Prince Edward Island is the least populous province in Canada with 142,907 residents as of 2016 and is the smallest in land area at 5,686 km2 (2,195 sq mi). Prince Edward Islands's 73 municipalities were home to 68% of its population in 2011. These municipalities provide local government services to their residents. The remaining unincorporated areas have no local government.
Municipal status types in Prince Edward Island include cities, towns, communities and resort municipalities. A city, town or community can be incorporated under Prince Edward Island's Municipalities Act of 1983 by a petition signed by at least 25 residents, while the province's lone resort municipality was established by order in council in 1990.
Prince Edward Island has 2 cities, 10 towns, 60 communities and 1 resort municipality, which are distributed across three counties – Kings, Prince and Queens. Approximately 26% of residents live in the provincial capital of Charlottetown and another 24% live within the Charlottetown census agglomeration.
Prince Edward Island has two cities.Charlottetown is Prince Edward Island's capital and largest city by population with 36,094 residents and area with 44.34 km2 (17.12 sq mi). It is part of a large census agglomeration which encompasses the middle of the island and is home to 69,325 residents, or approximately half the island's population. The only other city is Summerside, the principal municipality on the west side of the island.