Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 58.4: Guysborough is older than 98% of Canadian towns
The average household has 2 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. Guysborough is home to some 4,721 people (July 2025 estimate), in 2,220 households at the 2021 Census. Across Guysborough, 7.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24. 6.6% of residents have an Indigenous identity, more than in 78% of Canadian towns.
What stands out about the people of Guysborough
Older than most towns
Guysborough’s median age is 58.4; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 35% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Guysborough changed by −2% from 2016 to 2021, slower than 88% 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
The median across Canada’s towns is +4%, and across Nova Scotia’s towns +2%. Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025 is 3% higher again.
Guysborough ranks above 98% of Canadian towns on residents aged 65 and over: 35%
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
Across Canada’s towns, 16% of residents are under 15; in Guysborough, 11%. The wider picture: 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Guysborough, 58.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
In Guysborough, 34% of households are one person living alone, more than in 75% of Canadian towns
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Nova Scotia’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Locally, 8.3% of households are one-parent families. Across Canada’s towns, 27% of households are one person living alone.
Above 56% of Canadian towns: 48% of residents 15 and over are married
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: 21% of adults (typical: 27%). For Guysborough, the census puts common-law partners at 11%. To put it in context, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns.
A lower share of renter households than 80% of Canadian towns, at 13%
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
85% of households live in a single-detached house, against 64% across Canada’s towns. Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. Renter households make up 25% across Canada’s towns. Older homes outnumber new: 29% predate 1961, 15% date from 2001 or later.
Half above, half below $54,000 a year in household income
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
The middle household in Guysborough had $54,000 before tax, 37% below the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). For Nova Scotia’s towns, the median household income is $69,100. The pandemic’s benefits: 21% of income recipients, against 28% in the typical town.
7.8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 84% of Canadian towns
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
The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (71%) and in the Americas (25%). 1.7% of residents are not Canadian citizens, a lower share than in 80% of Canadian towns. As a yardstick, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. Recent arrivals are one in ten immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns.
Residents with no religion make up 21% in Guysborough, less than in 85% of Canadian towns
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Visible minority residents: 5.3%, below just over two thirds of Canadian towns. Typically, just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns.
English is the mother tongue of 96%, and 3.2% speak French as well
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
Across Canada’s towns, 7.5% of residents speak English and French; in Guysborough, 3.2%. Here, 2% of residents have French as their mother tongue.
Guysborough ranks below 93% of Canadian towns on degree holders aged 25 to 64: 11%
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No diploma or degree: 19% here, 9.5% in the typical town. As a yardstick, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
38% of residents 15 and over were in work
The census counted work in May 2021, mid-pandemic, so read these rates as a pandemic snapshot. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
38% of residents 15 and over have a job, against a typical 58% across Canada’s towns; 35% are 65 or more.
In its size band (4,627 to 4,817), the 4th oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The group spans Pembina Strip, youngest at 31, to Electoral Area B, Nanaimo, oldest at 63.2. The towns whose median age is nearest to Guysborough’s: Marmora (56), Cumberland County, Subdivision D (58.4), Electoral Area H, Nanaimo (60) and Sutton (60.4).
Guysborough is older than every town around it
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page. Distances here run 37–46 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Guysborough.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guysborough | 4,721 | — | 58.4 | 35% | 3.2% |
| Port Hawkesbury | 3,442 | 36.5 km | 46.8 | 24% | 4.5% |
| Richmond County, Subdivision C | 3,444 | 39.8 km | 54.8 | 31% | 1.6% |
| St. Mary's | 2,212 | 45.0 km | 57.6 | 33% | 2.8% |
| Antigonish County, Subdivision B | 6,486 | 46.1 km | 48 | 23% | 2.4% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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 Nova Scotia’s towns and Canada’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Nova Scotia’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, and over all Canadian towns of that size (whole cities and First Nations reserves left out). Percentiles are within Canada only.
Questions about Guysborough’s residents
What is the population of Guysborough?
The latest figure is an estimate: 4,721 residents in July 2025. At the 2021 Census, Guysborough counted 4,585, 2% fewer than 2016.
What is the average age in Guysborough?
Half the residents are older than 58.4 and half younger, older than 98% of Canadian towns; 11% are children under 15 and 35% are 65 or over.
Is Guysborough bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 3.2% are. Another 0% speak only French and 97% only English, and French is the first language of 2%.
How diverse is Guysborough?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 3.2%. A visible minority makes up 5.3% and Indigenous residents 6.6%.
What religion are people in Guysborough?
Most often Christian (79%) or no religion (21%); other religions make up 0.7%.
Is Guysborough good for families?
Children under 15 are 11% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 51% of households and one-parent families 8.3%. Schools near Guysborough are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Guysborough?
Median total household income in Guysborough was $54,000 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).