Best Communities Home > Best Communities List
Below you'll find the complete, alphabetically ordered list of respondents to our 2009 Best Communities for Business survey. Highlighted in bold type are the best overall community and nine runners-up that offered the optimal balance between low costs and high traffic, existing strengths and upside potential. Click on a name for a community's in-depth profile.
| Click on column heads to sort by that data | |||||||
| Community name | Population | Pop. growth, 2001–06 (%) | Household income ($) | Cost of serviced industrial land ($/acre) | Largest Employer |
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| Airdrie | 34,116 | 41.8 | 83,271 | 425,000 | Propak Systems Ltd | ||
| Alberta's International Region | 54,430 | 37.0 | 71,000 | 185,000 | Edmonton International Airport | ||
| Calgary | 1,042,892 | 13.4 | 98,253 | 560,000 | Westfair Foods Ltd. | ||
| Camrose | 16,543 | 9.6 | 52,000 | 70,000 | Shaw Pipe Protection and Evraz Inc. | ||
| Cochrane | 14,653 | 3.3 | 80,003 | n/a | Spray Lake Sawmills | ||
| Didsbury | 4,599 | 8.7 | 52,844 | 100,000 | Alberta Health Services | ||
| Drayton Valley | 6,893 | 13.2 | 76,309 | 200,000 | Weyerhaeuser/PennWest | ||
| Drumheller | 7,932 | 1.9 | 70,062 | 75,000 | Corrections Canada | ||
| Edmonton | 730,372 | 9.6 | 69,214 | 625,000 | Government of Alberta Edmonton | ||
| Fort Saskatchewan | 16,793 | 14.0 | 77,000 | 315,000 | Sherritt International | ||
| Grande Cache | 3,783 | -1.2 | 77,031 | 314,500 | Grande Cache Coal | ||
| Grande Prairie | 50,227 | 27.3 | 96,300 | n/a | Canfor | ||
| High River | 12,500 | 14.2 | 68,299 | n/a | Cargill Foods | ||
| Hinton | 9,769 | 3.0 | 77,539 | n/a | Teck Coal | ||
| Joint Economic Development Initiative Region | 24,276 | 1.6 | 56,640 | 280,000 | Alberta Health Services | ||
| Lacombe | 11,562 | 6.0 | 64,746 | 110,000 | Agriculture Finance Services Corp. | ||
| Lethbridge | 83,960 | 10.8 | 64,257 | 170,000 | Alberta Health Services | ||
| Lloydminster | 28,873 | 12.8 | 91,300 | 220,000 | Husky Oil | ||
| Medicine Hat | 60,426 | 11.2 | 78,800 | 200,000 | School Districts | ||
| Mountain View County | 12,570 | 2.2 | 59,000 | 168,000 | Olds College | ||
| Okotoks | 22,000 | 46.7 | 77,438 | 500,000 | Wal-Mart Supercentre | ||
| Peace River | 6,315 | 1.2 | 78,993 | 232,573 | DMI Mill | ||
| Red Deer | 87,816 | 21.5 | 92,836 | n/a | Olymel | ||
| Rocky View Municipal District | 34,597 | 11.3 | 137,000 | 400,000 | ATCO Gas | ||
| Slave Lake | 7,300 | 1.6 | 55,000 | 110,000 | Alberta Plywood | ||
| Spruce Grove | 22,500 | 22.0 | 76,758 | 350,000 | Parkland School Division | ||
| St. Albert | 58,501 | 10.3 | 104,600 | 550,000 | Sturgeon Community Hospital | ||
| Strathcona County | 85,521 | 14.6 | 118,583 | 300,000 | Elk Island Public Schools | ||
| Strathmore | 11,335 | 28.0 | 60,830 | 250,000 | Golden Hills School Division | ||
| Sturgeon County | 19,165 | 3.1 | 32,100 | 160,000 | Edmonton Garrison Military Base | ||
| Wetaskiwin | 11,673 | 4.7 | 44,552 | 165,000 | David Thompson Health Authority | ||
| Whitecourt | 9,202 | 7.6 | 99,907 | 175,000 | Northern Gateway Regional School Division | ||
| Wood Buffalo (Regional Municipality) | 89,167 | 41.0 | 130,165 | 2,000,000 | Syncrude | ||
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