Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0More Indigenous residents than 87% of Canadian towns: 10%
Most recent wave: 14% of immigrants arrived in 2011–2021 (Canada’s towns: 27%). Black River-Matheson is home to some 2,899 people (July 2025 estimate), in 1,080 households at the 2021 Census. Here, 88% of households live in a single-detached house. The median age locally is 46.8, higher than in just over three quarters of Canadian towns.
A growing town: +6% since 2016, faster than 59% of Canadian towns
Unless a figure says otherwise, it is from the 2021 Census. How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025 is 13% higher again.
Black River-Matheson sits above 71% of Canadian towns for children under 15 (18%)
Residents by five-year age band, each beside the typical town (the tick).
The biggest five-year age group is 60–64, with one in ten residents, 1.4 times the share across Canada’s towns. On average, 16% of residents are under 15 across Canada’s towns. Here, 21% of residents are 65 or over.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Black River-Matheson, 46.8. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About 105 men for every 100 women.
One-person households: 29%, a higher share than 57% of Canadian towns
Private households by type and size.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
The typical household size is 2.4 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. In Black River-Matheson, 5.1% of households are one-parent families. The usual figure: 27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns.
15% of residents 15 and over live common-law, more than in 75% of Canadian towns
Married, common-law, single: residents 15 and over.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Just over half of residents 15 and over are married (Canada’s towns: 46%). Across Canada’s towns, common-law partners come to 11%.
Below 68% of Canadian towns: 18% of households rent their home
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
Older homes outnumber new: 34% predate 1961, 13% date from 2001 or later. Across the comparison, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Households in buildings of five or more storeys make up 0.5%, close to the figure across Canada’s towns.
Median gross household income: $75,000 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
The median across Canada’s towns is $86,000; Black River-Matheson’s, at $75,000, is 13% lower. The middle household across Ontario’s towns has $91,600 before tax. Pandemic benefits reached 21% of residents with an income, against a typical 28%.
14% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, a share 75% of Canadian towns don’t reach
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 35%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Most immigrants were born in Europe (48%) or in the Americas (22%). Typically, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. Compared with other places, immigrants are scarce here: 4.3%, fewer than in 84% of Canadian towns. What’s more, in Black River-Matheson, 0.4% of residents are not Canadian citizens, beside 5.8% across Canada’s towns.
Black River-Matheson ranks below 68% of Canadian towns on residents with no religion: 29%
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
The share of visible minority residents is 1.4%, against 15% across Canada’s towns. As a yardstick, just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns.
In Black River-Matheson, 36% of residents speak English and French, more than in 84% of Canadian towns
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
The figure for residents whose mother tongue is French is 23% in Black River-Matheson and 1.5% across Canada’s towns. Elsewhere, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns. At home, 11% mostly speak another language; 2.1% speak neither English nor French.
Below 99% of Canadian towns: 5.9% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Some 20% have no certificate, diploma or degree, against a typical 9.5%. Across Canada’s towns, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.
54% of residents 15 and over were in work
May 2021 was still a pandemic month: the census’s work figures reflect that. Work, briefly: employment, unemployment, participation and working from home. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
The employment rate of 54% is below the typical 58% across Canada’s towns; 21% of residents are 65 or over.
41 towns of 2,858 to 2,940 people: this is the 12th oldest
The Canadian towns closest in population, from youngest to oldest.
They run from McKernan, at 30, to Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part, at 61.2. In age, Black River-Matheson keeps company with Port Credit NHD (West) (46.1), South Keys (46.6), Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley (50) and Black Diamond (50.8).
Black River-Matheson is younger than 2 of its 5 nearest neighbours
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page. Distances here run 33–77 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Black River-Matheson.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black River-Matheson | 2,899 | — | 46.8 | 21% | 4.3% |
| Iroquois Falls | 4,640 | 33.0 km | 48 | 23% | 2.4% |
| Kirkland Lake | 8,158 | 49.6 km | 45.2 | 23% | 4.5% |
| Timmins | 45,569 | 62.8 km | 42 | 18% | 3.4% |
| Timiskaming, Unorganized, West Part | 3,606 | 69.1 km | 51.2 | 25% | 3.6% |
| Cochrane | 5,948 | 76.6 km | 43.6 | 21% | 1.7% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about Black River-Matheson’s residents
Is Black River-Matheson good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 18%. 59% of households are couple families and 5.1% one-parent families. Schools near Black River-Matheson are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Black River-Matheson?
$75,000 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Black River-Matheson (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
What is the population of Black River-Matheson?
Statistics Canada estimates 2,899 residents for July 2025; the 2021 Census counted 2,572 in Black River-Matheson, 6% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Black River-Matheson?
46.8 is the median age, older than 76% of Canadian towns. Under 15: 18%. 65 and over: 21%.
Is Black River-Matheson bilingual?
36% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 1.4% speak French only and 60% English only. French is the mother tongue of 23%.
How diverse is Black River-Matheson?
Immigrants make up 4.3% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 1.4% are members of a visible minority, and 10% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
What religion are people in Black River-Matheson?
Christian: 69%. No religion: 29%. Another religion: 2%.
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).