New online resource supports informed planning and decision-making across region
Midhurst/November 13, 2026 – The County of Simcoe has launched a new interactive Population Growth Dashboard, providing residents, community organizations, municipalities, and service providers with access to long-term population forecasts and projections to help support local planning and decision-making.
Developed by the County’s Community Partnerships, Policy and Business Intelligence team in collaboration with the Planning Department, the dashboard brings together municipal growth forecasts and Statistics Canada population projections. The interactive tool allows users to explore anticipated population changes across the County’s 16 member municipalities, as well as the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia.
The dashboard features interactive maps, tables, and visualizations that allow users to compare growth across municipalities, explore different population scenarios, and examine age and gender trends.
By combining the County’s Official Plan Amendment No. 7 (OPA 7) growth framework with independent Statistics Canada projections, the tool supports a range of initiatives, including community needs assessments, grant applications, housing and infrastructure planning, and long-term service delivery.
To support transparency and informed decision-making, the dashboard also provides information on its data sources and methodologies, helping users understand the differences between municipal forecasts, demographic projections, and supplementary estimates. The Population Growth Dashboard is available through the County’s open data platform at open.simcoe.ca. The platform provides transparent, localized data to help residents, businesses, and municipalities make informed decisions. Additional tools available through the portal include the 2021 Census Tool, Rental Data Aggregator, Affordable Housing Indicators Dashboard, and several other interactive datasets and resources.