Photo: outofthought · CC BY-SA 3.0Royal Oak ranks below 91% of Canadian towns on residents aged 65 and over: 10%
Households in Royal Oak hold 2.9 people on average (Canada’s towns: 2.4). The 2021 Census counted 12,343 residents in 4,025 households. Locally, 39% of residents are immigrants. At 49%, the share of visible minority residents is higher than in 84% of Canadian towns.
What stands out about the people of Royal Oak
Many graduates
55% of residents aged 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, more than in 90% of Canadian towns; 13% have a master’s. Qualifications ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
A median age of 38.3: Royal Oak is younger than 75% of Canadian towns
Every figure here comes from the 2021 Census unless it carries another date. Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Against a figure of 11% across Canada’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 in Royal Oak comes in at 13%. The biggest five-year age group is 45–49, with nearly one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Royal Oak, 38.3. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
About 107 men for every 100 women.
Only 19% of households are one person living alone in Royal Oak
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.
Here 6.5% of households are one-parent families, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 8.2%. The share of one-person households across Canada’s towns is 27%.
A smaller share of common-law partners than 91% of Canadian towns: 5%
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
The figure for married residents 15 and over is 55% in Royal Oak and 46% across Canada’s towns. Across Canada’s towns, common-law partners come to 11%.
Royal Oak ranks below 71% of Canadian towns on renter households: 16%
Houses and apartments, owners and renters, older and newer homes. 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 are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. Renter households: 25% across Canada’s towns, for comparison. Compared with 64% across Canada’s towns, 71% of households live in a single-detached house here.
The midpoint household income is $122,000 a year
Census incomes cover 2020, when emergency benefits like CERB lifted many households’ totals. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Royal Oak’s median household took in $122,000 before tax, 42% more than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Alberta’s towns have a median of $92,200. COVID-19 benefits went to 30% of residents with an income (typical: 28%).
A larger share of residents without Canadian citizenship than 73% of Canadian towns: 12%
Immigrants by continent of birth and when they arrived, citizenship, and who moved in recently.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 45%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Residents who moved in within the year make up 9.2%, against 11% across Canada’s towns. For residents without Canadian citizenship, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 5.8%.
Residents with no religion: 36%, a higher share than 54% of Canadian towns
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Among other religions: Muslim (9.5%) and Hindu (3.2%). 1.9% of residents have an Indigenous identity, fewer than in 63% of Canadian towns. For comparison, 35% of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns.
English is the mother tongue of 58%, and 6.9% speak French as well
English, French and the other languages people grew up with or speak at home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
At home, 22% mostly speak another language; 2.5% speak neither English nor French. Residents whose mother tongue is French are rarer here than in two thirds of Canadian towns.
Royal Oak ranks above 90% of Canadian towns on degree holders aged 25 to 64: 55%
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 2.9%, against 9.5%. By way of comparison, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 62% of residents 15 and over had a job
The census counted work in May 2021, mid-pandemic, so read these rates as a pandemic snapshot. The census’s work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
The employment rate of 62% is above the typical 58% across Canada’s towns.
41 towns of 12,075 to 12,605 people: this is the 11th youngest
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
Median ages climb from 31.8 (Blackfalds) to 60.4 (Elliot Lake) across the group. The closest ages to Royal Oak’s belong to Bridlewood (37), DT Hospital (38), Chaparral (38.5) and Yonge-Eglinton (38.6).
Royal Oak sits below 5 of its 6 closest neighbours on median age
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Oak | 12,343 | — | 38.3 | 10% | 39% |
| Rocky Ridge | 8,419 | 1.8 km | 42.1 | 16% | 36% |
| Arbour Lake | 10,454 | 1.9 km | 45.9 | 20% | 36% |
| Tuscany | 19,986 | 2.9 km | 37.8 | 8.7% | 23% |
| Citadel | 10,196 | 3.0 km | 39.6 | 10% | 40% |
| Scenic Acres | 8,026 | 3.0 km | 50.7 | 25% | 24% |
| Rocky View County | 50,260 | 3.2 km | 45.6 | 18% | 16% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. These are self-reported answers: Indigenous identity, immigrant status, religion. The census’s “visible minority” comes from the Employment Equity Act (non-white in colour or race, Indigenous peoples aside), and the page sets each beside other towns without labelling any.
- 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. Statistics Canada reports the census by municipality; a neighbourhood’s figures are the sum of its dissemination areas, rounded counts and all, with medians estimated from age and income groups and no 2016 count, as the 2016 areas don’t fit.
- What these tables don’t give. Some things the page can’t show: the Census Profile asks nothing about unpaid care, cars or internet access, and gives no change by age since 2016. Ethnic origins beyond visible minority and Indigenous identity aren’t charted.
Questions about Royal Oak’s residents
Is Royal Oak bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 6.9% are. Another 0% speak only French and 91% only English, and French is the first language of 1.1%.
How diverse is Royal Oak?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 39%. A visible minority makes up 49% and Indigenous residents 1.9%.
What religion are people in Royal Oak?
Most often Christian (47%) or no religion (36%); other religions make up 17%.
Is Royal Oak good for families?
Children under 15 are 19% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 63% of households and one-parent families 6.5%. Schools near Royal Oak are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Royal Oak?
Median total household income in Royal Oak was $122,000 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Royal Oak?
The 2021 Census counted 12,343 people in Royal Oak.
What is the average age in Royal Oak?
Half the residents are older than 38.3 and half younger, younger than 75% of Canadian towns; 19% are children under 15 and 10% are 65 or over.
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).