Despite fears High River's population may have gone down following the 2013 flood, newly released Census data, shows the Town has actually grown since the last Census in 2011.

Numbers released Wednesday, February 8, show 13,584 people call High River home, up from 12,930 in 2011 or an increase of 5.1 per cent.

In a release from the Town, Mayor Craig Snodgrass was happy with the increased numbers.

“The Town of High River has invested significantly in rebuilding and ensuring the town is a vibrant, thriving community,” said Mayor Craig Snodgrass. “We encourage people to experience this growth first-hand, and we hope they will choose to make High River their home.”

The Town has invested a great deal in new infrastructure throughout the town, including completely redesigning the downtown core to be a walkable, people-focused area that is great for businesses, as well as for hosting special events like outdoor markets, parades and festivals.

Additionally, more than $100 million has been invested in flood mitigation to protect new and existing residents and businesses, making High River one of the most well-protected communities in Canada from flooding.

“This growth shows confidence in the changes the Town has made, and we are excited to push forward and show people that now is a great time to move to or invest in High River,” said Jodi Dawson, manager of economic development for the Town. “We have been working hard for three years to make High River a vibrant community with plenty of opportunity for all residents.”

There has also been a significant increase in the number of new business license permits purchased annually over the past three years, Dawson reported, an indication that the High River business community is flourishing.

New businesses are opening on almost a weekly basis, and just under 260,000 square feet of commercial and industrial development space has opened in High River in the past two years.

Okotoks took a big jump with 28,881 people populating Alberta's largest town, up 17.4 per cent from 2011's numbers of 24,511.

They were the third fastest growing "small urban" area in Canada.

Numbers from other areas around the Foothills saw Nanton's population dip by 2 people to 2,130.

Turner Valley jumped to 2,559 up from 2,167 in 2011.

Black Diamond was up to 2,700 from 2,373.

Claresholm had a slight increase adding 22 residents for a total of 3,780 while Vulcan added 81 residents for a total of 1,917.

The MD of Foothills also saw ain increase of 7.1 per cent from 21,248 in 2011 to 22,766 in 2016.

Calgary's population grew to 1,237,656 people from 1,094,379 or 13.1 per cent.

Edmonton's population increased as well as they cracked the million mark going from 935,361 in 2011 to 1,062,643 in 2016.

Overall Alberta is at 4,067,175 people up from 3,645,257 and Canada is at 35,151,728 up from 33,476,688 in 2011.

Some interesting statistics show Alberta, despite the economic downtown, is still the province with the highest growth over the last five years.

Same story for Calgary which is number one in growth among Canada's urban centres, with Edmonton a close second.

Nearly one third of all Canadians live in Western Canada, with most of those in Alberta (11.6%) and British Columbia (13.2% or 4,648,055 people).

While the populations of Saskatchewan (1,098,352) and Manitoba (1,278,365) are comparable to the populations of Edmonton and Calgary respectively.

Canada's three biggest urban centres, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver are home to 12.5 million people, or 35.5 per cent of Canada's population.

While those three cities (in reverse order) have the highest population densities in the country.

Overall, two out of three Canadians live within 100km of the U.S. Border.

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