Hamilton by the Numbers

Value of Building Permits

City of Hamilton – (CDN Dollars)

In 2022, the City of Hamilton issued building permits valued at $1,856,371,964. These permits values are the second highest annual building permit value in the City of Hamilton’s history. Permits values for 2022 are approximately 87.2% of 2021’s permit values – the highest annual permit values in the City’s history – and 134.2% of 2020’s building permit values.

Employment by Sector

Hamilton CMA – 2019 & 2020

Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey reports on the number of people who are employed in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). Annual data from 2021 reports that there were there were 408,200 employed residents in the Hamilton CMA. This figure is up 6.1% from 2020, and is less than one 1% removed from 2019’s pre-pandemic benchmark of 411,200 employed individuals.

Business Counts

City of Hamilton (CSD)

As of June 2021, Hamilton was home to approximately 15,714 businesses (including registered charities and not-for-profit organizations). Approximately 57.9% of Hamilton’s employers employ fewer than four people, and 76.2% of employers employ nine or fewer people. There are approximately 36,463 businesses operating without employees (i.e. establishments providing self-employment) in Hamilton.

Monthly Unemployment Rate (%) in the Hamilton CMA and Ontario

Hamilton reported a consistent unemployment rate in September 2022, holding at 5.2%. Ontario’s unemployment also rate declined considerably from 6.3% in August to 5.4% in September. When Hamilton’s data are paired with slightly increasing employment rates and participation rates, September’s employment trends should be seen as generally status quo as the summer came to an end.

Monthly Employment Rate (%) in the Hamilton CMA and Ontario

Hamilton’s employment rate increased slightly from 62.0% in August 2022 to 62.1% in September. In comparison, Ontario’s employment rate fell from 61.8% to 60.8% during the same time period.

Monthly Participation Rate (%) in the Hamilton CMA and Ontario

Hamilton’s participation rate enjoyed a slight increase to 65.5% in September 2022 compared to 65.4% in the previous month. Hamilton’s participation rate has been on a 6-month growth trend since March of 2022. Month-over-month, Ontario’s participation rate decreased from 66.0% to 64.2%.

Annual Real Estate Sales

(# of units)

Annual Housing Starts

Data for the Hamilton Census Metropolitan area (CMA) reflect an increase in housing starts in 2021, despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2020 and 2021 there was a 22.0% increase in housing starts within the Hamilton CMA. Compared to 2017, 2021’s housing starts increased by 44.7%.

Average Daily Rate – ADR