Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0Portland Estates is older than 90% of Canadian towns: a median age of 51.9
In Portland Estates, 38% of households live in a single-detached house, beside 64% across Canada’s towns. At the 2021 Census, 10,164 people lived locally, in 4,510 households. Locally, 8.8% of residents are aged 15 to 24. On residents with no religion, Portland Estates sits lower than 67% of Canadian towns: 29%.
What stands out about the people of Portland Estates
Older than most towns
The middle resident of Portland Estates is 51.9; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 32% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Portland Estates sits above 95% of Canadian towns for residents aged 65 and over (32%)
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.
70–74 is the most common age band: 7.7% of residents, 1.6 times the share across Canada’s towns. Locally, 14% of residents are under 15. As a reference point, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Portland Estates, 51.9. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 84 men for every 100 women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Households here average 2.2 people, below 70% 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.
By its share of one-person households (31%), Portland Estates is above 66% of Canadian towns. One-parent families: 7.5% of the total.
52% of residents 15 and over are married, a share 70% of Canadian towns don’t reach
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
By its share of common-law partners (8.6%), Portland Estates is below 68% of Canadian towns. Set beside that, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns.
In Portland Estates, 45% of households rent their home, more than in 80% 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
By its share of households in buildings of five or more storeys (11%), Portland Estates is above 80% of Canadian towns. 57% of homes were built in 2001 or later, more than the 4.2% built before 1961. As a reference point, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns.
Half of households earn more than $87,400 a year
The census asked about income in 2020: a pandemic year, with CERB and other emergency benefits counted in. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Portland Estates’s median household took in $87,400 before tax, about the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Across Nova Scotia’s towns the median is $69,100. The pandemic’s benefits: 18% 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
The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (40%) and in Asia (36%). Portland Estates has fewer immigrants than 64% of Canadian towns, at 10%. The share of residents without Canadian citizenship is 4.2%, against 5.8% across Canada’s towns.
66% said they are Christian and 29% that they have no religion
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Census figures put visible minority residents at 12% in Portland Estates. There is little gap on Indigenous residents: 2.8%, about the same as across Canada’s towns.
Above 66% of Canadian towns: 12% of residents speak English and 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
Set against 1.5% across Canada’s towns, 3.2% of residents have French as their mother tongue in Portland Estates. As a yardstick, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns.
Above 78% of Canadian towns: 44% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Some 5.5% have no certificate, diploma or degree, against a typical 9.5%. As a yardstick, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
48% of adults were employed in May 2021
Census day was in May 2021, mid-pandemic: some of these rates are lower than in a usual year. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
The employment rate of 48% is below the typical 58% across Canada’s towns; 32% of residents are 65 or over.
3rd highest median age among 41 towns of 9,979 to 10,335
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Mount Pleasant North is the youngest of them at 33.2; Blind Bay, at 58.8, the oldest. Next to Portland Estates on this scale come Amherst (48.8), Bridgewater (51.6), Leeds and the Thousand Islands (52) and Blind Bay (58.8).
Every nearby town is younger than Portland Estates
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland Estates | 10,164 | — | 51.9 | 32% | 10% |
| Manor Park | 14,148 | 2.6 km | 41.2 | 19% | 8.4% |
| Cole Harbour | 21,627 | 2.8 km | 43 | 18% | 6.5% |
| Woodlawn | 20,925 | 3.3 km | 43.7 | 18% | 7.9% |
| Westphal | 4,201 | 4.5 km | 44.8 | 16% | 5.5% |
| Schmidtville | 18,105 | 5.1 km | 29 | 13% | 15% |
| Austinville | 28,021 | 5.3 km | 41 | 18% | 9.2% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. There is no census profile for a neighbourhood, so we add up the dissemination areas inside it. Each count is a sum of Statistics Canada’s rounded counts, the median age and income come from the published groups, and with 2016’s areas drawn differently there is no 2016 count.
- What these tables don’t give. Some things the page can’t show: the Census Profile asks nothing about unpaid care, cars or internet access, and gives no change by age since 2016. Ethnic origins beyond visible minority and Indigenous identity aren’t charted.
- The census’s own words. These are self-reported answers: Indigenous identity, immigrant status, religion. The census’s “visible minority” comes from the Employment Equity Act (non-white in colour or race, Indigenous peoples aside), and the page sets each beside other towns without labelling any.
- Against Nova Scotia’s towns and Canada’s towns. The middle of Nova Scotia’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.
Questions about Portland Estates’s residents
What is the average age in Portland Estates?
The median age is 51.9, older than 90% of Canadian towns. 14% are under 15 and 32% 65 or older.
Is Portland Estates bilingual?
12% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0% speak French only and 87% English only. French is the mother tongue of 3.2%.
How diverse is Portland Estates?
Immigrants: 10% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 12%. Indigenous identity: 2.8%.
What religion are people in Portland Estates?
29% said they have no religion and 66% that they are Christian; 4.5% named another faith.
Is Portland Estates good for families?
14% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 54% of households and one-parent families 7.5%. Schools near Portland Estates are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Portland Estates?
Half of Portland Estates’s households had more than $87,400 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Portland Estates?
The 2021 Census counted 10,164 people in Portland Estates.
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).