British Columbia
OpenStats City Score, ranking history, and local readings for Squamish.
City Score #77 (2022) → #37 (2025)
Squamish sits at City Score rank #37 with a standing of 57%, from 8 of 8 open-data pillars (tax, construction, connectivity, indoor air, water, seismic hazard, growth, safety). Missing pillars score at median standing so thin coverage cannot inflate the rank. Rising 40 places versus 2022 (#77 → #37).
Latest owned placements: building permit value rank #76 of 172 (2025); indoor radon rank #117 of 117 at 35 Bq/m³ survey mean; residential mill rate rank #45 of 172 (13.17 mill rate). Full tables and method notes live on each study edition; atlas readings for the same slug open from the topic buttons.
Open each topic for Squamish.
Documented pro, junior, university, and high-school teams tied to Squamish.
Published residential mill-rate context for Squamish.
Climbing and trail park on the Corridor Trail network. A quick hit when you want rock without leaving town.
Wetland trails at the tip of Howe Sound with serious bird life and Chief views. Conservation stories show up regularly on the local news
Hardwired for Adventure is the District's official tagline across the municipal site.
Where Squamish sits in published building-permit figures for July 2026.
Squamish sits at the north end of Howe Sound on the Sea to Sky Highway, halfway in spirit between Vancouver traffic and Whistler lifts. The District brands itself Hardwired for Adventure, and the map backs the slogan: Stawamus Chief Provincial Park at the south end, Smoke Bluffs climbing, estuary trails for birding, and a Corridor Trail meant to run paved from the Chief Apron to Depot Road in Brackendale. Mamquam and Brackendale joined the District in 1964, so those neighbourhood names still mark how the town grew along the corridor rather than as a single historic grid.
Outdoor seasons stack hard. Squamish Days Loggers Sports anchors the summer calendar, bald eagle counts draw winter attention, and Squamish Chief coverage swings from estuary purple martins to Squamish River dike upgrades that matter in Brackendale. The Turtle Trail loops major landmarks on an 11.5 km circle inspired by Truth and Reconciliation gatherings, while Brennan Park Recreation Centre keeps indoor sport in the same conversation as the Chief. District pages open by naming Squamish Nation traditional territory, and Squamish Alert sits on the homepage for emergency notices.
On OpenStats City Score for 2026, Squamish sits at rank 1 of 125. Locals still introduce the place as Sea to Sky first: Chief granite, Howe Sound wind, estuary birds, and a corridor town that refuses to be only a drive-through between city and ski hill. Housing and flood files share space with climbing and bike culture on the local desk, so adventure branding never fully escapes corridor realities.
Drawn from District of Squamish - About Squamish, District of Squamish - Parks and Trails, District of Squamish - History, Squamish Chief.
City Score from 2016–2025 across eight open-data pillars. Individual study placements are listed in the panels below.
Each study below is its own ranking. Where a study has more than one edition for this city, the chart shows standing across those years only.
Connectivity · OpenStats
OpenStats
Cities ranked by estimated best advertised download (Mbps). Anchored to the current ISED National Broadband Data vintage, then backcast along a national speed curve with city-specific fiber-arrival and 50/10 availability paths so relative ranks can change over the decade. Not a claim of audited historical hex maps for every year.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Construction · OpenStats
OpenStats
Cities ranked by calendar-year building permit value. Direct rows sum Statistics Canada Table 34-10-0292-01. Cities without a direct reading use population × provincial per-capita permit intensity (estimated), so every seed city has a year-varying construction signal.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Composite · OpenStats
OpenStats
Dimensional average of OpenStats open-data pillars for each panel year 2016–2025: tax, construction, connectivity, indoor air, water, seismic hazard, population growth, and crime severity. Each series is scored 0–1 within its edition; series in the same pillar are averaged, then all eight pillars are averaged with equal weight. Missing pillars score at median standing (0.5). Growth and CSI use StatCan annual tables; permits, mill rates, and broadband use live rows plus documented year-varying estimates where needed. Radon, water, and PGA may be survey/model vintages carried forward and are flagged when static for more than two years. External commercial livability lists are never inputs.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Safety · OpenStats
OpenStats
Communities ranked by Statistics Canada Crime Severity Index (Table 35-10-0026-01). Rank 1 is highest CSI (worse). Values are CMA where a metro match exists, otherwise provincial CSI. Hometown pages label the grain.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Water · OpenStats
OpenStats
Communities ranked by municipal drinking-water hardness (mg/L as CaCO₃). Hardness changes slowly; the atlas vintage is carried across panel years and flagged when static for more than two years.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Water · OpenStats
OpenStats
Communities ranked by reported lead (µg/L) on the OpenStats water atlas. Carried across panel years until annual municipal report panels are ingested.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Health · OpenStats
OpenStats
Communities ranked by Health Canada survey mean indoor radon (Bq/m³). Rank 1 is the highest mean. Decade panel years without a new survey carry the CMA survey vintage forward; they are not annual retests.
10 editions · 2016–2025
sports · OpenStats
OpenStats
Cities ranked by weighted count of documented local teams (pro, junior, university, high-school hubs). Rank 1 = deepest documented sports footprint among covered seed cities. Not a claim about on-field success. See sports methodology for weights and gaps.
Single edition · 2025
Only one published edition places Squamish in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Growth · OpenStats
OpenStats
Cities ranked by year-over-year population growth from Statistics Canada annual CSD estimates (Table 17-10-0155-01). Rank 1 is fastest growth. A few places without a clean CSD match use a provincial-path estimate anchored to seed population.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Property tax · OpenStats
OpenStats
Municipalities ranked by residential mill rate. Rank 1 is the highest rate. Published municipal years are used when available; gaps are interpolated or follow the provincial median path so the tax pillar moves year to year for every city.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Hazards · OpenStats
OpenStats
Communities ranked by NRCan peak ground acceleration (higher = stronger shaking hazard). Rank 1 is highest PGA. The seismic model is multi-year; values are carried across the City Score panel and flagged as static until NRCan publishes a new generation.
10 editions · 2016–2025
Livability
The Globe and Mail
2023 data partnership with Environics Analytics ranking 439 Canadian communities on ten livability categories.
Single edition · 2023
Only one published edition places Squamish in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Livability
Maclean's
Successor-style municipal livability ranking published by Maclean's for 2019 and 2021 (no 2020 edition).
Single edition · 2021
Only one published edition places Squamish in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Livability
MoneySense
Annual composite ranking of Canadian municipalities on economy, housing, crime, health, and weather.
4 editions · 2014–2018
Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.
Brackendale and Mamquam amalgamated with Squamish into one District Municipality on December 15, 1964.
The Corridor Trail is planned as a paved route from the Stawamus Chief Apron to Depot Road in Brackendale.
Estuary trails at the tip of Howe Sound are promoted for birdwatching and views of the Chief and Shannon Falls.
District about copy highlights an annual bald eagle count and Squamish Days Loggers Sports among signature events.
South-end granite landmark for climbers and hikers, and the starting geography for the Corridor Trail. It is the skyline locals mean when they say the Chief.
Wetland trails at the tip of Howe Sound with serious bird life and Chief views. Conservation stories show up regularly on the local news beat.
Climbing and trail park on the Corridor Trail network. A quick hit when you want rock without leaving town.
Indoor recreation hub tied into the Corridor Trail spine. Year-round counterweight to estuary and Chief days.
When Squamish moves in a ranking, posts new permit figures, or lands in a study, get a short note. A few sends a year, only when something changes.
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