Victoria is the provincial capital city for British Columbia, Canada’s third-most highly populated province trailing only Ontario and Québec.

Located on Vancouver Island’s southern tip, Victoria is the southern-most major city in Western Canada.

Nicknames for Victoria include The Garden City for the many flowers that bloom starting in February until early spring; Chicktoria for its high female cohort; and City of Newlyweds and Newly Deads a sarcastic reference to the major demographics comprised of young families and seniors.

Harbour Air, the world’s biggest all-seaplane airline, is based in Victoria.

Victoria has the second-oldest Chinatown behind only San Francisco.

Research website numbeo ranks Victoria in the top 9% compared to the 250 cities evaluated on its overall quality of life index at June 2020. Victoria scored well on index factors such as pollution (cleanest 2%), traffic commute time (fastest 18%), climate (best 20%) and safety (safest 30%). On the negative side, Victoria rates relatively poorly on cost of living falling within the most expensive 31%.

Guinness World Records points to Victoria as being home to the largest underwater press conference ever, attended by 61 journalists who had dived to a depth of 32 feet 9.6 inches (10 meters) at a November 4, 2006 book release.

Victoria was the site of another world record when Canadian Arran McLellan completed 8,898 step ups within 8 hours at the University of Victoria Stadium on June 4, 2011.

In addition, the annual Rifflandia Music Festival in British Columbia’s capital city is one of Canada’s largest rock and pop music festivals.

Victoria serves as headquarters for one of Canada’s largest 500 corporations by revenue. Operating as BC Ferries, British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. provides major passenger and vehicle ferry services for the province’s coastal and island communities.

From an international trade perspective, British Columbia shipped C$434 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2019. Its most valuable exports include coal and coal-related sold fuels (15.1% of British Columbia’s global total), lumber (11.1%), liquefied petroleum or hydrocarbon gases (7.3%), chemical woodpulp, soda or sulphates (6.8%), and copper ores and concentrates according to the Government of British Columbia website.

Victoria’s unemployment rate was 3.6% as of April 2017 down from 6.2% one year earlier.

Capital Facts for Victoria, Canada: Quick Reference

 
Victorians celebrate Canada Day as a national holiday each July 1.

Victoria’s urban area occupies 83.35 square miles (215.88 square kilometers). The provincial capital city including its urban area had a population of 385,299 people at September 16, 2020.

At the province level, British Columbia covers a land area equal to 357,216 square miles (925,186 square kilometers) home to 5.1 million dwellers according to Statistics Canada metrics for June 2020.

Victoria’s population density averages 4,623 residents per square mile (1,785 per square kilometer).

Zooming out to British Columbia’s land boundaries, population density dilutes to an average 14 inhabitants per square mile (6 per square kilometer).