Photo: Sebastian Kasten · CC BY-SA 3.0Half of Iqaluit is under 32.8, younger than 96% of Canadian towns
With residents who moved in within the year at 19%, Iqaluit is ahead of 91% of Canadian towns on that count. Some 8,612 people live in the town, by the estimate for July 2025. Here, 26% of households live in a single-detached house. On one-parent families, Iqaluit sits higher than 92% of Canadian towns: 13%.
What stands out about the people of Iqaluit
First Nations, Métis and Inuit residents
56% of residents identify as First Nations, Métis or Inuit, more than in 99% of Canadian towns; 1% are Registered or Treaty Indians, and 30% have an Indigenous mother tongue. Identity & religion ↓
Younger than most towns
The middle resident of Iqaluit is 32.8; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 24% are under 15 and 3.7% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
A town of renters
Renters are 74% of households, more than in 97% of Canadian towns, and 42% of households live in an apartment. Homes ↓
Fewer people than before
Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, Iqaluit went from 7,740 to 7,429 residents (−4%), slower growth than in 95% of Canadian towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Iqaluit changed by −4% from 2016 to 2021, behind 95% of Canadian towns
Unless a figure says otherwise, it is from the 2021 Census. Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
The July 2025 estimate adds another 16%.
In Iqaluit, 3.7% of residents are 65 or over, fewer than in 99% of Canadian towns
Residents by five-year age band, each beside the typical town (the tick).
Just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24, against 11% across Canada’s towns. Elsewhere, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Iqaluit, 32.8. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
Bigger households than 76% of Canadian towns: 2.7 people each on average
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
On the census count, 27% of households are one person living alone.
A larger share of common-law partners than 86% of Canadian towns: 23%
Married, common-law, single: residents 15 and over.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Two in five adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). Common-law partners: 11% across Canada’s towns, for comparison. Locally, 29% of residents 15 and over are married.
Iqaluit: 74% of households rent their home, above 97% of Canadian towns
Dwelling types, tenure and age of the housing. 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
The share of households in buildings of five or more storeys tops 70% of Canadian towns: 3.7%. For renter households, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 25%. Newer homes outnumber old: 46% date from 2001 or later, 2% from before 1961.
Household income at the median: $157,000 a year
Incomes here are for 2020, the year before the census, CERB and other pandemic benefits included. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Household incomes run high in Iqaluit: half had more than $157,000, 83% above the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). COVID-19 benefits went to 23% of residents with an income (typical: 28%).
10% of residents are immigrants
Where immigrants were born and when they came, and how recently residents moved in.
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 Asia (43%) and in Africa (29%). Iqaluit has fewer immigrants than 64% of Canadian towns, at 10%. 41% of immigrants arrived from 2011 to 2021 (typical: 27%), and non-permanent residents make up a further 0.8% of residents.
In Iqaluit, 56% of residents have an Indigenous identity, more than in 99% of Canadian towns
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Here just over two in five residents said they have no religion, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 35%. Indigenous residents make up 2.8% across Canada’s towns. On the census count, 12% of residents belong to a visible minority.
5.9% of residents have French as their mother tongue, a share 73% of Canadian towns don’t reach
The official languages residents can speak, and the ones they learned first.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
At home, 16% mostly speak another language; 0.8% speak neither English nor French. Residents whose mother tongue is French: 1.5% across Canada’s towns, for comparison. 14% of residents speak English and French, more than in 69% of Canadian towns.
In Iqaluit, 33% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, more than in 61% of Canadian towns
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 17%, against 9.5%. As a reference point, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 71% 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. Work, briefly: employment, unemployment, participation and working from home. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
More people work here than in the typical town: 71%, against 58% across Canada’s towns.
41 towns of 8,435 to 8,781 people: this is the 3rd youngest
The Canadian towns closest in population, from youngest to oldest.
Garneau is the youngest of them at 30.2; Muskoka Lakes, at 57.2, the oldest. The closest ages to Iqaluit’s belong to Garneau (30.2), Nolan Hill (32.8), Trinity Commons (33) and Carleton Heights-Courtland Park (35).
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. In the census, “visible minority” is the Employment Equity Act’s term for people who are non-white in colour or race and not Indigenous. Like immigrant status, Indigenous identity and religion, which residents reported themselves, it is compared with other towns, never turned into a label.
- Against Canada’s towns. Nunavut has too few towns of 2,500 or more for a median of its own, so each figure is set beside the median of all Canadian towns of that size (whole cities and First Nations reserves left out).
- 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 Iqaluit’s residents
Is Iqaluit good for families?
Children under 15 are 24% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 44% of households and one-parent families 13%. Schools near Iqaluit are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Iqaluit?
Median total household income in Iqaluit was $157,000 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Iqaluit?
The latest figure is an estimate: 8,612 residents in July 2025. At the 2021 Census, Iqaluit counted 7,429, 4% fewer than 2016.
What is the average age in Iqaluit?
Half the residents are older than 32.8 and half younger, younger than 96% of Canadian towns; 24% are children under 15 and 3.7% are 65 or over.
Is Iqaluit bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 14% are. Another 0.8% speak only French and 84% only English, and French is the first language of 5.9%.
How diverse is Iqaluit?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 10%. A visible minority makes up 12% and Indigenous residents 56%.
What religion are people in Iqaluit?
Most often Christian (54%) or no religion (42%); other religions make up 3.7%.
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).