Half of Kilkenny is under 36.4, younger than 85% of Canadian towns
With visible minority residents at 43%, Kilkenny is ahead of 80% of Canadian towns on that count. In Kilkenny, 14% of residents are not Canadian citizens. 38% of households rent their home, more than in 72% of Canadian towns. The neighbourhood had 5,481 residents in 2,005 households at the 2021 Census.
What stands out about the people of Kilkenny
Younger than most towns
Line Kilkenny’s residents up by age and the one in the middle is 36.4; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 20% are under 15 and 15% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Kilkenny ranks above 83% of Canadian towns on children under 15: 20%
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 figure for residents aged 65 and over is 15% in Kilkenny and 19% across Canada’s towns. More residents are 25–29 than any other five-year age: 7.7% of residents, 1.3 times the share across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Kilkenny, 36.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
In Kilkenny, 15% of households are one-parent families, more than in 97% of Canadian towns
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Alberta’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
A household here has 2.7 people on average; across Canada’s towns, 2.4. 23% of households are one person living alone, fewer than in 64% of Canadian towns. As a reference point, nearly one in ten households are one-parent families across Canada’s towns.
Only 6.8% of residents 15 and over live common-law in Kilkenny
Married, common-law, single: residents 15 and over.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Just over a third of adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). Across Canada’s towns, 11% of residents 15 and over live common-law.
Kilkenny ranks below 53% of Canadian towns on households in single-detached houses: 62%
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
Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. Older homes outnumber new: 5.3% predate 1961, 3% date from 2001 or later. The benchmark for households in single-detached houses across Canada’s towns: 64%.
The midpoint household income is $83,400 a year
Incomes are 2020’s, the census’s reference year, and include pandemic benefits such as CERB. Total household income: the median household, and the spread from low to high.
Households by income · share of households
The median across Canada’s towns is $86,000, and Kilkenny’s, at $83,400, is close to it. The middle household across Alberta’s towns has $92,200 before tax. COVID-19 benefits were paid to 35% of residents with an income, where the typical town had 28%.
Kilkenny sits above 74% of Canadian towns for immigrants (32%)
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 40%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Of the immigrants living here, 45% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%. Across the comparison, 17% of residents are immigrants across Canada’s towns. Most immigrants were born in Africa (38%) or in Asia (33%). Kilkenny has more residents who moved in within the year than 61% of Canadian towns, at 12%.
More Indigenous residents than 83% of Canadian towns: 8.1%
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Set against 35% across Canada’s towns, 31% of residents said they have no religion in Kilkenny. Across the comparison, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity across Canada’s towns. Other faiths: Muslim (17%).
1.6% of residents have French as their mother tongue, more than in 52% 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
The share of bilingual residents is 5.4%, against 7.5% across Canada’s towns. Across the comparison, 1.5% of residents have French as their mother tongue across Canada’s towns. At home, 19% mostly speak another language; 3% speak neither English nor French.
Only 14% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in Kilkenny
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
An employment rate of 49%
The census was taken in May 2021, during the pandemic, so these rates show a labour market still recovering. Work, briefly: employment, unemployment, participation and working from home. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
At 49%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 15% are 65 or over.
In its size band (5,370 to 5,595), the 6th youngest of 41 towns
The Canadian towns closest in population, from youngest to oldest.
Chisasibi is the youngest of them at 26.6; Inverness County, Subdivision A, at 56.4, the oldest. The towns whose median age is nearest to Kilkenny’s: Huron South (33.6), Carlton (34), Billings Bridge - Heron Park (36.6) and Larkspur (37.3).
5 of the 6 nearest towns are older than Kilkenny
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What these tables don’t give. Missing from the census as published: unpaid care, cars and internet access, and the shift in each age band since 2016. Ethnic origins past 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. 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 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 Kilkenny’s residents
What is the population of Kilkenny?
Kilkenny had 5,481 residents at the 2021 Census.
What is the average age in Kilkenny?
Half the residents are older than 36.4 and half younger, younger than 85% of Canadian towns; 20% are children under 15 and 15% are 65 or over.
Is Kilkenny bilingual?
Both official languages are spoken by 5.4% of residents, against a typical 7.5% across Canada’s towns. 91% speak only English and 0.2% only French; 1.6% grew up with French.
How diverse is Kilkenny?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 32%. A visible minority makes up 43% and Indigenous residents 8.1%.
What religion are people in Kilkenny?
Most often Christian (48%) or no religion (31%); other religions make up 21%.
Is Kilkenny good for families?
Children under 15 are 20% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 46% of households and one-parent families 15%. Schools near Kilkenny are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Kilkenny?
Median total household income in Kilkenny was $83,400 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
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).