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Census metropolitan area and census agglomeration influenced zones (MIZ)

Part A - Plain language definition:

Category assigned to a municipality not included in either a census metropolitan area (CMA) or a census agglomeration (CA). A municipality is assigned to one of four categories depending on the percentage of its resident employed labour force who commute to work in the urban core of any census metropolitan area or census agglomeration.

Categories:

1. Strong MIZ: at least 30% of the municipality's resident employed labour force commute to work in any CMA or CA.
2. Moderate MIZ: at least 5%, but less than 30% of the municipality's resident employed labour force commute to work in any CMA or CA.
3. Weak MIZ: more than 0%, but less than 5% of the municipality's resident employed labour force commute to work in any CMA or CA.
4. No MIZ: fewer than 40 or none of the municipality's resident employed labour force commute to work in any CMA or CA.

Part B - Detailed definition:

The census metropolitan area and census agglomeration influenced zone (MIZ) is a concept that geographically differentiates the area of Canada outside census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and census agglomerations (CAs). Census subdivisions outside CMAs and CAs are assigned to one of four categories according to the degree of influence (strong, moderate, weak or no influence) that the CMAs and/or CAs have on them.

Census subdivisions (CSDs) are assigned to a MIZ category based on the percentage of their resident employed labour force that has a place of work in the urban core(s) of CMAs or CAs. CSDs with the same degree of influence tend to be clustered. They form zones around CMAs and CAs that progress through the categories from 'strong' to 'no' influence as distance from the CMAs and CAs increases.

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