Iqaluit, named after Frobisher Bay

Few homes are old by the census: 2% before 1961, against 18%. 11% of its homes went up between 2016 and 2021; the typical town built 4.1%.

Homes built before 1961

typical town: 18%

How it began

Iqaluit’s milestones, starting in 1942

The name of Iqaluit honours Frobisher Bay, bay in Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. On the open record, Iqaluit as a municipality goes back to 1942, though that may be a charter rather than a first settlement.

How it began: Wikidata (CC0).

Homes by age

Iqaluit’s building boom came from 1981 to 2000: 36% of its homes

More than half of Iqaluit’s housing predates 2001. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up 36% of Iqaluit’s, against 15% in the typical town. Only 15% of Iqaluit’s homes were built from 1961 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 27%.

Before 1961

15%

1961–80

36%

1981–2000

36%

2001–15

11%

2016–21

IqaluitTypical town

2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.

Towns its size

How Iqaluit compares with 16 towns its size

Towns of 8,500 to 8,700 residents, by places on the registers.

Carleton Heights-Courtland Park8

Iqaluit0

Just these have more: Carleton Heights-Courtland Park, Dauphin and Lac la Biche County. Their median is 0. 13 of them have nothing on the registers.

In brief

Iqaluit in brief

Its homes are mostly newer: 2% were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. Towns its size usually have more historic places; the middle one has 0.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

People and events. The open directory puts its national historic persons nowhere, so a town shows one only on firm ground: a birth there, matched by name and life years, or a historic place there named for the person whose record says so. Events are left out.
The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
Provincial and municipal lists. Only Wikidata gives open access to listings on provincial and municipal registers outside Québec; without an article such a place is counted but not paged.
The federal register. Parks Canada’s Directory of Federal Heritage Designations lists every National Historic Site, federal heritage building, heritage railway station and lighthouse; the Canadian Register of Historic Places adds their statements in English and French.
Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.

Questions about Iqaluit’s history

How old are the homes in Iqaluit?

The 2021 Census dates 2% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).

Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). 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).