Photo: Kiwibirdman · CC BY 3.075% of residents said they have no religion, more than in 99% of Canadian towns
Households in single-detached houses make up 95%, against 64% across Canada’s towns. The share of one-person households stands at 17%. Half of Highlands’s residents are over 45.6, older than in 71% of Canadian towns. The latest estimate, for July 2025, is 2,753 residents; the 2021 Census found 905 households.
What stands out about the people of Highlands
Growing faster than most
Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, Highlands went from 2,225 to 2,482 residents (+12%), faster growth than in 86% of Canadian towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Growth of +12% since 2016 puts Highlands ahead of 86% of Canadian towns
Every figure here comes from the 2021 Census unless it carries another date. Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025 is 11% higher again. For comparison, the median is +4% across Canada’s towns and +6% across British Columbia’s towns.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 10%, a lower share than 63% of Canadian towns
Every five-year age group as a share of residents; ticks mark the typical town.
In Highlands, 18% of residents are 65 or over. The largest age band is 60–64: one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Highlands, 45.6. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
Highlands households average 2.7 people, larger than in 76% of Canadian towns
Private households by type and size.
Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
4.4% of households are one-parent families (Canada’s towns: 8.2%).
Highlands ranks above 79% of Canadian towns on married residents 15 and over: 55%
How adults live as couples, or don’t, with common-law unions shown on their own.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Just over a fifth of adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). By way of comparison, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns. Census figures put common-law partners at 14% in Highlands.
11% of households rent their home, below 87% of Canadian towns
The kinds of homes people live in, who owns and who rents, and how old the homes are. 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
Newer homes outnumber old: 31% date from 2001 or later, 4% from before 1961. Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in nearly three quarters of Canadian towns. Set beside that, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns.
$122,000 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
Highlands’s median household took in $122,000 before tax, 42% more than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). For British Columbia’s towns, the median household income is $87,000. COVID-19 benefits went to 21% of residents with an income (typical: 28%).
12% of residents are immigrants
Birthplaces and arrival years of immigrants, citizenship and recent moves.
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 (60%) and in the Americas (21%). Lower than in nearly two thirds of Canadian towns: 3% of residents are not Canadian citizens. What’s more, of the immigrants living here, 19% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%.
4.5% of residents have an Indigenous identity, a share 67% of Canadian towns don’t reach
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Against a figure of 15% across Canada’s towns, the share of visible minority residents in Highlands comes in at 6.4%. For comparison, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity across Canada’s towns.
English is the mother tongue of 92%, and 7% speak French as well
Who can speak English and French, mother tongue, and the language spoken most at home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
1.2% of residents have French as their mother tongue.
27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
With no certificate, diploma or degree: 8.1%, beside a typical 9.5%.
61% of residents 15 and over were in work
Counted in May 2021, during COVID-19, these rates catch the job market before it had recovered. Four labour figures from the census. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
More people work here than in the typical town: 61%, against 58% across Canada’s towns.
Among 41 towns of 2,718 to 2,785 people, the 20th youngest
Towns of about this size, placed by median age.
The youngest is Waskaganish (25) and the oldest Cultus Lake (56.8). The towns whose median age is nearest to Highlands’s: Central River Heights (44.1), Vars (45.5), Freelton (45.7) and Upper Mount Royal (45.9).
Highlands and its 6 nearest towns: 4 of them are older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | 2,753 | — | 45.6 | 18% | 12% |
| Central Saanich | 18,184 | 7.5 km | 49.6 | 27% | 16% |
| Langford | 59,664 | 9.8 km | 38.4 | 14% | 16% |
| View Royal | 12,795 | 9.8 km | 44.8 | 21% | 18% |
| East Saanich 2 | 1,962 | 11.0 km | 64 | 47% | 0% |
| New Songhees 1A | 2,052 | 11.8 km | 50 | 28% | 11% |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley | 5,156 | 12.4 km | 54 | 29% | 17% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. Provincial and national yardsticks: British Columbia’s towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents, and all Canadian towns of that size. No whole city and no First Nations reserve is in either median.
Questions about Highlands’s residents
What is the population of Highlands?
The latest figure is an estimate: 2,753 residents in July 2025. At the 2021 Census, Highlands counted 2,482, 12% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Highlands?
Half the residents are older than 45.6 and half younger, older than 71% of Canadian towns; 16% are children under 15 and 18% are 65 or over.
Is Highlands bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 7% are. Another 0% speak only French and 93% only English, and French is the first language of 1.2%.
How diverse is Highlands?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 12%. A visible minority makes up 6.4% and Indigenous residents 4.5%.
What religion are people in Highlands?
Most often Christian (23%) or no religion (75%); other religions make up 1.9%.
Is Highlands good for families?
Children under 15 are 16% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 62% of households and one-parent families 4.4%. Schools near Highlands are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Highlands?
Median total household income in Highlands was $122,000 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
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).