Saskatoon’s rapidly growing population soars to 316,000, city says

Andrii Starynchuk moved to Saskatoon from Kyiv, Ukraine, on Good Friday three years ago.

He and his family had made the decision to move to Canada before Russia invaded his home country in February 2022.

But the gregarious Starynchuk, who works as a bartender in a Saskatoon restaurant, was surprised by how much he had to improve his English to function here. And he’s still getting used to the winters in Saskatchewan.

“Here, winter, it’s beautiful,” he said in an interview. “It’s just [a] fairytale. But it’s long.”

While they were adapting to the winters, he and his family became part of a population surge that continues to place pressure on housing, education and other services.

For the last three years, the city’s growth rate doubled from two per cent to 3.9 per cent, according to a report produced by Saskatoon city hall administration.

That rate of growth pushed the city’s population to between 313,255 and 319,428 with a midpoint of 316,342 as of Canada Day last year. 

Using that midpoint estimate, Saskatoon has added more than 50,000 people since the last census in 2021, which counted 266,141 residents. 

These estimates suggest the population has increased by nearly 19 per cent in five years.

Last year alone, city hall estimates the population grew by between 4,629 and 10,902 new people.

That growth, and the inability of homebuilders to keep up with demand, have created a housing shortage.

Starynchuk said he’s looking for a place to buy, but he finds the prices high compared to Kyiv.

“I’m always checking, checking, checking, checking so I prefer to be prepared, always, you know,” he said.

“This is not easy. This is not easy and apartments and houses, what you have, it’s really pricey.”