Etobicoke is the western terminus of Line 2 Bloor-Danforth of the Toronto subway and is served by four suburban rail stations of GO Transit.

[4][5] After continued harassment from the Iroquois to the south, a coalition of the Ojibway, Odawa, and Potawatomi Algonquin nations, known as the Three Fires, gradually pushed the Haudenosaunee off this land.

The Algonquian-speaking Mississaugas settled here by 1695, fishing and growing crops more locally in the summer and hunting farther afield in the winter.

Early settlers included many of the Queen's Rangers, who Simcoe gave land to help protect the new capital of Upper Canada and develop this frontier area.

In 1793-95, the Honourable Samuel Smith, a colonel in the Queen's Rangers, received land grants of 1,530 acres (6.2 km2), extending from today's Kipling Avenue to Etobicoke Creek, and north to Bloor Street.

[8] On March 18, 1797, Sergeant Patrick Mealey received the first land patent for a plot on the west side of Royal York Road on Lake Ontario.

[9] This was part of the First Military Tract, or "Militia Lands", which extended from today's Royal York Road to Kipling Avenue, south from Bloor Street.

Present at the meeting were reeve William Gamble, vice-reeve W. B. Wadsworth and aldermen Moses Appleby, Thomas Fisher, and John Geddes.

The residential areas are primarily single-family dwellings, although several large multi-story high-rise condominium developments have been built in south Etobicoke near the Humber River over the past few years.

The central and northern areas of Etobicoke have many high-density apartment complexes set in the middle of sizable, open fields and parks.

Each has neighbourhoods, mostly developments of 19th-century 'postal villages' (rural neighbourhoods), that were built at key points along the early roads and railways; especially the three former 'Lakeshore Municipalities' that separated from Etobicoke in the early 20th century and Etobicoke's central Islington community: The Lakeshore (Etobicoke—Lakeshore), along the north shore of Lake Ontario and the "Lake Shore Road" (now Lake Shore Boulevard West), comprises three former municipalities that were the first to urbanize and became separate municipalities during the first half of the 20th century: Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch, and related communities that were never separate from the Township of Etobicoke; namely, Alderwood (originally a suburb of New Toronto), and Humber Bay (a historic gateway community connecting to Toronto) which was originally sprawl from the east side of the Humber River that was subsequently split by the construction of Ontario's first motor vehicle 'freeway' in 1938, which cuts across the top of southern Etobicoke; (the Queen Elizabeth Way).

The commercial, southern section of Humber Bay retains only Christie's Biscuits bakery, as high-rise condominium towers and clustered row housing have forced out virtually all other commercial/industrial employment uses.

In the late 1990s, the former McGuiness Whisky factory was converted into a high-rise loft condominium which became the centrepiece of the Mystic Pointe development.

Development of the until-then largely undeveloped eastern part of central Etobicoke (originally a forest reserved for the use of government mills as "The King's Mill Reserve"; "Kingsmill"), the "Humber Valley", was largely the work of Robert Home Smith starting about 1900 and including the communities of The Kingsway and Humber Valley Village.

Along the East and West Mall parallel to Highway 427 exists a mix of hi-rise rentals, townhouses and post-war bungalows.

Markland Wood is the farthest western community within Etobicoke/Toronto; situated along Bloor Street West, it is predominately single family housing with some mixed hi-rise rentals.

First developed as an urban area by Rex Heslop in the post-World War II years around the new Rexdale (the Elms) community, northern Etobicoke has many apartment buildings as well as a large 'skyway' industrial park to the west, developed after Malton Airport (in nearby Mississauga) became Toronto's main "Pearson International" Airport.

Many people from India, Jamaica, Iraq, Guyana, Somalia, Ghana, Philippines, Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh have settled in North Etobicoke.

Etobicoke's central and south end has a large European population from countries such as Italy, Poland, and Ukraine, and some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Toronto such as The Kingsway.

[17] As of 2016, English was the most spoken language in Etobicoke, followed by (in order) Italian, Punjabi, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Gujarati, and Portuguese.

The construction industry in Etobicoke has been booming, with many new condominium towers developed along the waterfront near Humber Bay and along Bloor street.

[28] Etobicoke is home to a rib fest held every year on Canada Day long weekend at Centennial Park.

Etobicoke has a wide range of indoor and outdoor sporting leagues including baseball, soccer, gridiron football, ice hockey, and ringette.

Etobicoke's Centennial Park is a large green space in west Toronto which is a venue for soccer, basketball, skiing, ice hockey, rugby, hiking, track and field.

Rexdale (North Etobicoke) is home to the top ranked high school basketball program in Canada, Henry Carr Crusaders.

Public transportation is primarily provided by the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) bus, streetcar, and subway system.

Both Kipling and Islington stations are major transit hubs, with the former serving as a terminal for MiWay bus services to Mississauga.

Former transit expansion plans in Etobicoke, including the Eglinton West subway and the extension of Line 2 from Kipling to Square One Bus Terminal in Mississauga, were cancelled by previous provincial governments.

Future transit expansion plans include two light rail transit projects, namely the Eglinton line extension from the future Mount Dennis station to Toronto Pearson International Airport and a new Finch West line between University of Guelph-Humber (Humber College North Campus) and Finch West station.