Annual Head Office Survey, 2021
Released: 2023-03-01
There were 2,683 head office locations across Canada in 2021, a decrease of 0.5% from 2020. Head office employment also declined slightly (-0.5%) from 212,050 to 210,971 employees.
Among the provinces, head office employment remained concentrated in Ontario (43.1%), Quebec (23.7%) and Alberta (15.4%).
The majority of head offices were located in major census metropolitan areas (CMAs). Toronto (696) had the most head offices, followed by Montréal (378), Vancouver (239) and Calgary (200).
Toronto (68,738) also had the most head office employees of any CMA. Montréal was next (38,523), followed by Calgary (25,427) and Vancouver (15,027).
Looking at 2022
Easing economic growth, growing financial and cost pressures, supply chain disruptions, volatile commodity prices, geopolitical uncertainty, and tight labour markets challenged Canadian businesses and their operations in 2022. Against this backdrop, detailed statistics for head offices in 2022 will be available following survey data collection in 2023.
Note to readers
Data for 2019 and 2020 have been revised.
Head offices include establishments and locations primarily engaged in providing general management or administrative support services to affiliated establishments. Their activities include corporate functions, such as strategic organizational planning, communications, tax planning, legal services, marketing, finance, human resource management, and information technology services. The observed population can include establishments active for only a part of the reference year.
These data and other data related to business and consumer services can be found at the Business and consumer services and culture statistics portal.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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