Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Bradford sits below 93% of Canadian towns for one-person households (14%)
Against a figure of 35% across Canada’s towns, the share of residents with no religion in Bradford comes in at 24%. The 2021 Census found 13,415 households locally; by July 2025 the population was about 51,346. Residents aged 65 and over account for 13%. The median age locally is 37.6, lower than in 79% of Canadian towns. Every figure here is for Bradford West Gwillimbury as a whole, the municipality Bradford belongs to.
What stands out about the people of Bradford
Growing faster than most
Bradford went from 35,325 people in 2016 to 42,880 in 2021, +21%: faster growth than in 97% of Canadian towns. Population change ↓
A town of families
Children under 15 are 21% of residents, more than in 90% of Canadian towns. Households average 3.2 people, and 7.9% are one-parent families. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
+21% since 2016, a pace 97% of Canadian towns didn’t match
The figures are the 2021 Census’s, except where another date is given. Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 20%. Across Canada’s towns the median change is +4%; across Ontario’s towns, +6%.
21% of residents are under 15, a share 90% of Canadian towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
35–39 is the most common age band: nearly one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across Canada’s towns. Across Bradford, just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Bradford, 37.6. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split.
Bigger households than 94% of Canadian towns: 3.2 people each on average
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Here, 7.9% of households are one-parent families.
Bradford: 55% of residents 15 and over are married, above 80% of Canadian towns
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
The share of common-law partners trails 69% of Canadian towns: 8.4%. Typically, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns.
Below 71% of Canadian towns: 17% of households rent their home
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
The share of households in buildings of five or more storeys tops 64% of Canadian towns: 1.9%. What’s more, at 75%, the share of households in single-detached houses is higher than in nearly two thirds of Canadian towns. Across Canada’s towns, renter households come to 25%. Newer homes outnumber old: 49% date from 2001 or later, 6.5% from before 1961.
Before tax, the median household income is $114,000 a year
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. Household income before tax: the median, and households by income group.
Households by income · share of households
Bradford’s median household took in $114,000 before tax, 33% more than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The median across Ontario’s towns is $91,600. COVID-19 benefits were paid to 34% of residents with an income, where the typical town had 28%.
Bradford ranks above 76% of Canadian towns on immigrants: 33%
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 40%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Immigrants here were most often born in Asia (46%), then in Europe (37%). Residents without Canadian citizenship are more common here than in just over three fifths of Canadian towns. To put it in context, 17% of residents are immigrants across Canada’s towns. Of the immigrants living here, 24% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%.
A larger share of visible minority residents than 69% of Canadian towns: 31%
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Other faiths: Muslim (6.7%), Hindu (3.5%) and Buddhist (2.1%). The comparison figure for visible minority residents is 15% across Canada’s towns. 1.3% of residents have an Indigenous identity, fewer than in 75% of Canadian towns.
English is the mother tongue of 62%, and 4.8% speak French as well
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
18% most often speak a language other than English or French at home, and 3% speak neither official language. Bradford has fewer bilingual residents than 77% of Canadian towns, at 4.8%. At 0.8%, residents whose mother tongue is French sit close to the figure across Canada’s towns.
Fewer degree holders aged 25 to 64 than 51% of Canadian towns: 26%
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 13%, against 9.5%. For comparison, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
A job for 62% of residents aged 15 and over
Counted in May 2021, during COVID-19, these rates catch the job market before it had recovered. The census’s work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Employment runs above the middle of Canada’s towns (58%), at 62%.
Among 41 towns of 43,555 to 60,874 people, the 6th youngest
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
At one end is Whalley (34.9), at the other Shawinigan (54.4). Next to Bradford on this scale come Newton (36.2), Brandon (36.8), Langford (38.4) and Alliston (39.6).
The towns around Bradford are all older
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford | 51,346 | — | 37.6 | 13% | 33% |
| Newmarket | 95,763 | 11.2 km | 41.6 | 16% | 33% |
| East Gwillimbury | 42,989 | 11.7 km | 39.6 | 14% | 29% |
| Aurora | 67,385 | 15.0 km | 42 | 15% | 37% |
| Alliston | 50,739 | 17.6 km | 39.6 | 18% | 19% |
| King | 29,077 | 18.1 km | 43.2 | 16% | 26% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What these tables don’t give. Missing from the census as published: unpaid care, cars and internet access, and the shift in each age band since 2016. Ethnic origins past visible minority and Indigenous identity aren’t charted here.
- 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 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.
Questions about Bradford’s residents
What is the median income in Bradford?
Half of Bradford’s households had more than $114,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Bradford?
About 51,346, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 42,880 people in Bradford, 21% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Bradford?
The median age is 37.6, younger than 79% of Canadian towns. 21% are under 15 and 13% 65 or older.
Is Bradford bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 4.8% are. Another 0.1% speak only French and 92% only English, and French is the first language of 0.8%.
How diverse is Bradford?
Immigrants: 33% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 31%. Indigenous identity: 1.3%.
What religion are people in Bradford?
24% said they have no religion and 61% that they are Christian; 15% named another faith.
Is Bradford good for families?
21% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 62% of households and one-parent families 7.9%. Schools near Bradford are on its Schools page.
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).