Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0A larger share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 97% of Canadian towns: 16%
Half of Balfour’s residents are under 36.5, younger than in 85% of Canadian towns. Here, just over a fifth of residents are not Canadian citizens. The 2021 Census counted 4,171 residents in 1,665 households. The share of visible minority residents tops 77% of Canadian towns: 39%.
Balfour ranks below 92% of Canadian towns on children under 15: 11%
Figures are from the 2021 Census unless dated otherwise. Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
No age band is larger than 25–29: 12% of residents, 2 times the share across Canada’s towns. The share of residents aged 65 and over stands at 16%.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Balfour, 36.5. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split.
Above 83% of Canadian towns: 11% of households are one-parent families
Private households by type and size.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
The average household has 2.5 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. One-person households account for 30%. Measured more widely, 8.2% of households are one-parent families across Canada’s towns.
Below 76% of Canadian towns: 36% of residents 15 and over are married
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Singles who have never married make up 40% of adults, beside a typical 27%. Common-law partners are rarer here than in 69% of Canadian towns. The usual figure: 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns.
A larger share of renter households than 72% of Canadian towns: 38%
Occupied homes by type, by owners and renters, and by when they were built. 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: 60% predate 1961, 0.6% date from 2001 or later. 78% of households live in a single-detached house, more than in 71% of Canadian towns. Against that, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. With households in buildings of five or more storeys at 2.7%, Balfour is ahead of 67% of Canadian towns on that count.
Half of households earn more than $80,400 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
The middle household in Balfour had $80,400 before tax, 7% below the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). For Ontario’s towns, the median household income is $91,600. In 2020, 35% of income recipients drew a COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefit; the typical town had 28%.
Balfour ranks above 83% of Canadian towns on residents who moved in within the year: 16%
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
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
Recent arrivals are 41% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns. 31% of residents are immigrants, a higher share than in 74% of Canadian towns. Typically, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. The largest groups of immigrants were born in Asia (56%) and in Europe (25%).
Residents with no religion make up 29% in Balfour, less than in 68% of Canadian towns
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Other faiths: Muslim (5.5%), Hindu (4.8%) and Sikh (3%). The benchmark for residents with no religion across Canada’s towns: 35%. Fewer Indigenous residents than in nearly four fifths of Canadian towns: 1.1%.
63% have English as their mother tongue; 4.7% also speak French
Knowledge of the two official languages, first languages, and the language of home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
At home: English 76%, French 0.1%. Balfour has fewer bilingual residents than 78% of Canadian towns, at 4.7%. There is little gap on residents whose mother tongue is French: 0.8%, about the same as across Canada’s towns.
Balfour sits above 52% of Canadian towns for degree holders aged 25 to 64 (28%)
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
7.8% of those aged 25 to 64 have no formal credential, where the typical town has 9.5%.
In work on census day: 56% of adults
These rates date from May 2021, during the pandemic, and run lower than a normal year’s. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
The employment rate of 56% is close to the typical 58% across Canada’s towns.
Ranked by age, 6th youngest of 41 towns this size
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
At one end is Banff Trail (31.7), at the other Lake of Bays (58.4). The closest ages to Balfour’s belong to Sunalta (34.8), Killarney (34.9), Templemead (37.5) and Calder (39.1).
Balfour is younger than every town around it
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balfour | 4,171 | — | 36.5 | 16% | 31% |
| Greeningdon | 3,296 | 0.7 km | 40.6 | 20% | 32% |
| Hill Park | 3,262 | 0.8 km | 39.6 | 18% | 22% |
| Centremount | 4,053 | 1.3 km | 40 | 17% | 25% |
| Buchanan | 3,006 | 1.4 km | 40.5 | 19% | 21% |
| Bruleville | 4,310 | 1.5 km | 41 | 20% | 29% |
| Rolston | 6,124 | 1.5 km | 38.4 | 19% | 34% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. Statistics Canada publishes the census for municipalities, not neighbourhoods, so these figures add up the dissemination areas inside the neighbourhood. Counts are sums of StatCan’s rounded counts; the median age and income are worked out from the published age and income groups; and 2016 areas don’t add up to these, so there is no 2016 count.
- What these tables don’t give. Not in the Census Profile: unpaid care, cars, internet access, and how each age group has changed since 2016. We also chart no ethnic origins besides visible minority and Indigenous identity.
- The census’s own words. The census takes “visible minority” from the Employment Equity Act: anyone other than Indigenous peoples who is non-white in colour or race. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are what residents reported, compared here with other towns and never used as a label.
- Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns. Two medians frame each figure: one for Ontario’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, one for all Canadian towns of that size, with whole cities and First Nations reserves left out. Percentiles rank the town within Canada.
Questions about Balfour’s residents
What religion are people in Balfour?
Most often Christian (55%) or no religion (29%); other religions make up 16%.
Is Balfour good for families?
Children under 15 are 11% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 39% of households and one-parent families 11%. Schools near Balfour are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Balfour?
Median total household income in Balfour was $80,400 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Balfour?
Balfour had 4,171 residents at the 2021 Census.
What is the average age in Balfour?
Half the residents are older than 36.5 and half younger, younger than 85% of Canadian towns; 11% are children under 15 and 16% are 65 or over.
Is Balfour bilingual?
English and French: 4.7% speak both (Canada’s towns: 7.5%). English only: 93%. French only: 0%. French mother tongue: 0.8%.
How diverse is Balfour?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 31%. A visible minority makes up 39% and Indigenous residents 1.1%.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. 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).