Moving to Mission: A Guide to the City on the Fraser

Mission sits on the north side of the Fraser River, about 70 km east of Vancouver, with a West Coast Express station downtown, a large riverfront the City plans to redevelop and new neighbourhoods planned on its hillsides. Here is a guide to its areas, the commute, the lakes and trails, and what to check before you buy.

The short version

Mission at a glance

The Stó:lō peoples were the area's first inhabitants. The area from the Stave River to Hatzic Lake was incorporated in 1892 as the Municipality of Mission, and in 1969 it joined the Town of Mission to form the District of Mission. It now calls itself the City of Mission, although Statistics Canada still lists it as a district municipality.

In the 2021 Census, about 65% of Mission's occupied homes were single-detached houses, and nearly one in five was an apartment or flat in a duplex, which the census defines as one of two dwellings located one above the other, as in a house with a basement suite. Only about 8% were in low-rise apartment buildings.

Mission's neighbourhoods and growth areas

• Downtown and the waterfront. Downtown has the West Coast Express station and the City's transit-oriented area. The waterfront covers 296 acres with 3.5 km of Fraser River frontage, which the City calls one of the largest underdeveloped Fraser River waterfronts in the Lower Mainland, and its revitalization plan, begun in 2020, looks to homes, industry and commerce there.
• Stave Heights. A 30-hectare hillside neighbourhood in the urban core, east of Stave Lake Street, with Westminster Abbey's lands to the north and Fraser River Heritage Park to the east. Its plan, added to the OCP in May 2022, allows for about 810 to 1,266 homes, from apartments and stacked townhouses to single-family lots and coach houses.
• Cedar Valley. About 413 ha in the urban area, between Cherry Avenue and Dewdney Trunk Road. Most homes built so far are single-family, and its 2019 plan expects 18,000 to 22,000 residents at full build-out.
• Silverdale. In southwest Mission, on hillsides overlooking the Fraser, the OCP designates the Silverdale Comprehensive Planning Area, about 1,390 ha (3,440 acres), for a future urban neighbourhood. Its first plan, for the 733.6 ha Central Neighbourhood, estimates about 10,470 homes and 24,400 residents at build-out, over an extended timeline.
• Hatzic. On the east side, toward Hatzic Lake, a smaller community along the Lougheed Highway with its own neighbourhood centre, Hatzic Elementary and Hatzic Middle School.
• Rural Mission. North of the urban area, communities such as Stave Falls and Steelhead have forest, lakes and acreages. Outside the urban growth boundary, the OCP designates land for larger, un-serviced rural lots, and the City notes that rural areas rely mainly on well water or, in some cases, cisterns.

Getting around

• West Coast Express. On weekdays, five trains leave Mission City Station between 5:25 and 7:25 a.m. and reach Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver about 75 minutes later, stopping at Port Haney, Maple Meadows, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam Central and Moody Centre. Five trains return from Waterfront between 3:50 and 6:20 p.m. There is no regular service on weekends or statutory holidays.
• At the station. A pedestrian overpass links the parking lot to the platform, with no elevator from the south side of the tracks.
• Highways and the bridge. The Lougheed Highway runs west through Maple Ridge toward the rest of Metro Vancouver. Highway 11 crosses the Fraser on the Mission Bridge to Abbotsford and Highway 1, and continues south toward the US border. The bridge's $21 million seismic retrofit was completed in January 2016.
• Buses. Local buses are part of BC Transit's Central Fraser Valley Transit System, shared with Abbotsford. The City says transit makes up about 2.4% of trips by Mission residents, so expect to drive for most errands.

Parks, lakes and the abbey

• Fraser River Heritage Park. Mission's largest park, off 5th Avenue east of Stave Lake Street, with walking trails, a rose garden, a gazebo and scenic views. It is the site of the former St. Mary's Residential School, which operated there from 1867 to 1961.
• Hayward Lake. BC Hydro's recreation area has a 90 m beach, with lifeguards in a designated area at peak times in summer, and a 16 km loop formed by the Reservoir Trail, for hiking, and the Railway Trail, for hiking and biking.
• Stave Lake and Stave Falls. Stave Lake allows motorized boats and has a concrete boat launch, and BC Hydro's Powerhouse at Stave Falls, a National Historic Site, opens seasonally as a visitor centre.
• Rolley Lake Park. A provincial park 23 km northwest of Mission, with 64 campsites, a sandy beach with a seasonal swimming area, and no motors of any kind allowed on the lake.
• Westminster Abbey. Benedictine monks founded the monastery in Ladner in 1939 and moved to Mission in 1954, and the abbey church was dedicated in 1982. Visitors are welcome in the church and gardens at posted hours.

