Photo: KenWalker · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 61.6: Fairwinds is older than 99% of Canadian towns
Across Canada’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 35%; Fairwinds has 62%. Census figures put renter households at 9% locally. This British Columbia town has fewer children under 15 than 97% of Canadian towns, at 8.9%. The latest estimate, for July 2025, is 7,125 residents; the 2021 Census found 3,070 households. Statistics Canada counts Fairwinds as part of Nanaimo E: the figures on this page are the municipality’s.
What stands out about the people of Fairwinds
Older than most towns
Line Fairwinds’s residents up by age and the one in the middle is 61.6; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 41% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
+10% since 2016, a pace 83% of Canadian towns didn’t match
Unless a figure says otherwise, it is from the 2021 Census. Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Across Canada’s towns, half of towns changed by more than +4%; across British Columbia’s towns, by more than +6%. By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 5%.
41% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of Canadian towns
Residents by five-year age band, each beside the typical town (the tick).
With residents aged 15 to 24 at 5.4%, Fairwinds is behind 99% of Canadian towns on that count. Elsewhere, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Fairwinds, 61.6. 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.
Below 74% of Canadian towns: 21% of households are one person living alone
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Set against 8.2% across Canada’s towns, 3.4% of households are one-parent families in Fairwinds. The share of one-person households across Canada’s towns is 27%. Each household has 2.2 people on average.
Fairwinds: 64% of residents 15 and over are married, above 99% of Canadian towns
Married, common-law, single: residents 15 and over.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
13% of adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). Here, 10% of residents 15 and over live common-law.
Above 82% of Canadian towns: 86% of households live in a single-detached house
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
The share of households in buildings of five or more storeys tops 62% of Canadian towns: 1.3%. Just over a third of homes were built in 2001 or later, more than the 3.4% built before 1961. Measured more widely, 64% of households live in a single-detached house across Canada’s towns.
$94,000 a year: where the middle household sits
Census incomes cover 2020, when emergency benefits like CERB lifted many households’ totals. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
Fairwinds’s median household took in $94,000 before tax, 9% more than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The provincial yardstick is $87,000, the median across British Columbia’s towns. 17% of income recipients received COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefits (typical: 28%).
Residents who moved in within the year: 9.6%, a lower share than 64% of Canadian towns
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 25%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Across Canada’s towns, the share of residents without Canadian citizenship is 5.8%; Fairwinds has 2.8%. Immigrants here were most often born in Europe (72%), then in the Americas (12%). On average, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns.
62% said they have no religion, more than say they are Christian
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
The figure for visible minority residents is 3.7% in Fairwinds and 15% across Canada’s towns. Indigenous residents account for 2.8%.
English is the mother tongue of 90%, and 6.9% speak French as well
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
French is the mother tongue of 1.8% and English of 90%; at home, 0.4% speak French most often and 98% English.
Fairwinds ranks above 54% of Canadian towns on degree holders aged 25 to 64: 29%
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 5%, against 9.5%. For comparison, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 39% of residents 15 and over had a job
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 39%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 41% are 65 or over.
Among 41 towns of 6,984 to 7,277 people, the 1st oldest
The Canadian towns closest in population, from youngest to oldest.
Fairwinds is the oldest at 61.6, Edgeley the youngest at 31.2. Next to Fairwinds on this scale come Algoma, Unorganized, North Part (54.4) and Hope (54.8).
Older than Fairwinds: 1 of the 5 towns nearby
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairwinds | 7,125 | — | 61.6 | 41% | 18% |
| Lantzville | 4,276 | 7.6 km | 50.8 | 26% | 13% |
| Parksville | 15,371 | 11.7 km | 62 | 44% | 17% |
| Electoral Area G, Nanaimo | 8,412 | 15.1 km | 60.8 | 41% | 16% |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo | 3,733 | 15.2 km | 46.8 | 20% | 11% |
| Nanaimo | 111,845 | 17.4 km | 45.2 | 25% | 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 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. 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.
Questions about Fairwinds’s residents
Is Fairwinds bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 6.9% are. Another 0% speak only French and 93% only English, and French is the first language of 1.8%.
How diverse is Fairwinds?
Immigrants: 18% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 3.7%. Indigenous identity: 2.8%.
What religion are people in Fairwinds?
62% said they have no religion and 36% that they are Christian; 2.2% named another faith.
Is Fairwinds good for families?
8.9% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 68% of households and one-parent families 3.4%. Schools near Fairwinds are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Fairwinds?
Half of Fairwinds’s households had more than $94,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Fairwinds?
About 7,125, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 6,765 people in Fairwinds, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Fairwinds?
The median age is 61.6, older than 99% of Canadian towns. 8.9% are under 15 and 41% 65 or older.
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).