Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Chapleau sits above 96% of Canadian towns for Indigenous residents (18%)
With a median age of 47.6, Chapleau is older than nearly four fifths of Canadian towns. About 2,044 people lived in the town in July 2025, Statistics Canada estimates. In Chapleau, 7.4% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Immigrants: 2.4% here and 17% across Canada’s towns.
What stands out about the people of Chapleau
First Nations, Métis and Inuit residents
18% of residents identify as First Nations, Métis or Inuit, more than in 96% of Canadian towns; 9.7% are Registered or Treaty Indians. Identity & religion ↓
A bilingual town
Both official languages: 47% of residents speak English and French, more than in 89% of Canadian towns. Another 3.9% speak only French and 49% only English. English & French ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Chapleau sits above 89% of Canadian towns for bilingual residents (47%)
Every figure here comes from the 2021 Census unless it carries another date. Who can speak English and French, mother tongue, and the language spoken most at home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
In Chapleau, 33% of residents have French as their mother tongue, beside 1.5% across Canada’s towns. Typically, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns.
A change of −1% since 2016 leaves Chapleau behind 85% of Canadian towns
Residents at the 2016 and 2021 censuses and the latest estimate, with the 2016–2021 change beside other towns.
Change, 2016 to 2021
The July 2025 estimate adds another 5%. Across Canada’s towns, half of towns changed by more than +4%; across Ontario’s towns, by more than +6%.
More residents aged 65 and over than 73% of Canadian towns: 23%
Every five-year age group as a share of residents; ticks mark the typical town.
60–64 is the most common age band: 9% of residents, 1.3 times the share across Canada’s towns. Locally, 15% of residents are under 15. The wider picture: 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
Smaller households than 74% of Canadian towns: 2.2 people on average
Households by family type and by the number of people in them.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
One-person households make up 31%, against 27% across Canada’s towns. On the census count, nearly one in ten households are one-parent families.
In Chapleau, 17% of residents 15 and over live common-law, more than in 80% of Canadian towns
How adults live as couples, or don’t, with common-law unions shown on their own.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Singles who have never married make up 25% of adults, beside a typical 27%. Across Canada’s towns, the share of common-law partners is 11%. The census found that 44% of residents 15 and over are married in Chapleau.
Chapleau ranks above 61% of Canadian towns on households in single-detached houses: 72%
The kinds of homes people live in, who owns and who rents, and how old the homes are. 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 figure for renter households is 23% in Chapleau and 25% across Canada’s towns. Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in nearly three quarters of Canadian towns. By way of comparison, 64% of households live in a single-detached house across Canada’s towns.
The middle household earns $84,000 a year
Incomes here are for 2020, the year before the census, CERB and other pandemic benefits included. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Chapleau had $84,000 before tax, near the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The figure for Ontario’s towns: $91,600. The pandemic’s benefits: 22% of income recipients, against 28% in the typical town.
2.4% of residents are immigrants
Birthplaces and arrival years of immigrants, citizenship and recent moves.
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
22% of immigrants arrived between 2011 and 2021, against 27% across Canada’s towns. Few places have so few residents without Canadian citizenship: 1% here, fewer than in 89% of Canadian towns.
Chapleau sits below 82% of Canadian towns for residents with no religion (23%)
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Visible minority residents make up 2.6%, against 15% across Canada’s towns. Across the comparison, just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns.
11% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, fewer than in 94% of Canadian towns
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
16% have no certificate, diploma or degree (typical: 9.5%). The wider picture: 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 55% of residents 15 and over had a job
Census day was in May 2021, mid-pandemic: some of these rates are lower than in a usual year. Four labour figures from the census. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
At 55%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 23% are 65 or over.
Around Chapleau, 1 of 3 towns have a higher median age
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page. Chapleau has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 104–155 km out.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapleau | 2,044 | — | 47.6 | 23% | 2.4% |
| Wawa | 2,943 | 104.3 km | 47.2 | 22% | 4.1% |
| Algoma, Unorganized, North Part | 7,008 | 130.6 km | 54.4 | 26% | 4.7% |
| Garden River 14 | 1,205 | 155.3 km | 38.8 | 14% | 0% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. “Visible minority” is the census’s term from the Employment Equity Act: people, other than Indigenous peoples, who are non-white in colour or race. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are as residents answered. The page compares them with other towns and never labels a town by them.
- 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 Chapleau’s residents
What is the average age in Chapleau?
47.6 is the median age. Under 15: 15%. 65 and over: 23%.
Is Chapleau bilingual?
English and French: 47% speak both (Canada’s towns: 7.5%). English only: 49%. French only: 3.9%. French mother tongue: 33%.
How diverse is Chapleau?
Immigrants make up 2.4% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 2.6% are members of a visible minority, and 18% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
What religion are people in Chapleau?
Christian: 77%. No religion: 23%. Another religion: 0.5%.
Is Chapleau good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 15%. 56% of households are couple families and 8.1% one-parent families. Schools near Chapleau are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Chapleau?
$84,000 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Chapleau (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
What is the population of Chapleau?
Statistics Canada estimates 2,044 residents for July 2025; the 2021 Census counted 1,942 in Chapleau, 1% 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).