Toronto Social Capital Study 2022

Toronto Social Capital Study 2022

The concept of social capital is an invaluable tool used to explore the well-being of a city and its residents. Social capital refers to the vibrancy of social networks and the extent to which individuals and communities trust and rely upon one another. It is a key ingredient in making communities productive, healthy, inclusive and safe. Social capital can be seen as a resource that communities can draw upon to respond to crises (through collaboration and mutual support); at the same time, it is a resource that can be depleted, leaving communities less well-positioned to face what comes next.

Conducted more than two years after the start of the pandemic, the 2022 Toronto Social Capital Study assesses whether the crisis brought the city’s residents closer together or pushed them further apart. Its measures of social capital bring into focus the ways in which Torontonians connect with one another, the trust they have in one another and their shared institutions and the extent to which they feel supported by their neighbours and neighbourhoods.

The 2022 study of 4,163 Torontonians compares the situation in the city today with that of 2018, when the first such study was conducted. The Toronto study was complemented by a national online survey of 2,001 Canadian adults commissioned by Community Foundations of Canada, using the same questions and measures of social capital.

Read the 2022 final report

This study was conducted in partnership with the Toronto Foundation and over a dozen other leading community organizations in the city.  For more information from the Toronto Foundation on the findings, including facts sheets and infographics, click here.

For more information, contact Dr. Andrew Parkin.

The Toronto Social Capital Study is a partnership of leading civic organizations across the city. The research was conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with Toronto Foundation, as well as Metcalf Foundation, MLSE Foundation, Northcrest Developments, Ontario Trillium Foundation, TAS, United Way Greater Toronto, the Wellesley Institute and YMCA of Greater Toronto. An additional group of collaborating partners helped support the launch of the report, including Atkinson Foundation, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, CivicAction, Counselling Foundation of Canada, Crosswalk Communities, Laidlaw Foundation and Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy.