The province ofAlberta, Canada, is divided into ten types oflocal governments – urban municipalities (includingcities,towns,villages andsummer villages),specialized municipalities,rural municipalities (includingmunicipal districts (often named as counties),improvement districts, andspecial areas),Métis settlements, andIndian reserves. All types of municipalities are governed by local residents and were incorporated under various provincial acts, with the exception of improvement districts (governed by either the provincial or federal government), andAlberta's Indian reserves (governed by localband governments under federal jurisdiction).

Alberta also has numerous unincorporated communities (includingurban service areas, hamlets and atownsite) that are not independent municipalities in their own right. However, they are all recognized as sub-municipal entities byMinistry of Municipal Affairs under the jurisdiction of specialized municipalities or rural municipalities, with the exception of the lone townsite (its jurisdiction is shared with an Indian reserve that surrounds it).

With the exception of Métis settlements,Statistics Canada recognizes all of Alberta's municipalities ascensus subdivisions and groups them into 19 census divisions based on geography. Within census divisions, Statistics Canada groups some of Alberta's municipalities/census subdivisions into twocensus metropolitan areas (CMAs) or 12census agglomerations (CAs) for enumeration purposes. All CMAs include large urban centres and surrounding census subdivisions. All CAs also include large urban centres and in some cases their surrounding census subdivisions.

With the exception of Indian reserves, the administration of municipalities in Alberta is regulated by the Municipal Government Act,^[1] the Special Areas Act^[2] and the Metis Settlements Act.^[3]

As of 2019, the combined unofficial population of all of Alberta's municipalities was 4,271,759.^[4]

According to Section 82 of theMunicipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a city if:

• it has a population of 10,000 people or more; and
• the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m² (19,900 sq ft).^[1]

Essentially, cities are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 10,000 people.^[5]

Alberta currently has a total of 19 cities with a combined population totalling 2,959,559 as of 2019.^[4]

According to Section 81 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a town if:

• it has a population of 1,000 people or more; and
• the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m² (19,900 sq ft).^[1]

Essentially, towns are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 1,000 people. When a town's population exceeds 10,000 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of acity, but the change inincorporated status is not mandatory.^[5]

Communities with shrinking populations are allowed to retain town status even if the number of residents falls below the 1,000 limit. Some of Alberta's towns have never reached a population of 1,000 people, but were incorporated as towns before the current requirement to have a population of 1,000 or more.

Alberta currently has a total of 107 towns, with a combined population totalling 466,470 as of 2019.^[4]

According to Section 80 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), an area may incorporate as a village if:

• it has a population of 300 people or more; and
• the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m² (19,900 sq ft).^[1]

Essentially, villages are formed from urban communities with populations of at least 300 people. When a village's population exceeds 1,000 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of atown, but the change inincorporated status is not mandatory.

Communities with shrinking populations are allowed to retain village status even if the number of residents falls below the 300 limit. Some of Alberta's villages have never reached a population of 300 people, but were incorporated as villages before there was a requirement to have a population of 300 or more.

Alberta currently has a total of 81 villages, with a combined population totalling 34,600 as of 2021.^[16]

According to former Section 79 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), a summer village is an area that:

• has at least 60 parcels of land developed with dwelling buildings; and
• has a population of less than 300 persons where the majority of the persons who would be electors do not permanently reside in that area.

As a result of Section 79 being repealed,^[1] summer villages can no longer be formed in Alberta.^[5]

Essentially, summer villages were once formed from urban communities with populations of less than 300 people and significant non-permanent populations. When a summer village's population exceeds 300 people, its council may apply to change its status to that of a village, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory.

Alberta currently has a total of 51 summer villages, with a combined population totalling 5,200 as of 2019.^[4]

According to Section 83 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), a municipality may incorporate as a specialized municipality under one of the following three scenarios:

• where the Minister of Alberta Municipal Affairs (AMA) is satisfied that the other incorporated statuses under the MGA do not meet the needs of the municipality's residents;
• to form a local government that, in the opinion of the Minister of AMA, will provide for the orderly development of the municipality in a similar fashion to the other incorporated statuses within the MGA; or
• for any other circumstances that are deemed appropriate by the Minister of AMA.^[1]

Essentially, specialized municipalities are municipalities that are unconventional in nature compared to other municipalities in Alberta, and they are incorporated under the authority of the existing MGA instead of relying on the creation of their own separate acts (i.e., the Special Areas Act^[2] allowed the incorporation of Alberta's three special areas and the Metis Settlements Act^[3] allowed the incorporation of Alberta's eight Métis settlements).^[5]

