Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0A median age of 55.6: Rideau Lakes is older than 95% of Canadian towns
Set against 16% across Canada’s towns, 12% of residents are under 15 in Rideau Lakes. The latest estimate, for July 2025, is 12,148 residents; the 2021 Census found 4,695 households. On the census count, 92% of households live in a single-detached house. Lower than in 89% of Canadian towns: 7.2% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
What stands out about the people of Rideau Lakes
Older than most towns
Line Rideau Lakes’s residents up by age and the one in the middle is 55.6; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 31% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
A +5% change since 2016: faster than 58% of Canadian towns
The 2021 Census is the source of every figure here unless a date says otherwise. How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
For comparison, the median is +4% across Canada’s towns and +6% across Ontario’s towns. The July 2025 estimate adds another 12%.
More residents aged 65 and over than 94% of Canadian towns: 31%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 across Canada’s towns, against 8.4% in Rideau Lakes. Measured more widely, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Rideau Lakes, 55.6. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split.
Smaller households than 64% of Canadian towns: 2.3 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.
A quarter of households are one person living alone (Canada’s towns: 27%). Few places have so few one-parent families: 6.4% here, fewer than in nearly four fifths of Canadian towns.
Rideau Lakes: 55% of residents 15 and over are married, above 80% of Canadian towns
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Singles who have never married make up nearly a fifth of adults, beside a typical 27%. The census found that 11% of residents 15 and over live common-law in Rideau Lakes.
Renter households make up 12% in Rideau Lakes, less than in 83% of Canadian towns
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
Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in nearly three quarters of Canadian towns. By way of comparison, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Older homes outnumber new: 29% predate 1961, 18% date from 2001 or later.
Median gross household income: $84,000 a year
Census incomes cover 2020, when emergency benefits like CERB lifted many households’ totals. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
At $84,000, the middle household in Rideau Lakes earned close to the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The middle household across Ontario’s towns has $91,600 before tax. COVID-19 benefits were paid to 21% of residents with an income, where the typical town had 28%.
6.7% 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 35%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Immigrants here were most often born in Europe (65%), then in the Americas (19%). Fewer immigrants than in 75% of Canadian towns: 6.7%. Of the immigrants living here, 9% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%.
Rideau Lakes ranks below 52% of Canadian towns on residents with no religion: 34%
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
There is little gap on Indigenous residents: 3.6%, about the same as across Canada’s towns. Fewer visible minority residents than in 87% of Canadian towns: 1.8%. Across Canada’s towns, residents with no religion come to 35%.
Rideau Lakes ranks above 58% of Canadian towns on bilingual residents: 9%
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
Rideau Lakes sits close to the norm on residents whose mother tongue is French: 2.3%, about the same as across Canada’s towns. On average, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns.
Below 69% of Canadian towns: 19% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Some 8.1% have no certificate, diploma or degree, against a typical 9.5%. Measured more widely, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
48% of adults were employed in May 2021
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. 31% of residents are 65 or over.
Ranked by age, 3rd oldest of 41 towns this size
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
The span goes from 31.8 (Blackfalds) up to 60.4 (Elliot Lake). In age, Rideau Lakes keeps company with Summerland (54.4), Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts (55.2), Saint-Sauveur (58.4) and Elliot Lake (60.4).
Rideau Lakes sits below 2 of its 5 closest neighbours on median age
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page. The nearest places to Rideau Lakes with figures are 18–27 km away.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rideau Lakes | 12,148 | — | 55.6 | 31% | 6.7% |
| Athens | 3,078 | 17.9 km | 50.8 | 24% | 4% |
| Perth | 6,972 | 24.0 km | 58.4 | 39% | 6.6% |
| Tay Valley | 6,171 | 24.9 km | 57.2 | 32% | 6.1% |
| Smiths Falls | 11,093 | 24.9 km | 47.2 | 26% | 6% |
| Elizabethtown-Kitley | 9,886 | 26.8 km | 51.2 | 25% | 6% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. 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.
Questions about Rideau Lakes’s residents
How diverse is Rideau Lakes?
Immigrants make up 6.7% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 1.8% are members of a visible minority, and 3.6% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
What religion are people in Rideau Lakes?
Christian: 65%. No religion: 34%. Another religion: 0.9%.
Is Rideau Lakes good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 12%. 61% of households are couple families and 6.4% one-parent families. Schools near Rideau Lakes are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Rideau Lakes?
$84,000 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Rideau Lakes (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
What is the population of Rideau Lakes?
Statistics Canada estimates 12,148 residents for July 2025; the 2021 Census counted 10,883 in Rideau Lakes, 5% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Rideau Lakes?
55.6 is the median age, older than 95% of Canadian towns. Under 15: 12%. 65 and over: 31%.
Is Rideau Lakes bilingual?
9% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0.1% speak French only and 91% English only. French is the mother tongue of 2.3%.
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).