Why do people move within Canada? Examining the reasons behind internal migration and mobility
Released: 2026-02-16
The article "Why do people move within Canada? A study on the reasons for internal migration and mobility using the Canadian Housing Survey," released today, provides insights on the reasons why people move within the country. The infographic "Why do people move in Canada?" published alongside this release illustrates some notable findings in a convenient format.
Upgrading to a larger or better-quality dwelling is the most frequently cited reason for moving among households that have moved within the previous five years
According to the 2022 Canadian Housing Survey, one-third (33.3%) of all households moved to a different home in the previous five years. The most frequently cited reason by these households was to upgrade to a larger dwelling or better-quality dwelling, with one-quarter (25.3%) of them identifying this as one of their reasons for moving.
Other common reasons included to become a homeowner (19.2%), to be in a more desirable neighbourhood (13.5%) and because of a change in household or family size (13.5%).
When broken down by five regions in Canada (Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia), the top two reasons for moving were the same across all regions, in the same order.
Employment is the most frequently cited reason for moving among households that have moved across provinces
The vast majority (94.4%) of moves occurred within the same province, with many occurring within the same municipality. At the same time, 5.6% of households that moved went to another province. These interprovincial households that moved often cited different reasons for moving than those that moved within the same province.
Among households that moved interprovincially, 42.5% cited a new job or job transfer as one of their reasons for moving. Wanting to be closer to family (27.6%) was also often cited. Notably, 4.5% of interprovincial movers identified upgrading to a larger dwelling or better-quality dwelling as a reason, compared with 26.6% of households that moved within a province.
Top reasons for moving vary between generations, particularly when distinguishing between interprovincial and intraprovincial movers
Among intraprovincial movers, the most frequently cited reason for moving was to upgrade to a larger dwelling or better-quality dwelling for Generation Z (19.3%), millennials (32.2%) and Generation X (30.0%). Generation Z households also cited forming their own household (18.5%) as another common reason, while millennials cited becoming a homeowner (30.4%). In turn, reducing housing costs was the most frequently reported reason among baby boomers (21.5%). Interwar and greatest generation households also cited reducing housing costs (33.7%), although personal health reasons (33.9%) was cited as well.
Among households that moved to another province, 61.1% of Generation Z households reported moving for school, while millennial (59.1%) and Generation X (51.6%) households most often cited employment. Meanwhile, being closer to family was the most frequently cited reason for older generations such as baby boomers (48.1%) and the interwar and greatest generations (76.7%).
These results suggest that life stages can influence the motivation to move, as generations such as baby boomers (mostly in their 60s and 70s) and millennials (many in their late 20s and 30s) are at different points in their lives.
Note to readers
The Canadian Housing Survey (CHS) provides information on how Canadians feel about their housing and how housing affects them. Information in the survey includes core housing need, dwelling characteristics and housing tenure, perceptions of economic hardship from housing costs, support and childcare payments, dwelling and neighbourhood satisfaction, perceptions of neighbourhood issues and safety, housing moves, including forced moves, community engagement, life and community satisfaction, self-assessed health, experiences with homelessness, sociodemographic characteristics and access to transportation.
The collection for the 2022 CHS took place from October 31, 2022, to March 31, 2023, in the 10 provinces. The data released reflect households in the provinces only.
The question on reasons for moving is presented to survey respondents in a "select-all-that-apply" format, where they can choose multiple reasons from a predetermined list, along with an option to select "Other" and specify another reason. The question is specifically regarding the most recent housing move.
Definitions
The reference person refers to the survey respondent, who is the household member with the most knowledge of the household's housing situation.
The generation of the reference person and in turn of the household is based on the year of birth of the reference person. The definition of the generations in this article is based on the article "A generational portrait of Canada's aging population from the 2021 Census" and is as follows:
- greatest generation: people aged 95 years and older (born before 1928)
- interwar generation: people aged 77 to 94 years (born from 1928 to 1945)
- baby boomer generation: people aged 57 to 76 years (born from 1946 to 1965)
- Generation X: people aged 42 to 56 years (born from 1966 to 1980)
- Generation Y (millennials): people aged 26 to 41 years (born from 1981 to 1996)
- Generation Z: people aged 10 to 25 years (born from 1997 to 2012)
- Generation Alpha: people aged 9 years and younger (born starting in 2013).
The interwar and greatest generations were combined in the study because of their small sample sizes, and Generation Alpha was excluded because of its young age. The ages shown above are as of 2022, the reference year of the 2022 CHS.
A moving household or mover is a household that reported previously living in a different residence in the five years leading up to the survey. Note that the household composition may have changed when moving to the current residence.
Interprovincial movers are moving households that lived in a residence in a province that is different from the province of their current residence.
Intraprovincial movers are moving households that previously lived in another place of residence that is in the same province as the current place of residence. This varies from the definition of intraprovincial migration used in the census and the Demographic Estimates Program, where moves within a given subprovincial area (depending on the level of geography) are excluded.
Products
The article "Why do people move within Canada? A study on the reasons for internal migration and mobility using the Canadian Housing Survey" part of Demographic Documents (91F0015M), is now available.
The infographic "Why do people move in Canada?" (11-627-M) is also available.
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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