Photo: Marinadeshippagan · Public domainHalf of Shippagan is over 51.2, older than 88% of Canadian towns
Set against 27% across Canada’s towns, 39% of households are one person living alone in Shippagan. The 2021 Census found 1,195 households in the town; by July 2025 the population was about 3,073. Across Shippagan, 5.1% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Compared with other places, residents with no religion are scarce here: 9.9%, fewer than in 98% of Canadian towns.
What stands out about the people of Shippagan
A French-speaking community
French is the mother tongue of 93% of residents, more than in 92% of Canadian towns. 44% can speak English and French, and 96% use French most at home. English & French ↓
Older than most towns
Line Shippagan’s residents up by age and the one in the middle is 51.2; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 28% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Shippagan sits above 92% of Canadian towns for residents whose mother tongue is French (93%)
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. 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
Across Canada’s towns, the share of bilingual residents is 7.5%; Shippagan has 44%. Residents whose mother tongue is French: 1.5% across Canada’s towns, for comparison. At home: English 1.4%, French 96%.
Shippagan changed by +4% from 2016 to 2021, behind 53% of Canadian towns
Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
The July 2025 estimate adds another 15%.
Residents aged 65 and over: 28%, a higher share than 89% of Canadian towns
Every five-year age group as a share of residents; ticks mark the typical town.
No age band is larger than 60–64: nearly one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across Canada’s towns. Across the comparison, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. Children under 15: 13% of the total.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Shippagan, 51.2. 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.
Shippagan sits above 86% of Canadian towns for one-parent families (11%)
Households by family type and by the number of people in them.
Against New Brunswick’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
The typical household size is 2.1 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. The benchmark for one-parent families across Canada’s towns: 8.2%.
Married residents 15 and over make up 29% in Shippagan, less than in 91% of Canadian towns
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 third of adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). Across the comparison, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns. Common-law partners account for 17%.
A higher share of renter households than 64% of Canadian towns, at 33%
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
Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. The comparison figure for renter households is 25% across Canada’s towns. A fifth of homes were built before 1961 and 12% in 2001 or later. In Shippagan, 67% of households live in a single-detached house, beside 64% across Canada’s towns.
A median household income of $59,600 a year
Census incomes are for 2020, the year before the census, when CERB and other pandemic benefits topped up many households. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Household incomes run lower in Shippagan: half had less than $59,600, 31% under the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). $73,300 is the median household income across New Brunswick’s towns. Emergency and recovery benefits reached 27% of those with an income, beside a typical 28%.
1.4% 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
Across Canada’s towns, the share of immigrants is 17%; Shippagan has 1.4%. For Shippagan, the census puts residents without Canadian citizenship at 3%.
A higher share of Indigenous residents than 61% of Canadian towns, at 3.8%
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Where 15% of residents belong to a visible minority across Canada’s towns, Shippagan has 3.4%. Set beside that, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity across Canada’s towns.
Shippagan ranks below 57% of Canadian towns on degree holders aged 25 to 64: 24%
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 19%, against 9.5%. To put it in context, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 54% of residents 15 and over had a job
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.
At 54%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 28% are 65 or over.
Oldest by rank: 6th of 41 towns of 3,022 to 3,124 people
Towns of about this size, placed by median age.
The youngest of these towns is La Loche, at 25.6; the oldest, Trois-Pistoles, is at 59.6. The towns whose median age is nearest to Shippagan’s: Cap-Saint-Ignace (51.2), Clermont (51.2), Princeton (52.8) and Grenville-sur-la-Rouge (53.2).
Every neighbour of Shippagan has an older population
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Against New Brunswick’s towns and Canada’s towns. Two medians frame each figure: one for New Brunswick’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 Shippagan’s residents
What is the median income in Shippagan?
Median total household income in Shippagan was $59,600 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Shippagan?
The latest figure is an estimate: 3,073 residents in July 2025. At the 2021 Census, Shippagan counted 2,672, 4% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Shippagan?
Half the residents are older than 51.2 and half younger, older than 88% of Canadian towns; 13% are children under 15 and 28% are 65 or over.
Is Shippagan bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 44% are. Another 55% speak only French and 1% only English, and French is the first language of 93%.
How diverse is Shippagan?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 1.4%. A visible minority makes up 3.4% and Indigenous residents 3.8%.
What religion are people in Shippagan?
Most often Christian (88%) or no religion (9.9%); other religions make up 1.8%.
Is Shippagan good for families?
Children under 15 are 13% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 40% of households and one-parent families 11%. Schools near Shippagan are on its Schools page.
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).