Forest HeightsKitchener
14,369 residents make their home in this neighbourhood in Kitchener. It is one of the 37 neighbourhoods that make up Kitchener.
Is Forest Heights a good place to live?
Plenty to like here, at a price. Health is a strength (A). Housing is expensive (C−). The overall grade lands at B+, #294 of 858 in Ontario. That leaves it better than nearly two thirds of Canadian towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for safety and B for schools.
Rents here are the metro area's average, shared by every town and neighbourhood in it. Safety less sure: this is the whole city's figure, because the city doesn't publish open neighbourhood crime rates. Health is graded on the health region's survey figures and life expectancy, with the distance to hospital giving the town its own spread.
How Forest Heights grades
Each subject compares Forest Heights with Canadian towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far it is from the middle. Towns in other countries are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades Canadian towns →
What makes Forest Heights stand out
The 3 things Forest Heights does most differently from other towns.
The data
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Forest Heights.
Forest Heights is graded an A for health
Smokers make up 9% of the region’s adults, lower than both Ontario’s towns (10%) and Canadian towns (12%). Across the region, 53% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Ontario as a whole manages 51%. For Forest Heights itself the measure is access: 3.6 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. Lives in the region last 82.8 years on average (2022/2024): 84.9 for women, 80.7 for men. For health survey and life expectancy, the only official count covers all of the Waterloo Health Unit, Forest Heights included.
Very good or excellent health · adults, age-standardised
| Health | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronic conditions (average share) | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Smokers | 9% | 10% | 12% |
| Very good or excellent health | 53% | 51% | 52% |
| Life expectancy at birth | 82.8 | 82.8 | 81.5 |
Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 and life expectancy 2022/2024; Open Database of Healthcare Facilities
Most households in Forest Heights own their home: 87%, more than in Ontario’s towns and across Canadian towns
Owners put the median home at $700,000, near Ontario’s towns ($695,000) and higher than Canadian towns ($406,000). Shelter took 30% or more of income for 10% of households, below both Ontario’s towns (22%) and Canadian towns (18%). Forest Heights shares its rent as a share of income and monthly rent for a two-bedroom numbers with the rest of the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo metro area.
What homes were worth · The median owner’s estimate at the 2021 census
| Census 2021 | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households spending 30%+ on shelter | 10% | 22% | 18% |
| Households owning their home | 87% | 76% | 74% |
| Median home value, 2021 | $700,000 | $695,000 | $406,000 |
| Rent as a share of income | 20% | 22% | 20% |
Statistics Canada, Census 2021; CMHC Rental Market Survey via Statistics Canada · Values come from owners at the 2021 census and incomes from 2020, so they predate the later rise in rates.
A flood study covers Forest Heights: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Grand River Conservation Authority
Radon is lower than usual: 4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. NRCan expects $0.022 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Forest Heights, near the typical $0.030. Behind earthquake risk sits data gathered across the city of Kitchener, with Forest Heights one part of it.
Radon tests above the guideline · share of tested homes, 200 Bq/m³
| Hazards | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radon tests above the guideline | 4% | 4% | 6.6% |
| Earthquake loss per $1,000 of buildings a year | $0.022 | $0.043 | $0.030 |
NRCan seismic risk model and burned areas, Health Canada radon survey, the Flood Hazard Map Inventory
Household incomes in Forest Heights are higher than in 94% of Canadian towns
The average trip to work takes 24 min.
How working residents got to work · census 2021
| Census 2021 | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip | 24 min | 29 min | 26 min |
Statistics Canada, Census 2021 (labour and commuting) · Counted in May 2021, under pandemic rules: fewer commutes and more people between jobs than in a normal year.
Schools in Forest Heights: 3 boards, side by side
The 29 with results split, 6 in the upper two fifths in Ontario and 13 in the lower. The largest is Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, with 1,920 students. The 3 km around Forest Heights counts 31 elementary schools and 2 secondary schools, 15,530 students between them. Schooling in French is on offer at one of the 33; in Ontario, one in ten schools teach in it.
| School | Level | Students | System |
|---|---|---|---|
| Williamsburg Public School Second fifth in OntarioLargest elementary schoolElementary · Grades JK–6 | Elementary · Grades JK–6 | 630 | English public |
| Resurrection Catholic Secondary School CatholicLargest secondary schoolSecondary · Grades 9–12 | Secondary · Grades 9–12 | 1,920 | English Catholic |
| ÉÉC Cardinal-Léger FrenchTeaches in FrenchElementary · Grades JK–6 | Elementary · Grades JK–6 | 250 | French Catholic |
Schools by system · Schools within 3 km
| Schools within 3 km | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| School boards | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Provincial school lists and results, 2024-25
Forest Heights is graded a C+ for safety
Its police area records 14.2 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year. The index for the force that serves it came to 72, higher than both Ontario’s towns (56) and Canadian towns (67). Forest Heights doesn’t get its own Crime Severity Index, Violent Crime Severity Index, violent crime and property crime per 1,000 figures; the ones here come from the Waterloo Region (Kitchener) service area.
Year by year · Crime Severity Index for each year
| 2023–2025 | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 14.2 | 10.5 | 12 |
| Crime Severity Index | 72 | 56 | 67 |
Statistics Canada, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, 2023–2025 average
January nights in Forest Heights drop to −10.3°C (Ontario towns −9.1°C, Canadian towns −13.5°C)
In July the thermometer climbs to 26.6°C by day, near Ontario’s towns (26.7°C) and higher than Canadian towns (25.5°C). Gardeners get 149 frost-free days, from 8 May to 5 October. Snow peaks in January: 32 cm in a normal year. The most precipitation falls in July: 96 mm in a normal year.
