In 2023, there were 2,655 head office locations across Canada, reflecting a slight decline of 0.3% from the previous year. The number of head offices has declined 4.9% since 2012.
There were 211,445 people working at head offices in 2023, 250 more than a year earlier.
Just over four in five head office employees worked in Ontario (43.1%), Quebec (23.7%) and Alberta (15.5%) in 2023. Most head offices were located in Canada's largest urban centres. Toronto was home to the most head offices (689), followed by Montréal (372), Vancouver (236) and Calgary (197). Toronto also led in head office employment, with 68,223 employees, followed by Montréal (38,293), Calgary (25,396) and Vancouver (15,387).
Looking at 2024
Businesses continued to face economic pressures in 2024, although these pressures began to ease with the decline in interest rates during the second half of the year. Other indicators of economic recovery included positive job creation, decelerating inflation and an increase in the number of businesses.
Detailed statistics reflecting these conditions for head offices in 2024 are anticipated to be made available after survey data are collected in 2025.
Note to readers
Data for 2021 and 2022 have been revised.
Head offices include establishments and locations primarily engaged in providing general management or administrative support services to affiliated establishments. Their activities include corporate functions, such as strategic organizational planning, communications, tax planning, legal services, marketing, finance, human resource management and information technology services. The observed population can include establishments active for only a part of the reference year.
These data and other data related to business and consumer services can be found at the Business and consumer services and culture statistics portal.
Reference
Data table: 33-10-0110-01.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5089.
Previous release: Annual Head Office Survey, 2022.
Contact information
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