[8] The community of 375.55 square kilometres (145.00 sq mi) is the largest city by area in British Columbia.

[10] European settlement began when the Royal Engineers surveyed the area in response to the gold rush along the Fraser River in 1858.

In 1889, former Royal Engineer John Cunningham Maclure applied for a Crown grant to obtain the 160 acres (0.65 km2) that would become Abbotsford.

[13] The most commonly cited origin is that Maclure named the land "Abbotsford" after family friend Henry Braithwaite Abbott, the western superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In September 1984, Pope John Paul II held an open-air Mass for over 200,000 people at Abbotsford International Airport.

[19] The city of Abbotsford has a long and ongoing history of gang-related crime, particularly that of violence and the illegal sale of controlled substances.

[20][21][22][23] On November 16, 2021, Abbotsford residents living in the Sumas Prairie were given an evacuation order given the flooding in British Columbia at the time, the city calling the situation "catastrophic".

[3] The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 43,190 persons or 28.6% of the total population of Abbotsford.

[26] According to the 2021 Census, 92,460 persons or 61.0% of Abbotsford's population have English as a mother tongue; Punjabi is the mother tongue of 34,280 persons or 22.6% of the population, followed by German (3,065 or 2.0%), Spanish (1,375 or 0.9%), Korean (1,190 or 0.8%), Tagalog (1,180 or 0.8%), Vietnamese (1,105 or 0.7%), Dutch (990 or 0.7%), French (955 or 0.6%), Mandarin (945 or 0.6%), Hindi (860 or 0.5%), Arabic (720 or 0.5%), Cantonese (555 or 0.4%), Russian (415 or 0.3%), and Urdu (400 or 0.3%).

[26] Furthermore, the 2021 census stated 141,175 persons or 93.6% of Abbotsford's population have knowledge of the English language; 41,145 persons or 27.3% of the population have knowledge of the Punjabi language, followed by Hindi (7,080 or 4.7%), French (6,295 or 4.2%), German (3,665 or 2.4%), Spanish (2,880 or 1.9%), Tagalog (1,835 or 1.2%), Korean (1,430 or 0.9%), Vietnamese (1,170 or 0.8%), Dutch (1,145 or 0.8%), Mandarin (1,430 or 0.9%), Arabic (1,030 or 0.7%), Urdu (985 or 0.7%), Cantonese (810 or 0.5%), and Russian (805 or 0.5%).

[28] A National Historic Site, located in Central Abbotsford, the Gur Sikh Temple is now over 110 years old.

The next largest pan-ethnic group in Abbotsford is South Asian, comprising 30.2% of the city population; this group includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka national origins, while the population in Abbotsford primarily includes persons of Punjabi ethnic origin.

[4] The 2021 Canadian census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 50,085 persons or 26.1% of the total population of the Abbotsford-Mission CMA.

Summers are generally warm and drier than at other times of the year and winters are rainy and very mild by Canadian standards.

The city earns the highest dollar per acre of agricultural land in the country, greater than the Niagara Region and the North Okanagan.

Total sales from agricultural businesses grew from $635,000,000 in 2010 to nearly $1 billion as of 2021 and accounts for almost 50% of all chicken eggs and dairy milk production for all of British Columbia.

[52][51] The BC government's Animal Health Centre, at the Abbotsford Agriculture Centre offers "more than 400 laboratory diagnostic tests for agents that may be found in wild and domestic birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians" and is the leading accredited full-service veterinary laboratory in Western Canada.

This school offers a unique animation and modeling program that teaches students aspects of the video game industry as well as many other courses such as Mathematics, English, and Science.

The Abbotsford Arts Council hosts a number of free local events including music in Mill Lake Park, the Arty Awards and more recently, the Christmas Artisan Gift Fair.

As well as maintaining the Kariton Art Gallery which features and hosts exhibitions from local artists of all mediums residing in the Lower Mainland.

It houses a heritage archive, runs special events, programs and courses and seeks to promote local arts and culture.

The municipally designated heritage house and adjacent gallery are open to the public for special events, educational programming, and drop-in tours.

Passenger rail service to Vancouver currently runs from nearby Mission by way of the West Coast Express.

WestJet provides regular scheduled service from the airport, due to its proximity to Vancouver's eastern suburbs.

[62][63] Abbotsford Minor Hockey is one of the largest associations in British Columbia, with more than 1,000 players registered from the ages of 5 through 18 years old.

This association is recognized by many as a model and a leader in the development of minor hockey programs, and several Abbotsford-raised players have gone on to the highest levels of this sport.

[72] From 2012 and 2013, the BC Angels of the Legends Football League's LFL Canada division played at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.

Rotary Stadium was also home to the now-defunct Abbotsford Air Force of the Canadian Junior Football League.

Many of Abbotsford's players have gone on to play for Canada, such as Erin Lockwood, Ryan McWhinney, Scott Hunter and Brodie Henderson.

[75] In Olympic sports, Abbotsford's Alana Kraus has won medals in short-track speed skating.