Photo: The Interior · CC BY-SA 4.0Salmon Arm is older than 89% of Canadian towns: a median age of 51.6
Where just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns, Salmon Arm has 55%. Statistics Canada puts the town’s population at 20,891 for July 2025. The share of residents who moved in within the year stands at 14%. 9.1% of residents are aged 15 to 24, a lower share than in 79% of Canadian towns.
What stands out about the people of Salmon Arm
Older than most towns
The middle resident of Salmon Arm is 51.6; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 30% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
A +10% change since 2016: Salmon Arm grew faster than 80% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 8%. Across British Columbia’s towns the median is +6%, and across Canada’s towns +4%.
Salmon Arm sits above 93% of Canadian towns for residents aged 65 and over (30%)
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
Against a figure of 16% across Canada’s towns, the share of children under 15 in Salmon Arm comes in at 15%. More residents are 60–64 than any other five-year age: nearly one in ten residents. Measured more widely, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Salmon Arm, 51.6. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Salmon Arm households average 2.3 people, smaller than in 64% of Canadian towns
Private households by type and size.
Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Here 29% of households are one person living alone, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 27%. The share of one-parent families stands at 7.4%.
Common-law partners make up 8.8% in Salmon Arm, less than in 66% of Canadian towns
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Never married and not common-law: just over a fifth of adults (typical: 27%). Higher than in 64% of Canadian towns: 51% of residents 15 and over are married. The share of common-law partners across Canada’s towns is 11%.
A lower share of renter households than 57% of Canadian towns, at 22%
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
Newer homes outnumber old: 28% date from 2001 or later, 11% from before 1961. Single-detached houses hold 62% of households, less than in 52% of Canadian towns, and buildings of five or more storeys 0.1%. Renter households make up 25% across Canada’s towns.
$75,000 a year: where the middle household sits
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; Salmon Arm’s, at $75,000, is 13% lower. The median across British Columbia’s towns is $87,000. The pandemic’s benefits: 21% of income recipients, against 28% in the typical town.
10% 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
Where 17% of residents are immigrants across Canada’s towns, Salmon Arm has 10%. Lower than in 64% of Canadian towns: 3.2% of residents are not Canadian citizens. The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (57%) and in Asia (22%).
Salmon Arm sits above 81% of Canadian towns for Indigenous residents (7.6%)
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Across Canada’s towns, 15% of residents belong to a visible minority; in Salmon Arm, 5.5%. The comparison figure for Indigenous residents is 2.8% across Canada’s towns.
91% have English as their mother tongue; 7.4% 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 1%, residents whose mother tongue is French sit close to the figure across Canada’s towns.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64 make up 23% in Salmon Arm, less than in 60% of Canadian towns
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Without any certificate: 8.8% of 25- to 64-year-olds (typical: 9.5%).
In work on census day: 53% of adults
May 2021 was still a pandemic month: the census’s work figures reflect that. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Fewer work here than in the typical town: 53%, against 58% across Canada’s towns. 30% of residents are 65 or over.
2nd highest median age among 41 towns of 20,318 to 21,483
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Between Saddle Ridge (32.4) and Bridgenorth (52) lies the rest of the group. Next to Salmon Arm on this scale come Tillsonburg (49.2), Corner Brook (49.6) and Bridgenorth (52).
Median age: 2 of the 3 towns around Salmon Arm are older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon Arm | 20,891 | — | 51.6 | 30% | 10% |
| Electoral Area F, North Okanagan | 4,969 | 12.7 km | 49.2 | 23% | 8.7% |
| Enderby | 3,292 | 18.4 km | 54.4 | 33% | 7.6% |
| Blind Bay | 9,984 | 18.8 km | 58.8 | 34% | 10% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns. The middle of British Columbia’s towns of 2,500 or more comes first, the middle of all Canadian towns second; cities as a whole and First Nations reserves stay out, and percentiles are within Canada.
- 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. “Visible minority” is the census’s term from the Employment Equity Act: people, other than Indigenous peoples, who are non-white in colour or race. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are as residents answered. The page compares them with other towns and never labels a town by them.
Questions about Salmon Arm’s residents
What is the average age in Salmon Arm?
The median age is 51.6, older than 89% of Canadian towns. 15% are under 15 and 30% 65 or older.
Is Salmon Arm bilingual?
7.4% 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%.
How diverse is Salmon Arm?
Immigrants: 10% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 5.5%. Indigenous identity: 7.6%.
What religion are people in Salmon Arm?
55% said they have no religion and 42% that they are Christian; 3% named another faith.
Is Salmon Arm good for families?
15% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 53% of households and one-parent families 7.4%. Schools near Salmon Arm are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Salmon Arm?
Half of Salmon Arm’s households had more than $75,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Salmon Arm?
About 20,891, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 19,432 people in Salmon Arm, 10% more than 2016.
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).