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Duncan, British Columbia
Wikimedia Commons via Wikipedia

British Columbia

Duncan

Smallest city by area, City of Totems

Duncan in brief

William Chalmers Duncan settled near today's townsite after arriving with Governor Douglas's Cowichan Bay party in 1862. His farm was Alderlea; when the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway opened in 1886, a crowd forced an unplanned stop at Duncan's Crossing, and the city that followed took the family name.

Incorporated in 1912, Duncan remains Canada's smallest city by area, a compact Cowichan Valley downtown serving a much larger surrounding population. Totem poles along the streets earned it the nickname City of Totems.

Drawn from Wikipedia, City of Totems.

Permits, tax, radon & more for Duncan

Open the live numbers for Duncan. Each link goes to the original topic page for this city.

PermitsBrowseBuilding permits overviewTaxBrowseProperty tax overviewInternetInternet for DuncanRadonRadon for DuncanHazardsHazards for DuncanWaterWater quality for Duncan

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#10
City Score rank
92%
City Score
1
Owned lists in score

City Score over time

The green line averages OpenStats-owned rankings (radon, permit value, mill rates). Grey dots mark every published placement across all studies below.

0%25%50%75%100%201420152026
OpenStats City ScoreIndividual published rankings

Rankings for Duncan

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.

Composite · OpenStats

OpenStats City Score

OpenStats

Average standing across OpenStats-owned rankings built from public data (currently radon, building permit value, and residential mill rates). Each placement is scored from 0–1 within its edition, then averaged. External livability lists stay on hometown pages as separate published appearances.

Single edition · 2026

#10
Published · 2026 · of 125
Score 0.923

Only one published edition places Duncan in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

Health · OpenStats

OpenStats Highest Indoor Radon

OpenStats

Communities ranked by Health Canada survey mean indoor radon (Bq/m³). Rank 1 is the highest mean.

Single edition · 2026

#108
Published · 2026 · of 117
Score 40.5

Only one published edition places Duncan in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

Worth knowing in Duncan

Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.

  • Duncan is a city on southern Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley Regional District, British Columbia, Canada.

    Wikipedia

  • It is the smallest city in Canada by area.

    Wikipedia

  • Duncan is the smallest city by area in Canada, incorporated on a compact downtown footprint in the Cowichan Valley.

    Wikipedia

Places to see

City of Totems

Duncan markets itself as the City of Totems for the large collection of Coast Salish and other Northwest Coast poles displayed around town.

Related guides

Indoor radonBuilding permitsMill ratesNatural hazardsBroadbandWater hardnessConstruction PulseStudies

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