Surrey is just a few short years away from being the largest city in British Columbia – and that means the city’s potential for business growth is virtually unlimited.
With an estimated population of 696,175 in 2025, BC Stats projects that Surrey’s population will eclipse Vancouver’s by 2029 – when Surrey will hit an estimated 785,619 people, compared to Vancouver’s 780,075.
But it’s not stopping there.
City of Surrey estimates show the city's population could surpass one million people by as early as 2042.
And it’s not just the population that’s growing.
The number of businesses in the city is also on an upward trajectory.
City of Surrey business licence stats show a total of 12,090 commercial and industrial business licences issued in 2024 – up from 10,633 in 2023. Home-based businesses, too, climbed from 10,250 in 2023 to 12,230 in 2024.
That means a total of 24,320 licensed businesses in Surrey as of 2024.
All of which is no surprise, given Surrey’s growing importance as an urban hub for the areas south of the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
The largest city by land mass – covering an enormous 31,611 hectares – Surrey is also strategically positioned on the U.S. border, with two major border crossings that make it a key hub for international travel and trade.
Surrey also benefits from proximity to major road transportation corridors (including Highway 1, Highway 91 and Highway 99) and to regional transit (including the existing Expo Line SkyTrain and the future Surrey Langley SkyTrain extension, projected for completion by the end of 2029).
It boasts the largest school district in the province, with more than 130 schools and more than 10,000 employees – making it Surrey’s largest employer.
The diversity of the city’s population is unmatched: 45% of the population are immigrants, while 62% speak a language other than English or French. All told, Surrey residents speak more than 200 language dialects.
All of those factors combine to make Surrey an attractive destination for newcomers – more than 2,000 of whom make Surrey home each month.
Welcome to Surrey.
BUSINESS IN SURREY: QUICK FACTS
• There were 24,230 licensed businesses in Surrey in 2024.
• New businesses make up a significant portion of those, with 2,143 new home-based businesses and 818 new commercial/industrial business licences in 2024.
• Since 2018, there has been a 37% increase in the total number of business licences in Surrey.
• Construction makes up 21% of the total number of businesses by sector, with 4,365 licences.
• Newton has the highest concentration of businesses among the city’s town centres, with 8,491, or 35% of the total in the city.
• South Surrey is the second-largest business community, with 3,993 businesses (16%).
– Source: City of Surrey/surrey.ca
SURREY DEMOGRAPHICS: QUICK FACTS
• More than 2,000 people move to Surrey every month.
• Surrey is a multilingual community; residents speak more than 200 unique languages.
• Sixty-two per cent of Surrey residents speak English at home; 20% speak Punjabi at home; 4% Mandarin, 2% Hindi, 2% Tagalog (10% other languages).
• Surrey’s population is made up of 45% immigrants.
• The top place of origin for recent immigrants to Surrey is India (46%), as per 2021 census data.
• In 2021 (the most recent available census demographic profile), 38% of Surrey’s population was South Asian, compared to 33% Caucasian, 9% Chinese, 7% Filipino and 13% others.
• Surrey is home to 19% of Metro Vancouver’s Indigenous population.
– sources: City of Surrey 2021 Demographic Profile, and Invest Surrey/investsurrey.ca
This content is part of the Surrey Economic Development 2025 magazine, produced by Surrey Now-Leader, the Surrey Board of Trade and the South Surrey & White Rock Chamber of Commerce. You can find the full e-edition here.
