Halifax Partnership Releases Halifax Index 2023

HALIFAX PARTNERSHIP RELEASES HALIFAX INDEX 2023

Halifax experiencing big city growth and big city challenges.

Halifax, NS – June 23, 2023 – Halifax Partnership has released the Halifax Index 2023 presented by TD Bank Group, the city’s comprehensive annual report on economic and community progress.

This year’s Halifax Index reports on Halifax’s vital signs across seven major themes: people, labour, investment, real estate, communities, affordability, and living in Halifax. It also tracks and reports on the progress of People. Planet. Prosperity. Halifax’s Inclusive Economic Strategy for 2022-2027.

Halifax has garnered attention for its rapid growth and attractiveness as a place to work, live and do business. There is a growing recognition that Halifax must – and can – compete with not only similarly-sized communities, but also with Canada’s major cities. As a result, this year’s Index measures Halifax against a new set of nine Canadian benchmark cities: St. John's, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver.

“Population growth smashed previous records with the addition of almost 21,000 people to Halifax in 2022,” says Ian Munro, Chief Economist, Halifax Partnership. “That was close to double the previous annual record and just shy of the total number of people that arrived in Halifax over the entire 2008 through 2015 period.”

Halifax had the second fastest population growth rate across all Canadian cities last year at 4.5% while GDP grew by 3.3%. The city added 11,600 jobs in 2022, just below 2021’s record of 12,300, while the labour force grew by 5,100.

With big city growth comes big city challenges. Rising inflation, interest rates, and housing costs, and a drop in purchasing power, have impacted business and consumer confidence.

“GDP growth in 2022 was elevated as Halifax continued to ride the wave of recovery from the pandemic and its associated shutdowns in 2021,” says Munro. “In the face of significantly higher inflation and interest rates, GDP growth for 2023 is forecasted at only 1.2%. Increases in the cost of living and doing business, as well as a slowdown in growth, are reflected in declines in both business and consumer confidence.”

Despite economic challenges, 83.5% of Halifax residents surveyed about their overall quality of life reported being satisfied or very satisfied with Halifax as a place to live. This is an improvement over last year’s metric of 77.3% satisfaction.

Explore the complete Halifax Index 2023 at www.halifaxindex.com.

Media Contact

Alison Gillan, APR

Vice President, Marketing, PR & Communications

Halifax Partnership

902.719.6797

[email protected]