Alberta
Fur post that became oil sands country
Cree people dominated the Fort McMurray area before Europeans arrived, and they already used Athabasca oil sands bitumen to waterproof canoes. The confluence of the Clearwater and Athabasca rivers sat west of Methye Portage on a key fur route; by 1870 a Hudson's Bay Company post here took the name of Chief Factor William McMurray.
Steamboats and the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway kept the stop busy, then petroleum exploration remade the map. Today it is an urban service area inside the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, still ringed by boreal forest in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands.
Drawn from Wikipedia, Athabasca oil sands hub.
Open the live numbers for Fort McMurray. Each link goes to the original topic page for this city.
When Fort McMurray moves in a ranking, posts new permit figures, or lands in a study, get a short note. A few sends a year, only when something changes.
No spam. Unsubscribe with one reply.
The green line averages OpenStats-owned rankings (radon, permit value, mill rates). Grey dots mark every published placement across all studies below.
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.
Livability
The Globe and Mail
2023 data partnership with Environics Analytics ranking 439 Canadian communities on ten livability categories.
Single edition · 2023
Only one published edition places Fort McMurray in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.
Livability
MoneySense
Annual composite ranking of Canadian municipalities on economy, housing, crime, health, and weather.
4 editions · 2014–2018
Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.
Fort McMurray is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada.
It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest.
The 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire led to the evacuation of its residents and caused widespread damage.
The 2016 Horse River wildfire forced the evacuation of about 88,000 people from Fort McMurray and surrounding areas, one of the largest wildfire evacuations in Canadian history.
Fort McMurray is the main service centre for the Athabasca oil sands, one of the world's largest bitumen deposits.
