emigrants nationwide.
The place does Quebec slot in?
Quebec accounted for 13% of Canada’s whole emigration in 2025, with 12,691 individuals leaving the province. That is a 21% year-over-year improve and the best emigration degree Quebec has seen since 2017. The bounce is notable provided that Quebec’s immigration numbers held remarkably regular throughout the identical interval, declining simply 0.4% year-over-year whereas most different provinces noticed double-digit drops.
The province even overtook British Columbia and Alberta to change into the second-largest immigration vacation spot within the nation, behind Ontario.
In different phrases, Quebec is attracting individuals in and shedding them on the identical time, with the outward acceleration selecting up pace by means of the second half of the yr.
B.C. additionally posted a putting quantity, with emigration leaping 32% year-over-year to 19,628 individuals — the biggest year-over-year improve from the province in additional than a decade, accounting for 21% of all Canadian departures.
Why are individuals leaving?
The report would not pin emigration to a single trigger, however the broader context is not exhausting to learn.
Cost of living pressures, tighter federal insurance policies affecting momentary residents and worldwide college students, and a normal cooling of the financial circumstances that drew individuals to Canada within the post-pandemic years all look like elements.
The federal authorities’s updated Immigration Levels Plan additionally signalled a extra restrained strategy to inhabitants progress, which can be contributing to a shift in how individuals weigh their choices.
For Montreal renters particularly, the departure numbers have not but translated into falling rents. The town bucked the nationwide softening pattern in 2025, with common rents for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit edging up 2% year-over-year to $1,693. With emigration accelerating by means of the second half of the yr, although, liv.lease flags early indicators of a possible reversal on the horizon.
The complete report is obtainable at liv.rent.