Interesting Facts About Toronto

Think you know Toronto? Let's see how much you know. We have gathered 45 interesting fun Toronto facts from a variety of topics.

Geographic Facts

1. Toronto covers 641 sq km and stretches 43 km from east to west and 21 km from north to south at its longest points. The perimeter is approximately 180 km.

2. One quarter of Canada's population lives within a 160 km radius of Toronto

3. Toronto is in Southern Ontario which has shorelines on four of the five, Great Lakes and located, further south than ten of the northern states of the USA.

4. Toronto's waterfront is 76.5 meters above sea level; shoreline stretches 43 km (as the crow flies) or 138 km if you factor in the bays and islands

5. Highest point is 209 m (at intersection of Steeles Ave West and Keele St)

6. Most northerly point is the intersection of Steeles Ave E. and Pickering Town Line

7. Most southerly point is Lake Ontario's shoreline at the border between Toronto and Mississauga

8. Most easterly point is the meeting of the Rouge River and shoreline of Lake Ontario

9. Most westerly point is the intersection of Steeles Ave W. and Albion Road

10. Toronto is in plant hardiness zone 6, and on the eastern edge of the Carolinian Forest zone

11. There are 1500 parks and 8,000 hectares of parklands - (ravines, valleys, woodlots, waterfront natural areas, parks and farmland), or 18.1 per cent of city's area, there are also 187 km of bike paths, 7.8 km of pedestrian paths, and 3 million publicly owned trees

Economic Facts

1. Toronto is the largest and most important financial centre in all of Canada and the fourth largest in North America. Only New York city, Chicago and Los Angeles are larger.

2. Financial centre of Canada, 3rd largest in North America, employing 205,000 in financial sector

3. Toronto is home to Canada's 5 largest banks, 50 foreign bank subsidiaries and branches, and 112 securities firms.

4. The film industry supports 28,000 jobs in Toronto and annually contributes $1.5 billion to the economy

5. Toronto's tourism industry generated $3.34 billion in direct expenditures in the year 2000

6. There are about 87,900 tourism related jobs in Toronto

City Facts

1. Toronto is Canada's largest city and home to over 5.7 million people

2. Toronto is the capital city of the province of Ontario

3. Toronto is the largest financial centre in Canada.

4. There are 100 + languages spoken throughout the city of Toronto

5. Just over 30 per cent of Toronto residents speak a language other than English or French at home.

6. Over half of Toronto's labour force has a university degree or college diploma

7. With it's world class tourist attractions Toronto is Canada's number one tourist destination

8. Toronto residents hold more university educations than in any other country, in the world, based on percentage of population. Source OECD - 2003

9. 180 million customers live and work within a day's drive of Toronto, including 125 million Americans or roughly 40 per cent of the U.S. population.

10. More people live in Toronto than in Canada's four Atlantic Provinces combined

11. Half of Toronto's population (1,237,720) was born outside of Canada, up from 48 per cent in 1996.

12. Niagara Falls is just over an hour's drive from Toronto

13. Toronto has over 8,000 restaurants

14. Toronto has over 35,000 hotel rooms

North American Facts

1. Toronto is North America's 5th-largest city after Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

2. North America's largest continuous underground pedestrian system PATH, connects about 1200 stores and restaurants, 50 office towers, five subway stations, Union Station, six major hotels and several entertainment centres under Toronto's financial core.

3. Toronto's TTC bus and subway public transit system is the second largest in North America and has the highest per capita ridership rate on the continent.

4. About 25% of films produced in Hollywood are actually filmed in Toronto, making it North America's 3rd largest TV and movies production venue.

5. The Caribana parade is the largest single-day parade and largest Caribbean festival in North America.

6. Toronto has the only, real castle in all of North America. You will never forget Casa Loma (home on hill) with vista views of both, the downtown, skyline of Toronto and of Great Lake Ontario.

7. The TSX Group - the third-largest stock exchange in North American and seventh largest in the world based on market capitalization - is the world leader in mining sector listings.

8. The Direct Energy Centre (formerly the National Trade Centre) is the 3rd largest exhibit facility in North America with over 1 million sq. ft. of exhibit space

World Facts

1. Yonge Street is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest street in the world, stretching 1,896 km from the lakeshore in Toronto, north to Rainy River, Ontario, near the Minnesota border.

2. Toronto is home to the world's second tallest free-standing structure, the CN Tower standing 1,815 feet (553 meters) tall.

3. The Toronto Zoo is the third largest in the world and is home to more than 5000 animals

4. Toronto is the third largest centre for English language theatre in the world, behind New York City and London.

5. Toronto is a world leader in digital microwave transmission, satellite communications services and data distribution networks.

6. Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome) - the world's first stadium to have a fully retractable roof.

When visiting, make sure you check out all the Toronto Tourist Attractions. The CN Tower is the most popular. These helpful resources, Toronto Classifieds and Business Directory will also help you find what you need.

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