Day to day in Charlottetown, life feels like a friendly small town, though at about 39,000 people it is Prince Edward Island's capital and its largest city. Canadians know it as the birthplace of Confederation, and Province House, where the 1864 talks happened, is a short walk from the harbour. Downtown is compact, with brick streets, seafood restaurants, and craft breweries.
Summer is the season. Visitors stroll the waterfront boardwalk, catch a show at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, and drive about 35 km to the north shore beaches and Green Gables. Fall brings a well-loved food festival, and the winter is quiet. The island's popularity has made living here pricier than it used to be. Rents and house prices have jumped since 2020, and groceries and energy cost more than the national average. Crime is low, but the island has few family doctors, and emergency waits can be long. Winter storms and post-tropical storms in fall are the main weather risks.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
Out of 10. Open any score to see how it’s worked out. “Data-based” scores come from published figures; “Hey! En Route estimate” scores are worked out from what we know about the city; “Hey! En Route rating” scores were set by our editors.
- Known as
- Birthplace of Confederation; Cradle of Confederation; PEI's capital and largest city; Ch'town (local shorthand)
- Founded
- 1720s Acadian settlement nearby; 1764 town site laid out (British); 1855 incorporated as a city
- Languages
- English (majority); French (Acadian minority, official in federal services; PEI has French language services law); Mi'kmaw (Indigenous); Mandarin, Tagalog, Punjabi, Hindi and Arabic among recent immigrant communities
- Airports
- Charlottetown Airport (YYG), about 5 km north of downtown; Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International (YQM), about 190 km by road via Confederation Bridge; Halifax Stanfield International (YHZ), about 300 km by road
- Tipping
- Restaurants 15-20% on the pre-tax bill (GST/HST/PST are added on top of listed prices and are not a tip); bars $1-2 per drink; taxis and rideshare 10-15%; hotel housekeeping $3-5 per night; bellhops $2-5 per bag; tour guides 10-15%; counter service optional
About this data
Population 38,809 is the 2021 Census (Statistics Canada) city figure and 78,858 is the 2021 Census Charlottetown census agglomeration (via Wikipedia summary; the StatCan pages could not be fetched due to robots restrictions). Area 44.27 km2 land area from same source. Founding dates, coordinates, elevation (approximate; range 0-49 m), tipping, airport distances, cost indices, hotel ranges, rent and home prices are approximate or from general knowledge and not verified in this pass, so confidence is medium-low on money figures. All money in CAD. Official URLs found via search but not load-tested.
