List of towns and cities in Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada's North, bordered on the west by the Yukon Territory, on the east by Nunavut and on the south by British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Covering an area of 1,346,106 km², it is the third largest territory in the country, after Nunavut and Quebec. With a population of 44,826 (2019 data), the Northwest Territories ranks eleventh among Canadian provinces and territories. Its capital and largest city is Yellowknife. Its prime minister is Caroline Cochrane and its commissioner is Margaret Thom. The spoken languages are English, French and a large range of dialects.

Owing to its size, the climate varies greatly between north and south. The southern part of the territory has a subarctic climate while the north has a polar climate. Summers in the south are short but relatively warm, winters are long and cold, with daily temperatures rising to -20 °C during the day and falling to -40 °C at night. Half of the Northwest Territories lies south of the tree line (the limit of suitable habitat for trees to grow) where most of the population is concentrated.

Before the Europeans settled, small groups of Aboriginal peoples (such as the Inuit and Dene) lived here. These groups, including the often nomadic Inuit in remote northern regions, have lived for generations in harsh climatic conditions, supporting themselves through hunting and fishing. The presence of the first non-Aboriginal people in the Northwest Territories was due to the northward expansion of the fur trade in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Missions arrived in the late 19th century, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other federal government officials settled in the 20th century. Aboriginal peoples still constitute today half of the Territory's population. The Temporary North-Western Council was established on July 15, 1870. The first government of the territory was established in 1872.

The economy is built on the extraction of primary resources such as gold, diamonds, natural gas and oil. Fur, on which the economy was once based, has lost much of its importance. The commercial whale fishery disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century.

Check below a list of all the cities in Northwest Territories, classified according to their number of inhabitants. You can click on the area you want to know more about, or look for it using the search bar: