NHL Cities by population

This is a listing, by rank, of the population of the Metropolitan Areas of all the cities that have teams in the National Hockey League. All populations are  2016 Census (Canada) and 2018 estimates (United States).

Two metropolitan areas have more than one team. New York City (which includes Newark) has three - New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and the New Jersey Devils. Los Angeles has two - Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.

As both countries use different methodology to compile Metropolitian area populations, they are listed seperately. However, the Canadian CSA is similar to the American MSA for comparison purposes.

United States
The United States uses two systems to measure population in a region. The Metropolitian Statistical Area is the area encompassing a large city and the urban areas around it (for example Boston and the surrounding suburbs). The Combined Statistical Area is a combonation of the adjacent Metropolitian Statistical Areas in a region (for example Boston and the adjacent areas of Providence, Rhode Island, Worcester, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire).

Notes:
 * 1) Tampa is not part of a larger Combined Statistical Area, thus the Metropolitan Statistical Data is used and Tampa is not figured in the rating for CSA ranking.
 * 2) The Windsor, Ontario area would be included in the population for the Detroit area if it were in the United States, which would add 329,144 according to the 2016 Census.
 * 3) Buffalo could also include the area along the Golden Horseshoe, which is an area the Buffalo Sabres have traditionally drawn from as well as the Greater Toronto Area due to the scarcity of tickets for Toronto Maple Leafs home games.
 * 4) Seattle could include some areas of the southern Tip of Vancouver Island, which is adjacent Puget Sound which is the considered the edge of Seattle's CSA which are not counted above.

Canada
Canada uses one system to measure but has two classifications Census Metropolitan Area for larger metropolitan areas and Census Agglomeration for what tend to be smaller more isolated areas. All of the NHL cities are considered CMA's

(*)-Excluding other Canadian cities

Balance of Top 10 Census Metropolitan Areas

 * Quebec City, QC 800,296 (Canada # 7) (would be 74th in United States)
 * Hamilton, ON 747,545 (Canada # 9) (would be 78th in United States)
 * Kitchener-Waterloo, ON 523,894 (Canada # 10) (would be 107th in United States)

Remaining Census Metropolitan Area/Census Agglomeration areas by Province/Territory

 * Halifax, NS 403,390 (CMA) (Canada # 13)
 * Saskatoon, SK 295,095 (CMA) (Canada # 17)
 * St. John's, NL 205,955 (CMA) (Canada # 20)
 * Moncton, NB 144,810 (CMA) (Canada # 29)
 * Charlottetown, PE 69,325 (CA) (Canada # 52)
 * Whitehorse, YT 28,225 (CA) (Canada # 96)
 * Yellowknife, NT 19,569 (CA) (Canada # 111)
 * Iqaluit, NU 7,740 (N/A-city only, (isolated area))