16% of households are one-parent families, more than in 99% of Canadian towns
Across Canada’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 11%; Rolston has 7.2%. Higher than in 85% of Canadian towns: 17% of households live in a building of five or more storeys. The 2021 Census put the neighbourhood’s population at 6,124, in 2,265 households. Visible minority residents account for 37%.
A median age of 38.4: Rolston is younger than 74% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Against a figure of 16% across Canada’s towns, the share of children under 15 in Rolston comes in at 18%. The highest share aged 65 or over among Ontario’s towns is Northern Bruce Peninsula’s: 41%. No age band is larger than 30–34: 7.3% of residents.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Rolston, 38.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women.
Larger households than 74% of Canadian towns: 2.7 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.
27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns, against 23% in Rolston.
Rolston ranks below 69% of Canadian towns on common-law partners: 8.4%
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Where 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns, Rolston has 41%. Common-law partners: 11% across Canada’s towns, for comparison.
43% of households rent their home, a share 79% of Canadian towns don’t reach
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
Older homes outnumber new: 12% predate 1961, 2.2% date from 2001 or later. Elsewhere, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Compared with other places, households in single-detached houses are scarce here: 49%, fewer than in 69% of Canadian towns.
The middle household earns $78,400 a year
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Rolston had $78,400 before tax, 9% below the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The figure for Ontario’s towns: $91,600. The pandemic’s benefits: 31% of income recipients, against 28% in the typical town.
Above 77% of Canadian towns: 34% 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 40%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Of the immigrants living here, 32% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%. On the census count, 13% of residents are not Canadian citizens. For comparison, 17% of residents are immigrants across Canada’s towns.
Rolston sits below 70% of Canadian towns for residents with no religion (28%)
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Other faiths: Muslim (10%). The comparison figure for residents with no religion is 35% across Canada’s towns. Indigenous residents are about as common here as across Canada’s towns: 2.8%.
62% have English as their mother tongue; 4.9% 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
At home: English 73%, French 0.4%. Bilingual residents are rarer here than in just over three quarters of Canadian towns. Little separates the share of residents whose mother tongue is French here, 0.6%, from the figure across Canada’s towns.
29% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, a share 53% of Canadian towns don’t reach
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Holding no credential: 11% (typical 9.5%). Against that, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
48% of residents 15 and over were in work
Census day was in May 2021, mid-pandemic: some of these rates are lower than in a usual year. The census’s work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Fewer work here than in the typical town: 48%, against 58% across Canada’s towns. 19% of residents are 65 or over.
Ranked by age, 14th youngest of 41 towns this size
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
Median ages climb from 33.4 (Inkster Gardens) to 57.2 (Tay Valley) across the group. The towns whose median age is nearest to Rolston’s: Saint-Henri (38.4), St. Paul (38.4), Richmond West (39) and Alberta Avenue (39.6).
Median age: 3 of the 6 towns around Rolston are older
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns. The middle of Ontario’s towns of 2,500 or more comes first, the middle of all Canadian towns second; cities as a whole and First Nations reserves stay out, and percentiles are within Canada.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. The figures sum the neighbourhood’s dissemination areas, since the census is published for municipalities only. Medians are estimated from the age and income groups, counts carry Statistics Canada’s rounding, and no 2016 count matches these boundaries.
- What these tables don’t give. The Census Profile has no unpaid care, cars or internet access, and no change by age since 2016; ethnic origins beyond visible minority and Indigenous identity aren’t charted here.
- 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.
Questions about Rolston’s residents
What is the average age in Rolston?
Half the residents are older than 38.4 and half younger, younger than 74% of Canadian towns; 18% are children under 15 and 19% are 65 or over.
Is Rolston bilingual?
English and French: 4.9% speak both (Canada’s towns: 7.5%). English only: 92%. French only: 0%. French mother tongue: 0.6%.
How diverse is Rolston?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 34%. A visible minority makes up 37% and Indigenous residents 2.8%.
What religion are people in Rolston?
Most often Christian (57%) or no religion (28%); other religions make up 15%.
Is Rolston good for families?
Children under 15 are 18% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 46% of households and one-parent families 16%. Schools near Rolston are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Rolston?
Median total household income in Rolston was $78,400 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Rolston?
Rolston had 6,124 residents at the 2021 Census.
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).