The destinations of Torontonians who move or "migrate" elsewhere.

[wild goose chase]

There's obviously a lot of talk about the large growth in population from people moving to Toronto, both in terms of immigration but also people from other parts of Canada or even local suburban people finding city living desirable again.

But just as there is immigration or in-migration, there is also emigration or out-migration.

What is known about the numbers of Toronto-born or raised people who leave Toronto and where they head off to?

From my experience, by looking at my circle of friends/family, and acquaintances or people I know from childhood or kept in touch with at some point, I see of the people who have not stayed in the city, some moved to the suburbs or GTA, as you'd expect, and people who have moved to other cities/towns in Ontario as well as people who went west to Alberta probably back when it was more lucrative to do so. There are a surprising amount of people who moved to the US that I've seen (often those that left for professional/career reasons, but who I once knew in school growing up), and lastly, people who moved to other countries outside North America, which number among them quite a few returnees of immigrants to Toronto or their kids that choose for some reason or another to head back to their home country.

I wonder how much people Toronto loses per year (which obviously would be balanced and then exceeded by people coming in if the population is seeing growth) and their choices of destination.

I'd imagine the most common Torontonian "emigrants" are to headed nearby GTA suburbs. I don't see as many to other provinces but I'd imagine that's a small proportion too, but don't know how it compares to within-province movement. Among those leaving Canada, which I'd expect to be perhaps smaller still, I'd bet a hefty proportion head stateside -- there are many US public figures who have a personal history in Toronto with fewer overseas.

 

[Johnny Au]

The former city of York is the only former municipality within Toronto that is losing population. All others gained population. It may because there are not many employment opportunities there or that most of York's population loss are from young people moving out, especially given that many school closures are in the former city of York.

The Eglinton Crosstown line (and the condo boom as a result) may reverse York's population loss.

 

[King of Kensington]

Mount Dennis/Weston has been referred to as Toronto's "rust belt."

 

[wild goose chase]

Mount Dennis/Weston has been referred to as Toronto's "rust belt."

Don't spend that much time in the area, but I'd imagine it's pretty small scale though, right? It's really hard to find crumbling/decaying buildings in the style that looks "rust belt" in the city. A city like Chicago, though which has declined but then stabilized (or even, depending on the estimated population now and the predicted one for the foreseeable future, perhaps very slowly reversed the previous decline) still shows visible signs of former abandonment in various parts of the city here and there, and it seems like many US cities of similar age to Toronto saw the migration out of the city enough to at least be noticeable.

In Toronto, you never really get the impression that there was a period of major "emigration" or if there was, it was balanced out by those coming in. It could be the case that there is a lot of emigration but also a lot of in-migration, which would mean high turnover (I think New York city is like that where I've heard the average resident lives there for less than a decade or something -- or maybe it was just Manhattan). But I think Toronto isn't particularly a transient city. I'd imagine most who move to Toronto tend to settle for the long haul. I think we don't really have many temporary residents and expats (as in the sense of people who live here temporarily for work/career reasons but ultimately want to leave after) either but maybe I'm wrong?

 

[Admiral Beez]

people who moved to other countries outside North America, which number among them quite a few returnees of immigrants to Toronto or their kids that choose for some reason or another to head back to their home country.

Three of my acquaintances traveled back to south Asia or the Middle East to find more culturally conservatively-minded spouses. One came back, the other two stayed.

 

[King of Kensington]

Don't spend that much time in the area, but I'd imagine it's pretty small scale though, right? It's really hard to find crumbling/decaying buildings in the style that looks "rust belt" in the city. A city like Chicago, though which has declined but then stabilized (or even, depending on the estimated population now and the predicted one for the foreseeable future, perhaps very slowly reversed the previous decline) still shows visible signs of former abandonment in various parts of the city here and there, and it seems like many US cities of similar age to Toronto saw the migration out of the city enough to at least be noticeable.

Yeah, Toronto isn't really "rust beltish" at all, even though it's located in the North American industrial heartland. Nothing really like the South Side of Chicago here. Toronto had manufacturing industry but it was never really a city of mass industries.