Photo: Art Anderson · CC BY-SA 3.0Centre Hastings is older than 83% of Canadian towns: a median age of 49.2
Recent arrivals are 3.4% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns. With about 5,170 residents in July 2025, Centre Hastings counted 1,940 households at the 2021 Census. Locally, 84% of households live in a single-detached house. The town has fewer residents who moved in within the year than 80% of Canadian towns, at 8.2%.
Slower than most: +1% since 2016, behind 73% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. Residents at the 2016 and 2021 censuses and the latest estimate, with the 2016–2021 change beside other towns.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Across Ontario’s towns the median is +6%, and across Canada’s towns +4%. By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 8%.
Centre Hastings ranks above 82% of Canadian towns on residents aged 65 and over: 26%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 60–64, with nearly one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across Canada’s towns. The share of residents aged 15 to 24 stands at 9.5%. Against that, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Centre Hastings, 49.2. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split.
A smaller share of one-person households than 58% of Canadian towns: 25%
Private households by type and size.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
By its share of one-parent families (6.2%), Centre Hastings is below just over four fifths of Canadian towns. Across the comparison, 27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns. Households here average 2.4 people each.
Centre Hastings sits above 69% of Canadian towns for married residents 15 and over (52%)
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Just over a fifth of adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). Set beside that, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns. Census figures put common-law partners at 12% in Centre Hastings.
Fewer renter households than 74% of Canadian towns: 15%
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
32% of homes were built before 1961 and 23% in 2001 or later. Measured more widely, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns.
Median household income: $77,500 a year
Incomes are 2020’s, the census’s reference year, and include pandemic benefits such as CERB. Household income before tax: the median, and households by income group.
Households by income · share of households
Centre Hastings’s median household took in $77,500 before tax, 10% less than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Across Ontario’s towns the median is $91,600. Emergency and recovery benefits reached 21% of those with an income, beside a typical 28%.
6.2% of residents are immigrants
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 35%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Here 1.1% of residents are not Canadian citizens, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 5.8%. Fewer immigrants than in 77% of Canadian towns: 6.2%. Immigrants here were most often born in Europe (70%), then in the Americas (24%).
Above 74% of Canadian towns: 5.9% of residents have an Indigenous identity
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Here 1.6% of residents belong to a visible minority, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 15%. Against that, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity across Canada’s towns. The share of residents with no religion stands at 40%.
93% have English as their mother tongue; 3.9% also speak French
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
Residents whose mother tongue is French: 1%, near enough the figure across Canada’s towns. Centre Hastings has fewer bilingual residents than 87% of Canadian towns, at 3.9%. At home: English 97%, French 0.2%.
Centre Hastings sits below 89% of Canadian towns for degree holders aged 25 to 64 (13%)
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Holding no credential: 12% (typical 9.5%). Across Canada’s towns, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.
In work on census day: 49% of adults
These rates date from May 2021, during the pandemic, and run lower than a normal year’s. The census’s work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
With 26% of residents 65 or over, the employment rate of 49% sits under the typical 58% across Canada’s towns.
Ranked by age, 8th oldest of 41 towns this size
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
The group spans Rundle Heights, youngest at 32.9, to Gibsons, oldest at 56. In age, Centre Hastings keeps company with Twin Brooks (46.7), Bearspaw (48.2), Marystown (50.8) and Metchosin (50.8).
Every nearby town is older than Centre Hastings
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
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 Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns. Provincial and national yardsticks: Ontario’s towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents, and all Canadian towns of that size. No whole city and no First Nations reserve is in either median.
- 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.
Questions about Centre Hastings’s residents
What is the population of Centre Hastings?
Statistics Canada estimates 5,170 residents for July 2025; the 2021 Census counted 4,801 in Centre Hastings, about the same as 2016.
What is the average age in Centre Hastings?
49.2 is the median age, older than 83% of Canadian towns. Under 15: 15%. 65 and over: 26%.
Is Centre Hastings bilingual?
English and French: 3.9% speak both (Canada’s towns: 7.5%). English only: 96%. French only: 0%. French mother tongue: 1%.
How diverse is Centre Hastings?
Immigrants make up 6.2% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 1.6% are members of a visible minority, and 5.9% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
What religion are people in Centre Hastings?
Christian: 59%. No religion: 40%. Another religion: 0.4%.
Is Centre Hastings good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 15%. 59% of households are couple families and 6.2% one-parent families. Schools near Centre Hastings are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Centre Hastings?
$77,500 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Centre Hastings (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
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).