Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0In Dorchester, 6.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 91% of Canadian towns
Recent arrivals are 5.5% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns. At 18%, the share of one-person households is lower than in 83% of Canadian towns. With about 15,475 residents in July 2025, Dorchester counted 5,185 households at the 2021 Census. Here, 12% of households rent their home. Every figure here is for Thames Centre as a whole, the municipality Dorchester belongs to.
Dorchester grew +6% from 2016 to 2021, ahead of 62% of Canadian towns
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
Across Canada’s towns, half of towns changed by more than +4%; across Ontario’s towns, by more than +6%. By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 11%.
Half of Dorchester is over 45.2, older than 69% of Canadian towns
Every five-year age group as a share of residents; ticks mark the typical town.
Where 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Canada’s towns, Dorchester has 12%. No age band is larger than 55–59: 9% of residents. Among Ontario’s towns, Northern Bruce Peninsula has the highest share aged 65 or over, at 41%.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Dorchester, 45.2. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
Bigger households than 76% of Canadian towns: 2.7 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.
By its share of one-parent families (6.5%), Dorchester is below 77% of Canadian towns.
Married residents 15 and over make up 58% in Dorchester, more than in 90% 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
Never married and not common-law: 22% of adults (typical: 27%). For comparison, 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns. Census figures put common-law partners at 8.8% in Dorchester.
A larger share of households in single-detached houses than 87% of Canadian towns: 89%
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
Older homes outnumber new: 27% predate 1961, 23% date from 2001 or later. On average, 64% of households live in a single-detached house across Canada’s towns. Nothing unusual on households in buildings of five or more storeys: 0.3%, close to the figure across Canada’s towns.
Half above, half below $112,000 a year in household income
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Dorchester had $112,000 before tax, 30% above the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Within Ontario’s towns, the household in the middle had $91,600. Pandemic benefits reached 20% of residents with an income, against a typical 28%.
8.5% 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
The figure for residents without Canadian citizenship is 1.2% in Dorchester and 5.8% across Canada’s towns. Most immigrants were born in Europe (73%) or in the Americas (14%). On immigrants, Dorchester sits lower than 68% of Canadian towns: 8.5%.
Above 62% of Canadian towns: 39% of residents said they have no religion
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
2.7% of residents belong to a visible minority (Canada’s towns: 15%). The share of residents with no religion across Canada’s towns is 35%. Locally, 1.3% of residents have an Indigenous identity.
English is the mother tongue of 90%, and 4.2% speak French as well
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
At home: English 96%, French 0.2%. Bilingual residents are rarer here than in 84% of Canadian towns. Residents whose mother tongue is French are about as common here as across Canada’s towns, at 0.8%.
In Dorchester, 24% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, fewer than in 56% of Canadian towns
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 8.4%, against 9.5%. By way of comparison, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
62% of adults were employed in May 2021
The census counted work in May 2021, mid-pandemic, so read these rates as a pandemic snapshot. Four labour figures from the census. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
The employment rate of 62% is above the typical 58% across Canada’s towns.
Oldest by rank: 15th of 41 towns of 15,181 to 15,792 people
Towns of about this size, placed by median age.
The youngest is Laurel (31.2) and the oldest Parksville (62). Byron (44.4), High River (44.8), Pleasant View (45.3) and Lachine-Ouest (45.5): the towns nearest Dorchester in median age.
Every neighbour of Dorchester has a younger population
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester | 15,475 | — | 45.2 | 19% | 8.5% |
| Argyle | 28,109 | 8.5 km | 38 | 15% | 17% |
| Jackson | 8,124 | 10.8 km | 34.8 | 10% | 34% |
| Hamilton Road | 15,283 | 11.1 km | 42.8 | 18% | 18% |
| Huron Heights | 20,890 | 11.6 km | 37.1 | 16% | 28% |
| East London | 10,972 | 12.2 km | 37.3 | 13% | 14% |
| Glen Cairn | 16,119 | 12.9 km | 38.7 | 16% | 26% |
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. 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 Dorchester’s residents
Is Dorchester bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 4.2% are. Another 0% speak only French and 95% only English, and French is the first language of 0.8%.
How diverse is Dorchester?
Immigrants: 8.5% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 2.7%. Indigenous identity: 1.3%.
What religion are people in Dorchester?
39% said they have no religion and 60% that they are Christian; 1% named another faith.
Is Dorchester good for families?
17% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 68% of households and one-parent families 6.5%. Schools near Dorchester are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Dorchester?
Half of Dorchester’s households had more than $112,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Dorchester?
About 15,475, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 13,980 people in Dorchester, 6% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Dorchester?
The median age is 45.2, older than 69% of Canadian towns. 17% are under 15 and 19% 65 or older.
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).