Yellowknife

Northwest Territories

Statistics Canada geography code 6106023 · census subdivision

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MARKET SCORE

79 / 100

Strong fundamentalsConfidence: Medium

Model CS-MI-1.0 · calculated 2026-09-30

Market snapshot

Population

21,720

Period: 2022

Source: Statistics Canada

Confidence: high

Unemployment rate

Data unavailable

The Labour Force Survey publishes annual unemployment rates for 37 census metropolitan areas. This market is not among them, so no local rate is available from this source.

Confidence: low

Average rent

Data unavailable

CMHC does not publish rental market figures for this geography. Neither the major-centre tables nor the rural census-subdivision tables cover the territories, so there is no figure to wait for rather than one not yet imported.

Confidence: low

Rental vacancy rate

Data unavailable

Confidence: low

Population trend

+7.2% 2013–2022 · Calculated

Source: Table 17-10-0142-01 — Population estimates, July 1, by census subdivision (vector 1138984231) · published 2023-01-11

What drives this market?

These weightings are an interpretation of the local economy, not a measurement. They are shown to explain what appears to support rental demand here — treat them differently from the sourced statistics above.

Government32% of local drivers
Territorial capital. The Government of the Northwest Territories and federal departments dominate employment in a city of roughly 20,000.
Mining / Resources22% of local drivers
The Northwest Territories diamond mines — Ekati, Diavik and Gahcho Kué — are supplied, staffed and administered from Yellowknife. Their announced closure horizons make this the market’s central risk rather than its strength.
Transportation14% of local drivers
Yellowknife Airport is the aviation hub for the territory, and the winter road network that resupplies the mines runs from here.
Health Care12% of local drivers
Stanton Territorial Hospital is the only referral hospital in the Northwest Territories.
Tourism10% of local drivers
Aurora tourism, concentrated in winter and heavily dependent on international air access.
Construction8% of local drivers
Public capital projects, constrained by a short season and by road and barge resupply windows.
Local Services2% of local drivers
Wholesale and retail distribution serving smaller Northwest Territories communities.

Employer concentration

Government accounts for roughly 32% of the identified economic activity here. A market can have strong rental demand and still carry real risk if too much of it traces back to one institution.

Worth investigating: what happens to local demand if that employer reduces its workforce? This is a scenario to think through, not a prediction.

Rental market

Rental data unavailable for this market

Missing rental data does not mean rents are low or vacancy is zero — it means we do not yet have a figure we can stand behind.

All data for this market

Metric	Period	Value	Type	Confidence	Source
average rent	—	Data unavailable	observed	low	—
population	2022	21,720	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2021	21,684	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2020	21,407	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2019	21,201	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2018	21,100	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2017	21,043	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2016	20,849	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2015	20,561	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2014	20,325	observed	high	Statistics Canada
population	2013	20,270	observed	high	Statistics Canada
unemployment rate	—	Data unavailable	observed	low	—
vacancy rate	—	Data unavailable	observed	low	—

Rows showing Data unavailable are recorded deliberately, with the reason, rather than omitted — so you can tell the difference between a figure that is zero and one we simply do not have.