The City also manages a Municipal Forest, which generates revenue for the City.

Schools, the university and the hospital

Mission Public Schools (School District 75) lists French Immersion at Christine Morrison and Mission Central elementary schools, Heritage Park Middle School and Mission Secondary. Its programs of choice include Hillside Traditional Academy, a Forest and Nature program at Stave Falls Elementary and an arts-based curriculum at Edwin S. Richards Elementary. Ask the district to confirm the catchment school for an address before you buy.

The University of the Fraser Valley's Mission campus is at Heritage Park Centre on Prentis Avenue. Mission Memorial Hospital, run by Fraser Health on Hurd Street, provides 24/7 emergency stabilization and care, general medicine, lab and imaging services, and has a 10-bed hospice. Its emergency department has had temporary service interruptions, so check Fraser Health's updates before you go.

How Mission is growing

• The plan. Mission's Official Community Plan, a 20-year plan updated in 2025 and re-adopted in 2026 for procedural reasons, projects nearly 20,000 more residents over 20 years, an annual growth rate of almost 2%. It says the urban growth boundary has ample developable land, and that approved neighbourhood plans inside it can support more than 60,000 new residents.
• Around the station. Since September 2024, land within 400 m of the West Coast Express station has been a transit-oriented area. Zoning doesn't change on its own, but the City can't turn down housing there on height or density alone, up to 10 storeys within 200 m and 6 storeys from 200 to 400 m, and the zoning bylaw's residential parking requirements don't apply.
• More homes per lot. In former single-family and duplex zones, on lots connected to city water and sewer, the small-scale housing rules generally allow up to three units on lots under 280 m² and up to four on larger lots, though a development permit may also be needed in geotechnical, floodplain or environmental areas. I explain the rules in More Homes per Lot.

Before you buy

• Floodplain and dikes. The City maintains the Mission and Silverdale dikes, which protect parts of Mission in the Fraser River floodplain. Ruskin, the Silverdale Industrial Park and Silvermere Lake aren't protected by dikes, and a separate dike protects a smaller area near Hatzic Lake. Fraser River freshets usually run from mid-May to late June, and the Province is updating flood mapping for the Fraser from Yale to Mission.
• Slopes. The City says a geohazard assessment is a common requirement. Where one applies, a professional engineer or geoscientist must assess landslide hazards before a building permit or subdivision is approved, and the recommendations can be registered on title as a covenant.
• Wildfire. In the City's fire interface development permit area, a new building, though not a renovation or addition, needs a development permit.
• Rural services. Rural lots outside the urban growth boundary are generally un-serviced, without city water and sewer. Ask how the home gets its water and treats its sewage, and have the well tested and any septic system inspected before you remove subjects.
• Farmland. Only about 6% of Mission's total area was in the Agricultural Land Reserve in the Fraser Valley Regional District's 2017 snapshot. On ALR parcels, provincial rules generally allow one home per parcel.

Questions buyers often ask me

How many people live in Mission?

The 2021 Census counted 41,519 people, up 7.7% from 2016, on about 227 km² of land. The City's plan projects nearly 20,000 more residents over the next 20 years.

Does the West Coast Express run on weekends?

No. Regular service runs on weekdays only, with five trains each way, and there is no service on statutory holidays.

Where is new housing planned in Mission?

Mostly inside the urban growth boundary: around downtown and the West Coast Express station, on the waterfront, in Stave Heights and Cedar Valley, and in Silverdale, where the Central Neighbourhood Plan alone estimates about 10,470 homes at build-out.

Is Mission in a floodplain?

Parts of it are. The Mission and Silverdale dikes protect land in the Fraser River floodplain, but Ruskin, the Silverdale Industrial Park and Silvermere Lake aren't protected by dikes, so ask the City about a property's flood risk before you buy.

Do rural homes in Mission have city water and sewer?

Generally not. Rural lots outside the urban growth boundary are un-serviced, and the City notes that rural areas rely mainly on well water or, in some cases, cisterns.

Browse homes for sale in Mission, compare it with its Fraser Valley neighbours in Abbotsford, Chilliwack or Mission?, or, for stops closer to Vancouver on the same line, read Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows?

This article is general information, not legal advice. Population and housing figures are from the 2021 Census, and other details are from the City of Mission, TransLink, BC Transit, BC Hydro, BC Parks, the Province, Fraser Health and Mission Public Schools at the time of writing. For the City's plan, see Mission's Official Community Plan.