Photo: Edgar El · CC BY 3.0Half of Lunenburg is over 57.2, older than 97% of Canadian towns
The average household has 2 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. The latest estimate, for July 2025, is 2,523 residents; the 2021 Census found 1,090 households. The share of children under 15 stands at 11%. Higher than in 73% of Canadian towns: 42% of residents said they have no religion.
What stands out about the people of Lunenburg
Older than most towns
The middle resident of Lunenburg is 57.2; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 36% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
+6% since 2016, a pace 62% of Canadian towns didn’t match
The figures are the 2021 Census’s, except where another date is given. How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Medians for comparison: +4% across Canada’s towns; +2% across Nova Scotia’s towns. The July 2025 estimate adds another 5%.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 36% in Lunenburg, more than in 98% of Canadian towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Here 7.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 11%. Against that, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Lunenburg, 57.2. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
56% women, 44% men
About 80 men for every 100 women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Lunenburg: 37% of households are one person living alone, above 82% 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 the comparison, 27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns.
Lunenburg ranks below 66% of Canadian towns on common-law partners: 8.9%
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Single and never married: just over a fifth of adults, against a typical 27%. As a reference point, just over one in ten residents 15 and over live common-law across Canada’s towns.
Lunenburg: 37% of households rent their home, above 71% of Canadian towns
Houses and apartments, owners and renters, older and newer homes. 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 single-detached houses make up 70%, against 64% across Canada’s towns. As a reference point, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Older homes outnumber new: 63% predate 1961, 9.6% date from 2001 or later.
The median household brings in $63,200 a year
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
The median across Canada’s towns is $86,000; Lunenburg’s, at $63,200, is 27% lower. For Nova Scotia’s towns, the median household income is $69,100. Pandemic payments such as CERB reached 20% of income recipients here, against 28% in the typical town.
Lunenburg: 8% of residents are not Canadian citizens, above 60% of Canadian towns
Immigrants by continent of birth and when they arrived, citizenship, and who moved in recently.
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
Recent arrivals are 30% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns. For residents without Canadian citizenship, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 5.8%. The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (52%) and in Asia (24%). 11% lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than the typical 11% across Canada’s towns.
55% said they are Christian and 42% 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
The figure for visible minority residents is 6.3% in Lunenburg and 15% across Canada’s towns. Indigenous residents are rarer here than in 73% of Canadian towns.
Lunenburg sits above 64% of Canadian towns for bilingual residents (11%)
English, French and the other languages people grew up with or speak at home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
At home: English 95%, French 0.2%. Typically, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns. Residents whose mother tongue is French: 1.3%, near enough the figure across Canada’s towns.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64: 39%, a higher share than 70% of Canadian towns
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
At the bottom of the ladder, 8.5% hold no certificate of any kind, against 9.5% in the typical town. Set beside that, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
46% of residents 15 and over were in work
These rates date from May 2021, during the pandemic, and run lower than a normal year’s. The census’s work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
At 46%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 36% are 65 or over.
Ranked by age, 4th oldest of 41 towns this size
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
City Commercial Core is the youngest of them at 32.7; North Frontenac, at 61.6, the oldest. Gracefield (54.8), Saint-Damien (57.2), Mandeville (57.6) and Cap-Chat (58.8): the towns nearest Lunenburg in median age.
Older than Lunenburg: 1 of the 3 towns nearby
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunenburg | 2,523 | — | 57.2 | 36% | 12% |
| Mahone Bay | 1,200 | 9.7 km | 60 | 41% | 17% |
| Lunenburg | 26,862 | 15.4 km | 53.6 | 29% | 5.7% |
| Bridgewater | 9,989 | 16.6 km | 51.6 | 30% | 6.7% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are as residents answered them. “Visible minority” follows the Employment Equity Act, meaning people other than Indigenous peoples who are non-white in colour or race. We compare these figures across towns; none is a label for a town.
- Against Nova Scotia’s towns and Canada’s towns. Two medians frame each figure: one for Nova Scotia’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. 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.
Questions about Lunenburg’s residents
What religion are people in Lunenburg?
42% said they have no religion and 55% that they are Christian; 2.3% named another faith.
Is Lunenburg good for families?
11% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 48% of households and one-parent families 8.3%. Schools near Lunenburg are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Lunenburg?
Half of Lunenburg’s households had more than $63,200 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Lunenburg?
About 2,523, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 2,396 people in Lunenburg, 6% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Lunenburg?
The median age is 57.2, older than 97% of Canadian towns. 11% are under 15 and 36% 65 or older.
Is Lunenburg bilingual?
11% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0% speak French only and 88% English only. French is the mother tongue of 1.3%.
How diverse is Lunenburg?
Immigrants: 12% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 6.3%. Indigenous identity: 1.4%.
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).