Photo: Sharon Hahn Darlin · CC BY 2.0In Varsity, 12% of households live in a building of five or more storeys, more than in 81% of Canadian towns
A quarter of residents are 65 or over (Canada’s towns: 19%). Census figures put one-person households at 34% in Varsity. More immigrants than in 68% of Canadian towns: 28%. The neighbourhood counted 12,605 residents and 5,535 households at the 2021 Census.
What stands out about the people of Varsity
Many graduates
A bachelor’s degree or higher is held by 63% of 25- to 64-year-olds, more than in 95% of Canadian towns, and a master’s by 14%. Qualifications ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Varsity ranks below 77% of Canadian towns on children under 15: 13%
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. Residents by five-year age band, each beside the typical town (the tick).
The median age in Varsity is 42.6, higher than in 53% of Canadian towns. The wider picture: 16% of residents are under 15 across Canada’s towns. The biggest five-year age group is 20–24, with 7.9% of residents, 1.5 times the share across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Varsity, 42.6. 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.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 70% of Canadian towns
Household types, then household sizes.
Against Alberta’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Shared houses stand out: 7.3% of households are unrelated adults living together, more than in 88% of Canadian towns. The share of one-parent families stands at 6.2%.
Only 7.4% of residents 15 and over live common-law in Varsity
Married, common-law, single: residents 15 and over.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Never married and not common-law: 31% of adults (typical: 27%). As a yardstick, 11% of residents 15 and over live common-law across Canada’s towns.
A higher share of renter households than 71% of Canadian towns, at 37%
Dwelling types, tenure and age of the housing. 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
Across Canada’s towns, the share of households in single-detached houses is 64%; Varsity has 46%. Newer homes outnumber old: 9.7% date from 2001 or later, 4.2% from before 1961. Elsewhere, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns.
Half of households earn more than $90,700 a year
Incomes are 2020’s, the census’s reference year, and include pandemic benefits such as CERB. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Varsity had $90,700 before tax, 5% above the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The median across Alberta’s towns is $92,200. The pandemic’s benefits: 26% of income recipients, against 28% in the typical town.
Above 81% of Canadian towns: 14% of residents are not Canadian citizens
Where immigrants were born and when they came, and how recently residents moved in.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 35%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Most immigrants were born in Asia (54%) or in Europe (24%). The comparison figure for residents without Canadian citizenship is 5.8% across Canada’s towns. 15% lived at another address a year earlier, more than the typical 11% across Canada’s towns. Recent arrivals are 37% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns.
In Varsity, 33% of residents belong to a visible minority, more than in 70% of Canadian towns
Visible minority and Indigenous identity, then religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Asked about religion, 42% said none and 48% Christian (Canada’s towns: 35% and 54%). Other faiths: Muslim (5.9%). Elsewhere, 15% of residents belong to a visible minority across Canada’s towns.
Bilingual residents make up 9.9% in Varsity, more than in 61% of Canadian towns
The official languages residents can speak, and the ones they learned first.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
At home: English 81%, French 0.4%. The wider picture: 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns. On residents whose mother tongue is French, 1.3% here is much the same as across Canada’s towns.
Varsity sits above 95% of Canadian towns for degree holders aged 25 to 64 (63%)
Highest certificate, diploma or degree of residents aged 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
3.1% have no certificate, diploma or degree (typical: 9.5%). Measured more widely, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 52% of residents 15 and over had a job
May 2021 was still a pandemic month: the census’s work figures reflect that. Work, briefly: employment, unemployment, participation and working from home. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
At 52%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 25% are 65 or over.
Among 41 towns of 12,321 to 12,899 people, the 21st oldest
The Canadian towns closest in population, from youngest to oldest.
Yonge-Bay Corridor is the youngest of them at 31.2; Saltspring Island, at 56.4, the oldest. Next to Varsity on this scale come Dovercourt Village (39.1), Windsor Park (40), Alderwood (43) and Forest Hill North (43.2).
Varsity and its 6 nearest towns: 1 of them are older
The closest towns, coloured by how old their residents are.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varsity | 12,605 | — | 42.6 | 25% | 28% |
| Dalhousie | 8,617 | 1.9 km | 39.9 | 20% | 33% |
| Brentwood | 7,369 | 2.0 km | 35.8 | 16% | 24% |
| Montgomery | 4,456 | 2.1 km | 39.2 | 18% | 20% |
| University Heights | 4,031 | 2.5 km | 32.1 | 13% | 27% |
| Bowness | 11,548 | 2.8 km | 40.4 | 17% | 17% |
| Silver Springs | 9,042 | 3.1 km | 45.2 | 22% | 18% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. In the census, “visible minority” is the Employment Equity Act’s term for people who are non-white in colour or race and not Indigenous. Like immigrant status, Indigenous identity and religion, which residents reported themselves, it is compared with other towns, never turned into a label.
- Against Alberta’s towns and Canada’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Alberta’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, and over all Canadian towns of that size (whole cities and First Nations reserves left out). Percentiles are within Canada only.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. Statistics Canada publishes the census for municipalities, not neighbourhoods, so these figures add up the dissemination areas inside the neighbourhood. Counts are sums of StatCan’s rounded counts; the median age and income are worked out from the published age and income groups; and 2016 areas don’t add up to these, so there is no 2016 count.
- What these tables don’t give. For origins the charts stop at visible minority and Indigenous identity, and the Census Profile has nothing on unpaid care, cars or the internet, or on change by age since 2016.
Questions about Varsity’s residents
What is the population of Varsity?
The 2021 Census counted 12,605 people in Varsity.
What is the average age in Varsity?
The median age is 42.6, older than 53% of Canadian towns. 13% are under 15 and 25% 65 or older.
Is Varsity bilingual?
English and French: 9.9% speak both (Canada’s towns: 7.5%). English only: 88%. French only: 0%. French mother tongue: 1.3%.
How diverse is Varsity?
Immigrants: 28% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 33%. Indigenous identity: 2.3%.
What religion are people in Varsity?
42% said they have no religion and 48% that they are Christian; 9.6% named another faith.
Is Varsity good for families?
13% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 49% of households and one-parent families 6.2%. Schools near Varsity are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Varsity?
Half of Varsity’s households had more than $90,700 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
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).