Welcome to Edmonton!
Edmonton is the capital city of Alberta, a province of Canada. Its metro area is home to 1.3 million people (2016) and is the northernmost city of at least one million people in North America, the fifth-largest city in Canada, and the largest Canadian city farther than 200 kilometers (120 mi) from the US border. Edmonton is famous for its beautiful river valley park system, the North Saskatchewan River Valley, which offers over 100 kilometers (62 mi) of recreational trails, wildlife viewing, and city views. The river valley also contains many parks, including Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest historical park. If the great outdoors is not what you seek, the city also offers West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping mall in North America. On top of that, Edmonton has a vibrant theater community, a busy cycle of annual festivals, national sports teams active year-round, and wonderful winter recreational opportunities.
Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River and is the center of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchors the north end of what Statistics Canada defines as the "Calgary–Edmonton Corridor".The metro area of Edmonton had a population of 1,491,000 at the beginning of 2021, making it Alberta's second-largest city (after Calgary) and Canada's fifth-largest municipality. Edmonton's 2019 municipal census recorded a population of 972,223. Also in 2016, Edmonton had a metropolitan population of 1,321,426, making it the sixth-largest census metropolitan area (CMA) in Canada. Edmonton is North America's northernmost metropolitan area with a population of over one million. A resident of Edmonton is known as an Edmontonian. Edmonton's historic growth has been facilitated through the absorption of five adjacent urban municipalities (Strathcona, North Edmonton, West Edmonton, Beverly, and Jasper Place) in addition to a series of annexations through 1982, and the annexation of 8,260 ha (82.6 km2, 31.9 sq mi) of land from Leduc County and the City of Beaumont on January 1, 2019. Known as the "Gateway to the North", the city is a staging point for large-scale oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large-scale diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories. Edmonton is a cultural, governmental, and educational center. It hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname "Canada's Festival City". It is home to North America's second-largest mall, West Edmonton Mall (the world's largest mall from 1981 until 2004), and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history museum.