The population of Edmonton is over 800,000 and the Edmonton Metropolitan Area population is close to one million as of 2003. Edmonton also has the one of the lowest population densities in North America - about 67 times less than New York.

At 684 km2, Edmonton has a large city boundary, larger in area than Chicago, Illinois. Note that the 684 km2 is measured from the border of the city limits and not the actual extent of the built up area of the city.

In the 2001 Canadian Census, 47.2% of Edmonton CMA residents identified themselves as having an ethnic origin within Europe. The next most mentioned region of ethnic origin was the British Isles (39.9%) and then North America (26.6%). French origins accounted for 12.2%, East and Southeast Asia origins (7.9%) and Aboriginal origins (6.0%). Over 47% of Edmonton CMA residents identified themselves as having more than one ethnic origin.

In mid-2001, 10.5 percent of the resident population in Edmonton was of retirement age 65 and over, compared with 13.2 percent in Canada; therefore, the average age is 35.4 years of age comparing to 37.6 years of age for all of Canada.