Photo: Northwest · CC BY-SA 4.0More immigrants than 95% of Canadian towns: 55%
The share of residents without Canadian citizenship tops 92% of Canadian towns: 20%. At 9%, the share of households in single-detached houses is lower than in 93% of Canadian towns. There were 5,235 households in Guildford at the 2021 Census, home to 14,663 people. Locally, just over a fifth of households are one person living alone.
What stands out about the people of Guildford
More immigrants than most towns
Immigrants make up 55% of residents; the medians are 16% across British Columbia’s towns and 17% across Canada’s towns. Most immigrants were born in Asia (80%) or in Europe (7.4%), and 39% arrived from 2011 to 2021. Immigrants & newcomers ↓
A mix of backgrounds
Visible minority residents make up 70%, more than in 93% of Canadian towns, and immigrants 55%. Identity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Only 13% of residents are 65 or over in Guildford
Every figure here comes from the 2021 Census unless it carries another date. Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
The median age in Guildford is 38.4, lower than in 74% of Canadian towns. The wider picture: 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. In Guildford, just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24. The biggest five-year age group is 35–39, with nearly one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Guildford, 38.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
Guildford sits above 92% of Canadian towns for one-parent families (13%)
Private households by type and size.
Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Across Canada’s towns, households average 2.4 people; in Guildford, 2.8. The benchmark for one-parent families across Canada’s towns: 8.2%.
Common-law partners: 6.3%, a lower share than 84% 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: 32% of adults (typical: 27%). Here, 49% of residents 15 and over are married. The comparison figure for common-law partners is 11% across Canada’s towns.
In Guildford, 43% of households rent their home, more than in 78% 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
At 0.9%, households in buildings of five or more storeys sit close to the figure across Canada’s towns. Against that, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. 15% of homes were built in 2001 or later, more than the 6.6% built before 1961.
$81,100 a year is the median household income here
The census asked about income in 2020: a pandemic year, with CERB and other emergency benefits counted in. 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; Guildford’s, at $81,100, is 6% lower. Among British Columbia’s towns, the typical figure is $87,000. In 2020, 35% of income recipients drew a COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefit; the typical town had 28%.
10% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, below 60% of Canadian towns
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 65%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Most immigrants were born in Asia (80%) or in Europe (7.4%). Residents who moved in within the year make up 11% across Canada’s towns. Recent arrivals are nearly two in five immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns.
Guildford sits above 93% of Canadian towns for visible minority residents (70%)
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Among other religions: Muslim (7.5%), Sikh (3.4%), Buddhist (3.3%) and Hindu (2.6%). Compared with other places, residents with no religion are scarce here: 29%, fewer than in 67% of Canadian towns. Elsewhere, 15% of residents belong to a visible minority across Canada’s towns. Indigenous residents are about as common here as across Canada’s towns, at 2.4%.
60% have a mother tongue other than English or 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
0.4% of residents have French as their mother tongue, against 1.5% across Canada’s towns. Across Guildford, 2.9% of residents speak English and French.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64: 34%, a higher share than 62% of Canadian towns
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Without any certificate: 12% of 25- to 64-year-olds (typical: 9.5%).
A job for 59% 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.
Employment here, 59%, matches the middle of Canada’s towns (58%) within a couple of points.
Of 41 towns its size (14,407 to 14,922 people), the 12th youngest
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Median ages climb from 23.4 (La Crète) to 57 (Pointe-de-Sainte-Foy) across the group. The towns whose median age is nearest to Guildford’s: Vieux-Montréal (38), North Battleford (38.4), Maizerets (38.9) and Roncesvalles (39.6).
4 in 6 nearby towns have a higher median age than Guildford
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guildford | 14,663 | — | 38.4 | 13% | 55% |
| Johnston Heights | 30,971 | 1.3 km | 40.3 | 16% | 54% |
| Birdland | 10,745 | 1.6 km | 37.4 | 12% | 48% |
| Fraser Heights | 17,688 | 2.2 km | 42.2 | 15% | 52% |
| Port Mann | 5,988 | 3.0 km | 39.6 | 15% | 40% |
| Fleetwood | 63,957 | 3.9 km | 39.5 | 17% | 51% |
| Whalley | 52,642 | 4.0 km | 34.9 | 12% | 49% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against British Columbia’s towns and Canada’s towns. For each measure we take the median of British Columbia’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, then the median of all Canadian towns. Neither counts whole cities or reserves, and every percentile is a Canadian one.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. Built up from dissemination areas: Statistics Canada stops at the municipality. Rounded counts are added together and medians estimated from the published groups. The 2016 areas don’t line up with these, so the change since 2016 isn’t shown.
- 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. The census takes “visible minority” from the Employment Equity Act: anyone other than Indigenous peoples who is non-white in colour or race. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are what residents reported, compared here with other towns and never used as a label.
Questions about Guildford’s residents
How diverse is Guildford?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 55%. A visible minority makes up 70% and Indigenous residents 2.4%.
What religion are people in Guildford?
Most often Christian (52%) or no religion (29%); other religions make up 19%.
Is Guildford good for families?
Children under 15 are 17% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 51% of households and one-parent families 13%. Schools near Guildford are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Guildford?
Median total household income in Guildford was $81,100 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Guildford?
The 2021 Census counted 14,663 people in Guildford.
What is the average age in Guildford?
Half the residents are older than 38.4 and half younger, younger than 74% of Canadian towns; 17% are children under 15 and 13% are 65 or over.
Is Guildford bilingual?
2.9% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0% speak French only and 90% English only. French is the mother tongue of 0.4%.
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).