Photo: Alasdair McLellan · CC BY-SA 3.0Older than 99% of Canadian towns: half of Cobble Hill is over 58.8
6.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24 (Canada’s towns: 11%). With about 5,074 residents in July 2025, Cobble Hill counted 2,210 households at the 2021 Census. Locally, nearly nine in ten households live in a single-detached house. At 59%, the share of residents with no religion is higher than in 96% of Canadian towns. Statistics Canada counts Cobble Hill as part of Cowichan Valley C: the figures on this page are the municipality’s.
What stands out about the people of Cobble Hill
Older than most towns
The middle resident of Cobble Hill is 58.8; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 38% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
+1% since 2016, a pace below 74% of Canadian towns
Figures are from the 2021 Census unless dated otherwise. How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Across Canada’s towns the median change is +4%; across British Columbia’s towns, +6%. By July 2025, Statistics Canada’s estimate had barely moved.
Residents aged 65 and over: 38%, a higher share than 99% of Canadian towns
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
The biggest five-year age group is 70–74, with just over one in ten residents, 2.3 times the share across Canada’s towns. To put it in context, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. The share of children under 15 stands at 12%.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Cobble Hill, 58.8. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women.
One-person households: 23%, a lower share than 65% of Canadian towns
Households by family type and by the number of people in them.
Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Across Canada’s towns, the share of one-parent families is 8.2%; Cobble Hill has 5.4%. On average, 2.3 people share a household. One-person households make up 27% across Canada’s towns.
More married residents 15 and over than 94% of Canadian towns: 60%
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
For Cobble Hill, the census puts common-law partners at 11%. By way of comparison, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns.
12% of households rent their home, below 85% 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 nearly three quarters of Canadian towns. Across Canada’s towns, renter households come to 25%. 19% of homes were built in 2001 or later, more than the 8.1% built before 1961.
The midpoint household income is $91,000 a year
Census incomes are for 2020, the year before the census, when CERB and other pandemic benefits topped up many households. Household income before tax: the median, and households by income group.
Households by income · share of households
Household incomes run high in Cobble Hill: half had more than $91,000, 6% above the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Household incomes across British Columbia’s towns have a median of $87,000. Emergency and recovery benefits reached 17% of those with an income, beside a typical 28%.
16% of residents are immigrants
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 20%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (71%) and in the Americas (18%). On residents without Canadian citizenship, Cobble Hill sits lower than 70% of Canadian towns: 2.5%. Recent arrivals are 8.8% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns.
In Cobble Hill, 5.1% of residents have an Indigenous identity, more than in 71% of Canadian towns
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
15% of residents belong to a visible minority across Canada’s towns, against 3.9% in Cobble Hill. By way of comparison, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity across Canada’s towns.
92% have English as their mother tongue; 7.5% 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 98%, French 0.2%. Compared with other places, residents whose mother tongue is French are scarce here: 1.1%, fewer than in two thirds of Canadian towns.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64 make up 25% in Cobble Hill, less than in 53% of Canadian towns
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
At the bottom of the ladder, 7.9% hold no certificate of any kind, against 9.5% in the typical town. Elsewhere, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
A job for 47% of residents aged 15 and over
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.
The employment rate of 47% is below the typical 58% across Canada’s towns; 38% of residents are 65 or over.
3rd highest median age among 41 towns of 4,989 to 5,161
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is River-Osborne (31.6) and the oldest Northern Bruce Peninsula (61.6). In age, Cobble Hill keeps company with Morin-Heights (54.4), Gibsons (56), Saint-Donat (60.4) and Northern Bruce Peninsula (61.6).
Cobble Hill is older than every town around it
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobble Hill | 5,074 | — | 58.8 | 38% | 16% |
| Cowichan Bay | 3,713 | 5.6 km | 51.6 | 27% | 14% |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | 5,156 | 6.0 km | 54 | 29% | 17% |
| Shawnigan | 9,903 | 7.0 km | 44.4 | 18% | 8.5% |
| North Saanich | 12,986 | 11.1 km | 56.8 | 35% | 17% |
| Cowichan | 2,509 | 11.7 km | 30.2 | 9.3% | 0% |
| Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley | 4,482 | 12.4 km | 46 | 21% | 7.7% |
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 British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns. Two medians frame each figure: one for British Columbia’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, one for all Canadian towns of that size, with whole cities and First Nations reserves left out. Percentiles rank the town within Canada.
- What these tables don’t give. Unpaid care, car ownership and internet access aren’t in the Census Profile, nor is the change by age since 2016. Ethnic origins other than visible minority and Indigenous identity are left out of the charts.
Questions about Cobble Hill’s residents
What religion are people in Cobble Hill?
Christian: 38%. No religion: 59%. Another religion: 2.9%.
Is Cobble Hill good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 12%. 63% of households are couple families and 5.4% one-parent families. Schools near Cobble Hill are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Cobble Hill?
$91,000 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Cobble Hill (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
What is the population of Cobble Hill?
Statistics Canada estimates 5,074 residents for July 2025; the 2021 Census counted 5,046 in Cobble Hill, about the same as 2016.
What is the average age in Cobble Hill?
58.8 is the median age, older than 99% of Canadian towns. Under 15: 12%. 65 and over: 38%.
Is Cobble Hill bilingual?
7.5% 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 1.1%.
How diverse is Cobble Hill?
Immigrants make up 16% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 3.9% are members of a visible minority, and 5.1% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population · Statistics Canada, population estimates for 1 July 2025 (table 17-10-0155). 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).