Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents aged 15 to 24: 7.9%, a lower share than 91% of Canadian towns
Across Canada’s towns, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity; in Highlands, 6.4%. One-person households: 33% of the total. Higher than in just over four fifths of Canadian towns: 86% of households live in a single-detached house. There were 1,220 households in the neighbourhood at the 2021 Census, home to 2,677 people.
Older than 62% of Canadian towns: half of Highlands is over 44
The figures are the 2021 Census’s, except where another date is given. Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or over (Canada’s towns: 19%). Across Highlands, 15% of residents are under 15.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Highlands, 44. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 78% of Canadian towns
Household types, then household sizes.
Against Alberta’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Across Canada’s towns, 8.2% of households are one-parent families; in Highlands, 6.6%.
Common-law partners make up 14% in Highlands, more than in 71% of Canadian towns
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Where 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns, Highlands has 44%. The benchmark for common-law partners across Canada’s towns: 11%.
In Highlands, 22% of households rent their home, fewer than in 57% of Canadian towns
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 are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. For comparison, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Older homes outnumber new: 72% predate 1961, 4% date from 2001 or later.
$105,400 a year is the median household income here
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Highlands’s median household took in $105,400 before tax, 23% more than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Within Alberta’s towns, the household in the middle had $92,200. 22% of income recipients received COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefits (typical: 28%).
Residents who moved in within the year: 13%, a higher share than 68% of Canadian towns
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
In Highlands, just over one in ten residents are immigrants, beside 17% across Canada’s towns. As a yardstick, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. Across Highlands, 2% of residents are not Canadian citizens.
A larger share of residents with no religion than 85% of Canadian towns: 49%
Visible minority and Indigenous identity, then religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Across Canada’s towns, the share of visible minority residents is 15%; Highlands has 7.7%. On average, just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns.
87% have English as their mother tongue; 7.7% 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
At home: English 97%, French 0.2%. Fewer residents whose mother tongue is French than in 89% of Canadian towns: 0.6%.
Above 82% of Canadian towns: 48% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher
Highest certificate, diploma or degree of residents aged 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
At the bottom of the ladder, 3% 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: 62% of residents 15 and over had a job
These rates date from May 2021, during the pandemic, and run lower than a normal year’s. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
62% of residents 15 and over have a job; across Canada’s towns the typical share is 58%.
In its size band (2,639 to 2,719), the 16th oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Electoral Area A, Central Kootenay is the oldest at 60, La Ronge the youngest at 31. Next to Highlands on this scale come Grand Manan (43.6), Plessisville (43.6), Eastdale (44.2) and Swan Valley West (44.8).
3 of the 6 nearest towns are older than Highlands
The closest towns, coloured by how old their residents are.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | 2,677 | — | 44 | 21% | 12% |
| Montrose | 3,378 | 0.8 km | 38.9 | 13% | 23% |
| Newton | 2,809 | 1.3 km | 41.3 | 18% | 20% |
| Virginia Park | 3,431 | 1.8 km | 43.8 | 19% | 22% |
| Capilano | 5,046 | 1.9 km | 45.9 | 21% | 10% |
| Beacon Heights | 4,389 | 2.0 km | 44.5 | 17% | 17% |
| Beverly Heights | 3,252 | 2.0 km | 45.5 | 22% | 17% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. A figure here is set beside two middles, the median across Alberta’s places of 2,500 people or more and the median across all Canadian towns that size; reserves and entire cities are excluded from both.
- 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.
Questions about Highlands’s residents
What is the median income in Highlands?
Half of Highlands’s households had more than $105,400 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Highlands?
2,677, at the 2021 Census: Statistics Canada makes no later estimate for Highlands alone.
What is the average age in Highlands?
The median age is 44, older than 62% of Canadian towns. 15% are under 15 and 21% 65 or older.
Is Highlands bilingual?
7.7% 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 0.6%.
How diverse is Highlands?
Immigrants: 12% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 7.7%. Indigenous identity: 6.4%.
What religion are people in Highlands?
49% said they have no religion and 49% that they are Christian; 2.4% named another faith.
Is Highlands good for families?
15% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 50% of households and one-parent families 6.6%. Schools near Highlands are on its Schools page.
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).