Perched on the southern bank above the Red Deer River in southeastern Alberta, Empress sits just inside the provincial boundary with Saskatchewan, roughly 121 kilometres north of Medicine Hat. The village is connected to the Buffalo Trail via Highway 899 and Highway 562, and sits at an elevation of 650 metres above sea level. Located about 9 kilometres northwest of the point where the Red Deer River meets the South Saskatchewan River, the area falls within the semi-arid steppe known as Palliser’s Triangle, where annual precipitation averages just 311.6 mm and temperatures swing widely between seasons. January is typically the coldest month, averaging around -12 degrees Celsius, while July brings warm daytime temperatures with a mean of 19.8 degrees Celsius.
Empress was named in 1913 in honour of Queen Victoria, who also held the title Empress of India. In its earlier years, the village earned the nickname the “Hub of the West” thanks to its role as a connecting point for major Canadian cities along the Canadian Pacific Railway. According to the 2021 federal census, the village had a population of 148 residents living in 69 of its 112 private dwellings, covering a land area of 1.58 square kilometres and a population density of roughly 93.7 people per square kilometre. That figure represented a rise from 135 residents counted in 2016, though the community had previously recorded 188 residents back in 2011, reflecting a period of notable population decline before the recent uptick.