44.4% population growth in five years
East Gwillimbury
A town of historic hamlets near Lake Simcoe became, almost overnight, the fastest-growing municipality of its size in the entire country — with its population expected to triple by 2051.
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East Gwillimbury, incorporated as a town in 1971, sits at the northern edge of York Region — its northern border less than a kilometre from Lake Simcoe. Its historic communities, including Sharon, Holland Landing, Queensville and Mount Albert, predate the modern township by well over a century, having grown up around mills and river crossings.
The fastest-growing municipality in Canada
As of the 2021 census, East Gwillimbury was Canada's fastest-growing municipality of over 5,000 people, with a population increase of 44.4% between 2016 and 2021, reaching 34,637 residents. A 2025 Housing Needs Assessment estimated the town's population at about 41,000, projecting growth to 128,600 by 2051 — a scale of change that would remake the town's historic hamlets entirely.
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Sources
- The Canadian Encyclopedia — East Gwillimbury
- Town of East Gwillimbury — East Gwillimbury Tops Canada's Growing Municipalities List
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