Average high by season · ECCC normals, 1991–2020
| Normals, 1991–2020 | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snowfall a year | 115 cm | 146 cm | 141 cm |
| January night low | −10.3°C | −9.1°C | −13.5°C |
| July afternoon high | 26.6°C | 26.7°C | 25.5°C |
| Days with frost a year | 156 | 139 | 159 |
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Kitchener/Waterloo)
Children make up 17% of Forest Heights, above Ontario’s towns and Canadian towns
Visible minorities make up 18% of the population, lower than Ontario’s towns (26%) yet higher than Canadian towns (15%). The 65-and-over age group makes up nearly a fifth of residents.
Ages · Share of residents in each age group, Census 2021
Schooling · Highest qualification, residents 15 and over
Women and men · all residents
51.0% of Forest Heights’ residents are women
7,330 women and 7,050 men at the 2021 census; across Canada, women are 50.9%.
| Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 15% | 16% |
| 15 to 64 | 64% | 65% | 64% |
| 65+ | 19% | 19% | 19% |
| No certificate, diploma or degree | 15% | 15% | 16% |
| Postsecondary qualification | 57% | 56% | 56% |
Statistics Canada, Census 2021; Ontario and Canada: medians of towns of 2,500+
A normal November in Forest Heights runs from −2°C to 7°C
The year peaks in July (27°C) and bottoms out in January (−10°C). December follows at 1°C by day and −6°C by night. November usually brings some 9 cm of snow. A normal November brings 75 mm of rain and snow.
Normal highs, the months ahead · ECCC normals, 1991–2020
| Season | High | Low | Rain and snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | −1°C | −9°C | 167 mm |
| Spring | 12°C | 0°C | 218 mm |
| Summer | 25°C | 13°C | 244 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 4°C | 221 mm |
ECCC normals, 1991–2020 (Kitchener/Waterloo); the forecast is on the Weather page
29,450 residents per council seat in Kitchener, a higher ratio than 98% of Ontario municipalities
Kitchener—Conestoga is the riding Forest Heights votes in for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and its MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament, at Queen’s Park in Toronto) isn’t named here because no open list records the members.
| Turnout | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal election, 2022 | 20% | 31% | 31% |
Wikidata, MAMH, MMAH, Statistics Canada
Kitchener Public Library - Forest Heights is Forest Heights’s public library
Forest Heights is served by Kitchener Public Library, the library of all of Kitchener, so the figures here are the city’s, for 292,240 people.
Provincial library statistics, OpenStreetMap, the CRA and Statistics Canada
Forest Heights has 20 public protected areas within 10 km
No national park lies within 100 km. A provincial park, Trillium Woods Provincial Park, lies 44 km away. 2.9 km out lies the largest, Huron Natural Area, at 96 ha.
Protected land · of the land within 10 km
| Outdoors | Forest Heights | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public protected areas within 10 km | 20 | 4 | 4 |
| Protected land within 10 km | 1.6% | 2.3% | 2.3% |
Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD), OpenStreetMap routes and beaches
Everything we know about Forest Heights
THEMUSEUM and 17 more in and around Forest Heights
Museums, historic sites, parks, gardens and days out in and near Forest Heights, the best known first.
MuseumTHEMUSEUM3.7 km outside town, to the northeast
Art galleryCanadian Clay and Glass Gallery3.8 km outside town, to the north
MuseumJoseph Schneider Haus2.9 km outside town, to the northeastGardenGardenWaterloo Park4.1 km outside town, to the northArt galleryArt galleryInterarts Matrix3.2 km outside town, to the northeastArt galleryArt galleryYoni Mudra Art Gallery3.5 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (3)
- THEMUSEUM: Illustratedjc, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery: JFVoll, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Joseph Schneider Haus: Yoho2001, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
About Forest Heights
Neighbourhood in Kitchener
Where Forest Heights begins and ends inside Kitchener is TownRatings’s line, traced along census dissemination areas and named after the city’s map or OpenStreetMap.
Statistics Canada: population estimates 2025 (17-10-0155), Census of Population 2021, 2021 census boundaries.
- Population
- 14,369 (people, 2021 estimate)
- Province or territory
- Ontario
- City
- Kitchener
- Census subdivision
- 3530013
Forest Heights’ neighbours
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Statistics Canada
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Heights | 14,369 | — | B+ | C− | C+ | A |
| Highland West | 12,476 | 1.8 | B+ | C− | C+ | A |
| Forest Hill | 5,760 | 1.9 | B− | D− | C+ | A |
| Victoria Hills | 10,760 | 2.5 | B− | D− | C+ | A |
| Laurentian West | 16,857 | 2.5 | B | C− | C+ | A |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside | 5,007 | 2.8 | B− | D− | C+ | A |
| Laurentian Hills | 10,026 | 3 | B− | D− | C+ | A |
People: Statistics Canada, Census 2021. Distances: centre to centre.
Questions about Forest Heights
Is Forest Heights a young town or an old one?
At 41.9, its median age compares with 45.2 across Canadian towns.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2021 · population estimates 2025 (17-10-0155) and 2021 census boundaries · Uniform Crime Reporting Survey 2023–25 (35-10-0026, 35-10-0183 to 35-10-0190) · CMHC rents as published by Statistics Canada (34-10-0133) · grades by TownRatings. 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).