Key facts & figures

Small, but mighty

• The Yukon is home to just one city, three towns, four villages, and several unincorporated communities. As of early 2024, the total population was approximately 46,000, with about 36,000 people residing in its capital city, Whitehorse. Dawson City follows as the next largest community with a population of 2,374, while the rest of the Yukon's residents are spread across its smaller communities.
• The Yukon is about the same size as the State of California, but the Territory has a population of roughly 46,000, while more than 39,000,000 people reside in California.
• Small but mighty! Although the Yukon is 1/3 the size of Canada’s largest province, Quebec, it boasts the highest percentage of protected and conserved areas in all of Canada.
• There are twice as many moose as people in the Yukon.
• The Yukon is situated directly under the aurora oval, the area surrounding Earth’s geomagnetic north pole where aurora activity is best and brightest, from late August to mid-April.
• The Yukon has Canada’s tallest mountain (Mount Logan), the country’s second longest river (Yukon River), and the largest nonpolar icefield (in Kluane National Park & Reserve) in the world.
• Gold was discovered in and surrounding the Klondike River in 1896 and resulted in the historic Klondike Gold Rush between 1896 and 1899.
• The 458-mile unpaved Dempster Highway is the only public road in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle and is open year-round.