Abbotsford is a Canadian city, in the province of British Columbia. It is the fifth largest municipality in British Columbia, home to 115,463 people in 2001. The population for the Census Metropolitan Area was 147,370 (2001). The city is located in the Fraser Valley, where 253,844 people (2001) live. Abbotsford is situated just north of the Canada-US border. The village of Abbotsford was incorporated in 1892. The village was named for a Maclure family friend, Harry Abbott, who was Western Superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The city was incorporated in 1995, through the merging the District of Abbotsford with the District of Matsqui. The City of Abbotsford is 359.18 square kilometre in size, with a population density of 321.5 persons per square kilometre.
The City of Abbotsford uses the current Council-Manager system of local government. The present Mayor and Council, was elected in November 2002. The current mayor is Mary Reeves.
Housing prices in Abbotsford are some of the highest in the Fraser Valley. In 2003, the average price of a single-family house was $309,267 CDN, a single detached home was $255,152 CDN, a townhouse was $196,503 CDN, and an apartment was $121,985 CDN. There are 41,352 dwellings in the city.
Abbotsford is the third most ethnically diverse city in Canada, after Toronto and Vancouver. Abbotsford now leads the country with the highest proportion of people of South Asian origin per capita, according to results from the 2001 census.
Abbotsford's largest religious group is Christian at 61.4%, of which the largest denomination is Protestant. The second largest religious group is Sikh, comprising 13.4% of the population. The city contains the first Sikh temple built in North America.
The largest ethnic group is Caucasian, comprising approximately 79.6% of the population. The largest ethnic minority group in Abbotsford is South Asian (countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) comprising 14.9% of the population. In third place are Aboriginals, at 2.2% of the population.
English is the primary language spoken here, with 71.2% of the population having it as their first language.
23.8% of the city's population was born outside of Canada. Of that percentage, a majority is from South Asia, followed by groups from Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Latin America. Immigrants from Europe include those of English, German, Dutch, Scottish and Irish backgrounds.
Approximatly 92% of employed residents work in the city or in neighboring communities. Agriculture is Abbotsford's main industry, followed closely by transportation, manufacturing and retail. There is also a small, but growing aerospace industry.
Abbotsford is served minimally by a regional transit system. The service is operated by Township Transit Inc., with funding from the City of Abbotsford and the District of Mission. Transportation infrastructure includes the Trans-Canada Highway (#1), Abbotsford-Mission Highway (#11), and the Fraser Highway (#1A). Access to the United States is also possible via the Huntington border crossing.
Abbotsford is served by the Abbotsford International Airport, which is located in Southern Abbotsford. It is one of the fastest growing airports in Western Canada.
Neighboring cities include Mission to the north, Langley to the west, and Chilliwack to the east.Government
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