Glen CairnOttawa
14,020 residents make their home in this neighbourhood in Ottawa. It is one of 103 neighbourhoods of Ottawa.
Is Glen Cairn a good place to live?
The everyday basics are strong; the price of a home is the catch. Its strongest subject is schools (A+). At A overall, Glen Cairn is better than 90% of Canadian towns and ranks #49 of 858 in Ontario. Health outcomes beat most towns (A). What counts against it is cost of living (C−). Hazard risk is higher than most (C+).
Rents here are the metro area's average, shared by every town and neighbourhood in it. Safety uses the city's Crime Severity Index, scaled by this neighbourhood's own violent and property 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.
What makes Glen Cairn stand out
The 3 things Glen Cairn does most differently from other towns.
How Glen Cairn grades
Each subject compares Glen Cairn 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 →
The data
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Glen Cairn.
English or French, public or Catholic: Glen Cairn’s schools come under 4 boards
Of the 25 with results, 17 sit in the upper two fifths in Ontario. Teaching in French runs high: 8 of 32 schools, against 10% in Ontario. Its elementary schools are big ones, 526 students on average, against 365 in Ontario. The 3 km around Glen Cairn counts 25 elementary schools and 7 secondary schools, 19,400 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | System |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shingwàkons Public School Middle fifth in OntarioLargest elementary schoolElementary · Grades JK–6 | Elementary · Grades JK–6 | 790 | English public |
| Earl of March Secondary School Top fifth in OntarioLargest secondary schoolSecondary · Grades 9–12 | Secondary · Grades 9–12 | 1,715 | English public |
| École élémentaire publique Maurice-Lapointe FrenchTeaches in FrenchElementary · Grades JK–8 | Elementary · Grades JK–8 | 650 | French public |
Schools by system · Schools within 3 km
| Schools within 3 km | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| School boards | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Provincial school lists and results, 2024-25
Glen Cairn’s grade for health: an A
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure affect 16% of the region’s adults on average, below both Ontario’s towns (17%) and Canadian towns (17%). Smoking is rarer than in the province: nearly one in ten adults, against 11% for Ontario. In the health survey, 56% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than Ontario’s 51%. For Glen Cairn itself the measure is access, and it lags: 7.9 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical.
Very good or excellent health · adults, age-standardised
| Health | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very good or excellent health | 56% | 51% | 52% |
| Life expectancy at birth | 83.7 | 82.8 | 81.5 |
| Smokers | 8.6% | 10% | 12% |
| Chronic conditions (average share) | 16% | 17% | 17% |
Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 and life expectancy 2022/2024; Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · Area behind the health survey and life expectancy figures: the City of Ottawa Health Unit
Measured against local pay, Glen Cairn costs more to live in than four in five Canadian towns
Area-wide: rent as a share of income and monthly rent for a two-bedroom, counted over the Ottawa-Gatineau metro area
Home ownership covers just over four in five households. Owners put the median home at $552,000, below Ontario’s towns ($695,000) but above Canadian towns ($406,000).
What homes were worth · The median owner’s estimate at the 2021 census
| Census 2021 | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households spending 30%+ on shelter | 13% | 22% | 18% |
| Median home value, 2021 | $552,000 | $695,000 | $406,000 |
| Households owning their home | 81% | 76% | 74% |
Statistics Canada, Census 2021; CMHC Rental Market Survey via Statistics Canada · The 2021 census asked owners what their home was worth; those values, and 2020 incomes, are what this compares.
Trips to work from Glen Cairn are shorter than from Ontario’s towns or Canadian towns: 24 min on average
88% of commuters drove, in line with Ontario’s towns (88%) and Canadian towns (89%).
How working residents got to work · census 2021
| Census 2021 | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip | 24 min | 29 min | 26 min |
| Car or van | 88% | 88% | 89% |
Statistics Canada, Census 2021 (labour and commuting) · The 2021 census was taken in May 2021, during COVID-19 restrictions: more people than usual worked from home or were off work.
Glen Cairn’s grade for safety: a B+
Source area for Crime Severity Index, Violent Crime Severity Index, violent crime and property crime per 1,000: the Ottawa service area
The force’s area logs 8 violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year. The index for the force that serves it came to 55, close to Ontario’s towns (56) and below Canadian towns (67).
Year by year · Crime Severity Index for each year
| 2023–2025 | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 8 | 10.5 | 12 |
| Violent Crime Severity Index | 66 | 76 | 86 |
| Crime Severity Index | 55 | 56 | 67 |
Statistics Canada, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, 2023–2025 average
Hazards in Glen Cairn: wildfire low, radon over the guideline in 6.2% of tested homes
Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.15 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Burn scars are few around Glen Cairn, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% a year). The national flood inventory has no study of the town.
Radon tests above the guideline · share of tested homes, 200 Bq/m³
| Hazards | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake loss per $1,000 of buildings a year | $0.15 | $0.043 | $0.030 |
| Radon tests above the guideline | 6.2% | 4% | 6.6% |
NRCan seismic risk model and burned areas, Health Canada radon survey, the Flood Hazard Map Inventory · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Ottawa
January lows in Glen Cairn: −14.0°C, against −9.1°C in Ontario’s towns and −13.5°C in Canadian towns
A normal July day peaks at 26.7°C, close to Ontario’s towns (26.7°C) and above Canadian towns (25.5°C). The frost-free season runs from 30 April to 6 October, 158 days. Rain and snow peak in June, at 95 mm. January is the snowiest month, with 45 cm on average.