Alberta's six specialized municipalities have a combined population totalling 242,395 as of 2019.^[4]

According to Section 78 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), amunicipal district is an area in which:

• the majority of the buildings used as dwellings are on parcels of land with an area of at least 1,850 m² (19,900 sq ft); and
• there is a population of 1,000 or more.^[1]

Essentially, municipal districts are large rural areas in which their citizens reside on farms, country residential subdivisions or unincorporated communities (i.e., hamlets, localities and other settlements).^[5]

In Alberta, the termcounty is synonymous with the termmunicipal district – it is not its own incorporated municipal status that is different from that of a municipal district. As such, Alberta Municipal Affairs provides municipal districts with the opportunity to brand themselves either asmunicipal districts orcounties in their official names.

Of Alberta's 63 municipal districts, 46 of them brand themselves ascounties. Over the past 30 years, Alberta has observed a trend of numerous municipal districts rebranding themselves ascounties through official name changes. Some of the reasons why a municipal district would rebrand itself as acounty include that the termcounty is: more recognizable by the general public; has a more traditional appeal; and is more marketable from an economic development perspective.

The last municipal district (MD) to rebrand itself as acounty was the MD of Foothills No. 31, which was renamed asFoothills County on January 1, 2019.^[30]

Alberta's 63 municipal districts have a combined population totalling 471,852 as of 2019.^[4]

According to Section 581 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), Alberta's Lieutenant Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Municipal Affairs, may form an improvement district. Section 582 of the MGA requires that the order to form an improvement district must describe its boundaries and give it an official name.

Alberta currently has seven improvement districts, which have a combined population totaling 2,146.^[35] With some exceptions, their boundaries are coterminous with that of a national or provincial park. Five of them are located within national parks, and two are within provincial parks.

Special areas are rural municipalities created in 1938 under the authority of the Special Areas Act.^[2][5] A special area is not to be confused with aspecialized municipality, which is a completely different municipal status.

Alberta's three special areas had a combined population totalling 4,184 in 2016.^[4]

An urban service area is a type of hamlet that is not officially defined under the Municipal Government Act (MGA). However, the province of Alberta recognizes it as equivalent to a city for the purposes of program delivery and grant eligibility according to the Orders in Council that established theRegional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo andStrathcona County asspecialized municipalities.^[39][40]

These Orders in Council (see Schedule 1, Section 7^[39] and Schedule 1, Section 3^[40] respectively) also state that:

• the specialized municipalities shall provide to the province of Alberta any information required to administer programs or to determine the amount of grants which would have been paid if the urban service areas were incorporated cities; and
• for the purposes of enactments affecting roads, culverts, ditches, drains, and highways, the urban service areas are deemed to be cities.

Essentially, urban services areas meet the eligibility requirements of the MGA to incorporate as a city. As such, they are Alberta's largest hamlets.

There are currently two urban services areas in Alberta:Fort McMurray andSherwood Park.

Fort McMurray, within the jurisdiction of the RM of Wood Buffalo, was formerly a city prior its amalgamation with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995. It was designated an urban service area at the time of the amalgamation.^[39]

Sherwood Park has always been an unincorporated community under the jurisdiction of Strathcona County. It became an urban service area when Strathcona County changed its status from a municipal district to a specialized municipality on January 1, 1996.^[40]

According to Section 59 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA), hamlets areunincorporated communities that:

• consist of five or more buildings used as dwellings, a majority of which are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m² (19,900 sq ft);
• have a generally accepted boundary and name; and
• contain parcels of land that are used for non‑residential purposes.^[1]

Further, Section 59 of the MGA provides the councils ofmunicipal districts (orcounties) and specialized municipalities the authority to designate unincorporated communities within its boundaries as hamlets.^[1][5] Hamlets may also be designated within improvement districts and special areas by the Minister of Municipal Affairs pursuant to Section 590 of the MGA and Section 10 of the Special Areas Act respectively.^[1][2]

When a hamlet's population reaches 300, it becomes eligible toincorporated as avillage under Section 80 of the MGA, so long as the majority of the buildings are still on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m² (19,900 sq ft).^[1] However, it is a modern-day rarity for a hamlet to incorporate as a village –Barnwell andWabamun were the last two to do so both on January 1, 1980. It is much more common these days for villages to revert to hamlet status through the dissolution process instead.

There are currently 403 hamlets in Alberta, two of which are the urban services areas presented above.^[41]