Photo: Dwayne Reilander · CC BY-SA 4.0A higher share of residents with no religion than 94% of Canadian towns, at 57%
Compared with 25% across Canada’s towns, 46% of households rent their home here. Here, 37% of households are one person living alone. Few places have as many residents who moved in within the year: 17% here, more than in 85% of Canadian towns. The 2021 Census counted 11,548 residents in 5,465 households.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 9.2% in Bowness, less than in 77% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
14% of residents are under 15, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Locally, 17% of residents are 65 or over. With a median age of 40.4, Bowness is younger than 61% of Canadian towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Bowness, 40.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women.
Smaller households than 86% of Canadian towns: 2.1 people on average
Households by family type and by the number of people in them.
Against Alberta’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Shared houses stand out: nearly one in ten households are unrelated adults living together, more than in 93% of Canadian towns. For Bowness, the census puts one-parent families at 9.8%.
15% of residents 15 and over live common-law, more than in 77% of Canadian towns
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Here just over a third of residents 15 and over are married, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 46%. Common-law partners: 11% across Canada’s towns, for comparison.
Bowness ranks below 80% of Canadian towns on households in single-detached houses: 36%
Occupied homes by type, by owners and renters, and by when they were built. Prices, rents and shelter costs are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Owners and renters · share of households
When homes were built · share of homes
Households in buildings of five or more storeys: 4.3%, above 72% of Canadian towns. Measured more widely, 64% of households live in a single-detached house across Canada’s towns. Older homes outnumber new: 24% predate 1961, 11% date from 2001 or later.
Median gross household income: $71,000 a year
Census incomes are for 2020, the year before the census, when CERB and other pandemic benefits topped up many households. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Bowness had $71,000 before tax, 17% below the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Within Alberta’s towns, the household in the middle had $92,200. Pandemic payments such as CERB reached 34% of income recipients here, against 28% in the typical town.
A larger share of residents without Canadian citizenship than 58% of Canadian towns: 7.5%
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Of the immigrants living here, 37% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%. For residents without Canadian citizenship, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 5.8%. Most immigrants were born in Europe (34%) or in Asia (32%). A year before the census, 17% lived somewhere else: more than the typical 11% across Canada’s towns.
Above 83% of Canadian towns: 8.1% of residents have an Indigenous identity
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Census figures put visible minority residents at 15% in Bowness. For Indigenous residents, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 2.8%.
84% have English as their mother tongue; 7.6% also speak French
Knowledge of the two official languages, first languages, and the language of home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
5.2% most often speak a language other than English or French at home, and 0.4% speak neither official language. Residents whose mother tongue is French are about as common here as across Canada’s towns, at 1.6%.
Above 52% of Canadian towns: 28% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
At the bottom of the ladder, 12% hold no certificate of any kind, against 9.5% in the typical town. On average, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 58% of residents 15 and over had a job
Census day was in May 2021, mid-pandemic: some of these rates are lower than in a usual year. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Employment here, 58%, matches the middle of Canada’s towns (58%) within a couple of points.
20th highest median age among 41 towns of 11,326 to 11,782
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Median ages here range from 30.4 in Milton-Parc to 57.6 in Sechelt. Next to Bowness on this scale come Jefferson (40.2), Pont-Rouge (40.4), Williams Lake (40.8) and Pelmo Park-Humberlea (40.8).
Bowness and its 6 nearest towns: 3 of them are older
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowness | 11,548 | — | 40.4 | 17% | 17% |
| Silver Springs | 9,042 | 2.1 km | 45.2 | 22% | 18% |
| Cougar Ridge | 7,101 | 2.2 km | 36.9 | 5.9% | 34% |
| Varsity | 12,605 | 2.8 km | 42.6 | 25% | 28% |
| Montgomery | 4,456 | 2.8 km | 39.2 | 18% | 20% |
| Coach Hill | 3,383 | 3.2 km | 44.7 | 23% | 25% |
| Dalhousie | 8,617 | 3.5 km | 39.9 | 20% | 33% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. The census takes “visible minority” from the Employment Equity Act: anyone other than Indigenous peoples who is non-white in colour or race. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are what residents reported, compared here with other towns and never used as a label.
- Against Alberta’s towns and Canada’s towns. Provincial and national yardsticks: Alberta’s towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents, and all Canadian towns of that size. No whole city and no First Nations reserve is in either median.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. The figures sum the neighbourhood’s dissemination areas, since the census is published for municipalities only. Medians are estimated from the age and income groups, counts carry Statistics Canada’s rounding, and no 2016 count matches these boundaries.
- What these tables don’t give. The Census Profile has no unpaid care, cars or internet access, and no change by age since 2016; ethnic origins beyond visible minority and Indigenous identity aren’t charted here.
Questions about Bowness’s residents
How diverse is Bowness?
Immigrants: 17% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 15%. Indigenous identity: 8.1%.
What religion are people in Bowness?
57% said they have no religion and 38% that they are Christian; 4.6% named another faith.
Is Bowness good for families?
14% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 39% of households and one-parent families 9.8%. Schools near Bowness are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Bowness?
Half of Bowness’s households had more than $71,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Bowness?
The 2021 Census counted 11,548 people in Bowness.
What is the average age in Bowness?
The median age is 40.4, younger than 61% of Canadian towns. 14% are under 15 and 17% 65 or older.
Is Bowness bilingual?
7.6% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0% speak French only and 92% English only. French is the mother tongue of 1.6%.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).