Average high by season · ECCC normals, 1991–2020
| Normals, 1991–2020 | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snowfall a year | 185 cm | 146 cm | 141 cm |
| January night low | −14.0°C | −9.1°C | −13.5°C |
| July afternoon high | 26.7°C | 26.7°C | 25.5°C |
| Days with frost a year | 147 | 139 | 159 |
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Ottawa (City))
Children make up 21% of Glen Cairn, above Ontario’s towns and Canadian towns
14% of residents are 65 or over, below Ontario’s towns (19%) and Canadian towns (19%) alike. Both official languages: 24% of residents, higher than both Ontario’s towns (6.7%) and Canadian towns (7.5%).
Ages · Share of residents in each age group, Census 2021
Schooling · Highest qualification, residents 15 and over
Women and men · all residents
51.4% of Glen Cairn’s residents are women
By the 2021 count the town had 7,205 women and 6,810 men, while Canada has 50.9% women.
| Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 15% | 16% |
| 15 to 64 | 65% | 65% | 64% |
| 65+ | 14% | 19% | 19% |
| No certificate, diploma or degree | 9.4% | 15% | 16% |
| Postsecondary qualification | 66% | 56% | 56% |
Statistics Canada, Census 2021; Ontario and Canada: medians of towns of 2,500+
What November brings in Glen Cairn: −2°C at night, 6°C by day
November usually brings some 16 cm of snow. Next comes December, with normal highs of −2°C and lows of −9°C. In November, the normal is 72 mm of rain and snow. The year peaks in July (27°C) and bottoms out in January (−14°C).
Normal highs, the months ahead · ECCC normals, 1991–2020
| Season | High | Low | Rain and snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | −3°C | −12°C | 191 mm |
| Spring | 11°C | 1°C | 223 mm |
| Summer | 26°C | 15°C | 275 mm |
| Autumn | 13°C | 4°C | 249 mm |
ECCC normals, 1991–2020 (Ottawa (City)); the forecast is on the Weather page
One councillor per 47,520 residents: Ottawa is more thinly represented than 99% of Ontario municipalities
In the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Glen Cairn belongs to Kanata—Carleton; who holds it as MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament, at Queen’s Park in Toronto) isn’t on an open record, so no one is named.
| Turnout | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal election, 2022 | 44% | 31% | 31% |
Wikidata, MAMH, MMAH, Statistics Canada
At 7.6 loans per person served, Ottawa Public Library lends more than nine in ten Ontario’s town libraries
Ottawa Public Library serves the whole of Ottawa, so the library figures on this page are the city’s: 1,083,550 people, Glen Cairn among them.
Provincial library statistics, OpenStreetMap, the CRA and Statistics Canada
The nearest provincial park to Glen Cairn is Burnt Lands Provincial Park, 19 km away
8.3 km out lies the largest, Aylmer (Lac Deschênes) Water Fowl Gathering Area, at 588 ha. Protected areas cover 5.5% of the land within 10 km; for the typical Canadian town it is 2.3%. For a national park, Thousand Islands National Park is 79 km away. Within 10 km are 5 protected areas.
Protected land · of the land within 10 km
| Outdoors | Glen Cairn | Ontario | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protected land within 10 km | 5.5% | 2.3% | 2.3% |
| Public protected areas within 10 km | 2 | 4 | 4 |
Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database (CPCAD), OpenStreetMap routes and beaches
Valleyview Little Animal Farm and 2 more in and around Glen Cairn
Sights in Glen Cairn and close by, ordered by how widely each is known.
Everything we know about Glen Cairn
Famous people from around Glen Cairn
One notable person was born in Glen Cairn; with them, the best known born in the towns around it.
Photo credits
Matt Bradley: Dinur Blum, CC BY 2.0
Glen Cairn’s neighbours
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Statistics Canada
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Cairn | 14,020 | — | A | C− | B+ | A |
| Stittsville East | 10,482 | 1.8 | A+ | C | A+ | A |
| Bridlewood - Emerald Meadows | 25,824 | 2 | A+ | C | A+ | A |
| Katimavik-Hazeldean | 11,437 | 2.5 | A+ | C− | A | A |
| Stittsville North | 13,331 | 4.3 | A+ | C | A | A |
| Stittsville | 19,753 | 4.4 | A+ | C+ | A+ | A |
| Beaverbrook | 6,762 | 4.6 | A+ | C− | A+ | A |
People: Statistics Canada, Census 2021. Distances: centre to centre.
Questions about Glen Cairn
Is Glen Cairn a young town or an old one?
The median resident is 37.5 years old, against 45.2 for the median of Canadian towns. 21% are under 15 and 14% are 65 or over.
About Glen Cairn
Neighbourhood in Ottawa
Where Glen Cairn begins and ends inside Ottawa 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
- 14,020 (people, 2021 estimate)
- Province or territory
- Ontario
- City
- Ottawa
- Census subdivision
- 3506008
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).