Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 2.5Older than 98% of Canadian towns: half of Barry's Bay is over 58.4
With children under 15 at 11%, Barry's Bay is behind 94% of Canadian towns on that count. Some 4,151 people live in the town, by the estimate for July 2025. Households in single-detached houses account for 92%. Indigenous residents are more common here than in 78% of Canadian towns. Every figure here is for Madawaska Valley as a whole, the municipality Barry's Bay belongs to.
What stands out about the people of Barry's Bay
Older than most towns
Half of Barry's Bay’s residents are under 58.4 and half over; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 35% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Fewer people than before
Barry's Bay went from 4,123 people in 2016 to 3,927 in 2021, −5%: slower growth than in 96% of Canadian towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Slower growth than 96% of Canadian towns: Barry's Bay changed by −5% since 2016
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
Across Canada’s towns the median change is +4%; across Ontario’s towns, +6%.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 98% of Canadian towns: 35%
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
60–64 is the most common age band: just over one in ten residents, 1.7 times the share across Canada’s towns. The usual figure: 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. The census found that 8.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Barry's Bay.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Barry's Bay, 58.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women.
Households here average 2.1 people, below 83% of Canadian towns
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Where 8.2% of households are one-parent families across Canada’s towns, Barry's Bay has 6.7%. Across Barry's Bay, 35% of households are one person living alone.
Barry's Bay sits below 75% of Canadian towns for common-law partners (7.7%)
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: a quarter of adults (typical: 27%). Common-law partners make up 11% across Canada’s towns. The share of married residents 15 and over stands at 48%.
In Barry's Bay, 17% of households rent their home, fewer than in 71% 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
34% of homes were built before 1961 and 16% in 2001 or later. As a reference point, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in nearly three quarters of Canadian towns.
Median gross household income: $62,800 a year
Incomes are 2020’s, the census’s reference year, and include pandemic benefits such as CERB. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Barry's Bay’s median household took in $62,800 before tax, 27% less than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). $91,600 is the median household income across Ontario’s towns. 20% of income recipients received COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefits (typical: 28%).
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 62% of Canadian towns: 9.8%
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 35%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Nearly one in ten residents are immigrants, against 17% across Canada’s towns. Typically, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. The share of residents without Canadian citizenship stands at 1.4%.
Barry's Bay ranks below 83% of Canadian towns on residents with no religion: 22%
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
15% of residents belong to a visible minority across Canada’s towns, against 3.4% in Barry's Bay. The wider picture: just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns.
84% have English as their mother tongue; 5.5% also speak 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
Against a figure of 7.5% across Canada’s towns, the share of bilingual residents in Barry's Bay comes in at 5.5%. At home: English 97%, French 0.3%. Compared with other places, residents whose mother tongue is French are common here: 2.2%, more than in 64% of Canadian towns.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64: 15%, a lower share than 81% of Canadian towns
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
44% 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 labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
The employment rate of 44% is below the typical 58% across Canada’s towns; 35% of residents are 65 or over.
1st highest median age among 41 towns of 4,089 to 4,216
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Median ages here range from 31.7 in Banff Trail to 58.4 in Barry's Bay. Next to Barry's Bay on this scale come Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen (57.6) and Lake of Bays (58.4).
1 of the 5 nearest towns are older than Barry's Bay
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page. Distances here run 19–36 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Barry's Bay.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry's Bay | 4,151 | — | 58.4 | 35% | 8.5% |
| Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards | 2,505 | 19.3 km | 54 | 30% | 6.4% |
| Brudenell, Lyndoch and Raglan | 1,656 | 23.5 km | 55.6 | 30% | 6.1% |
| Carlow/Mayo | 1,048 | 30.8 km | 55.2 | 30% | 7.4% |
| Hastings Highlands | 4,957 | 36.2 km | 57.6 | 33% | 8.6% |
| South Algonquin | 1,151 | 36.4 km | 59.6 | 35% | 4.3% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Ontario’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.
- What these tables don’t give. For origins the charts stop at visible minority and Indigenous identity, and the Census Profile has nothing on unpaid care, cars or the internet, or on change by age since 2016.
Questions about Barry's Bay’s residents
What is the average age in Barry's Bay?
The median age is 58.4, older than 98% of Canadian towns. 11% are under 15 and 35% 65 or older.
Is Barry's Bay bilingual?
5.5% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0% speak French only and 95% English only. French is the mother tongue of 2.2%.
How diverse is Barry's Bay?
Immigrants: 8.5% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 3.4%. Indigenous identity: 6.7%.
What religion are people in Barry's Bay?
22% said they have no religion and 77% that they are Christian; 0.8% named another faith.
Is Barry's Bay good for families?
11% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 53% of households and one-parent families 6.7%. Schools near Barry's Bay are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Barry's Bay?
Half of Barry's Bay’s households had more than $62,800 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Barry's Bay?
About 4,151, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 3,927 people in Barry's Bay, 5% fewer than 2016.
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).