The year-round range of Black-backed Woodpecker has only medium coverage by both the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the Christmas Bird Count (CBC), but they nonetheless represent the best data sources for monitoring population trends in Canada. Overall, the CBC is considered slightly more reliable, as there is higher precision in its trends and detectability of the species may be somewhat better. The continental CBC trend shows some fluctuations over time, but overall nearly no change relative to 1970. At a regional scale, there is evidence of some decline in eastern Canada.

The overall CBC trend is fairly consistent with the results of the second breeding bird atlases in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, all of which show some localized declines, but little change overall relative to the first atlases roughly 20 years earlier. In contrast, the BBS also shows some fluctuations over time, but overall a large increase amounting to more than a tripling of the Canadian population since 1970. Although reliability of most regional BBS trends is low to medium, it appears that the majority of population growth has been in Yukon and the boreal forest, whereas there has been little change in more southern parts of the Canadian range. Confidence in the CBC trend of little change is medium, allowing for the possibility that the actual trend ranges between a moderate decrease and a moderate increase.

The goal for Black-backed Woodpecker is to maintain its population at or above the level it was at in the early 1970s, based on the Christmas Bird Count. Recent data show that the population is within its goal range.