Methodology
CityVitals builds a live profile page for every Canadian city from official data only: Environment and Climate Change Canada and Statistics Canada. Nothing is scraped. Every displayed figure carries its source attribution and a freshness stamp, and when a source does not publish a series for a city, the page says so instead of substituting something else.
Each source below is fetched on its own schedule and monitored continuously: a fetch that has not succeeded within the source's staleness threshold marks the site degraded and alerts the operator. Stale data is never rendered as fresh.
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Weather, alerts and air quality come from the MSC GeoMet API under the ECCC Data Servers End-use Licence v2.1. Attribution on every widget: “Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada”. Weather alerts are reproduced verbatim and in full, per the licence's no-alteration clause.
Statistics Canada
Economic and safety series come from Statistics Canada data tables under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. CityVitals pages are value-added products, so each figure carries the per-product wording: “Adapted from Statistics Canada, product name, reference date. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.”
City pages join StatCan geographies on the 2021 Census census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. Cities outside those geographies (tourist towns, Iqaluit) show honest absences for StatCan series. Ottawa and Gatineau share the Ottawa–Gatineau CMA series, and the attribution names the official unit.
Every live source
City page weather (current conditions and forecasts)
- Provider
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (MSC GeoMet)
- Attribution
- Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Refresh cadence
- Every 30 minutes
- Staleness threshold
- 45 minutes
- Powers
- Current conditions card; Forecast strip
- Observations render as stale after 90 minutes; comfort indices (humidex, wind chill) render only in their defined temperature domain.
- Each city is pinned to one MSC page at seed time; Greater Sudbury and Niagara-on-the-Lake use the nearest published MSC page (station names render honestly).
Weather alerts
- Provider
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (MSC GeoMet)
- Attribution
- Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Refresh cadence
- Every 15 minutes
- Staleness threshold
- 45 minutes
- Powers
- Alerts strip on affected city pages
- Alert text renders verbatim and in full, per the ECCC no-alteration clause; a collapsed state shows only the alert's own title until expanded.
Air Quality Health Index observations
- Provider
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (MSC GeoMet)
- Attribution
- Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Refresh cadence
- Every 60 minutes
- Staleness threshold
- 150 minutes
- Powers
- AQHI card (current value)
- Cities without a nearby AQHI monitoring location show an honest absence.
Air Quality Health Index forecasts
- Provider
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (MSC GeoMet)
- Attribution
- Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Refresh cadence
- Every 60 minutes
- Staleness threshold
- 150 minutes
- Powers
- AQHI card (forecast periods)
Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted (table 14-10-0459)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Unemployment rate tile
- Published for census metropolitan areas only: census agglomerations and tourist towns show an honest absence.
- Three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted.
Selected income characteristics of census families by family type (table 11-10-0009)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Selected income characteristics of census families by family type, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Median family income tile
Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0148)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Population tile
Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted (table 18-10-0004)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Inflation tile (CPI all-items, year over year)
- Statistics Canada publishes the CPI for about 20 cities; other city pages show an honest absence for inflation.
Consumer Price Index, monthly, seasonally adjusted (table 18-10-0006)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, monthly, seasonally adjusted, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- Seasonally adjusted sibling of 18-10-0004; stored beside it.
Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas (table 35-10-0026)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Crime Severity Index widget
- Annual data.
- Ottawa-Gatineau is published as provincial parts and a combined row; only the combined CMA row is used.
Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Canadian Forces Military Police (table 35-10-0177)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Canadian Forces Military Police, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Police-reported crime rate
- Published on police-reported boundaries, which differ from census boundaries: the Oshawa CMA is absent from this table and its page says so.
- Fetched selectively over the StatCan Web Data Service; the bulk file (about 100 MB) is never downloaded.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, average rents for areas with a population of 10,000 and over (table 34-10-0133)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, average rents for areas with a population of 10,000 and over, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Average rent tile (two-bedroom apartment)
- Annual CMHC survey data.
- The cube has no Canada geography, so the rents tile never shows a national comparison.
Building permits, by type of structure and type of work (table 34-10-0292)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Building permits, by type of structure and type of work, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Building permits tile (monthly value)
- Covers census metropolitan areas only (no census agglomerations); CA pages show an honest absence.
- Ottawa-Gatineau is published as provincial parts only: the Ottawa and Gatineau pages each show their own part, labelled as such.
- Fetched selectively over the StatCan Web Data Service; the bulk file (about 361 MB) is never downloaded.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, under construction and completions (table 34-10-0143)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, under construction and completions, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
Components of population growth by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0149)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Components of population growth by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- Births and deaths components, stored for future use.
Weekly wage distributions by type of work, annual (table 14-10-0110)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Weekly wage distributions by type of work, annual, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- Canada-level only (single geography row): no per-city wages display is possible from this cube, and the per-city wages tile was permanently dropped (planning ruling, 2026-07-12).
Employment insurance beneficiaries by census metropolitan category, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality (table 14-10-0453)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Employment insurance beneficiaries by census metropolitan category, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- Ottawa-Gatineau is published as provincial parts only, no combined row.
Employment insurance beneficiaries (regular benefits) by census metropolitan category, monthly, seasonally adjusted (table 14-10-0454)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Employment insurance beneficiaries (regular benefits) by census metropolitan category, monthly, seasonally adjusted, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- Seasonally adjusted sibling of 14-10-0453.
Employment characteristics by census metropolitan area, annual (table 14-10-0468)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Employment characteristics by census metropolitan area, annual, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- The cube has no Canada row, so no national comparison is possible.
After-tax low income status of tax filers and dependants based on Census Family Low Income Measure (CFLIM-AT), by family type and family type composition (table 11-10-0018)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, After-tax low income status of tax filers and dependants based on Census Family Low Income Measure (CFLIM-AT), by family type and family type composition, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories (table 98-10-0001)
- Provider
- Statistics Canada
- Attribution
- Adapted from Statistics Canada, Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, reference date of the displayed period. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
- Refresh cadence
- Daily
- Staleness threshold
- 1560 minutes
- Powers
- Stored series only; no city-page view yet (a later scope decision).
- 2021 Census counts for provinces and territories only; this cube has no CMA/CA geography.