Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Above 92% of Canadian towns: 50% of residents are immigrants
The median age in Thornhill is 47.9, higher than in nearly four fifths of Canadian towns. 37% of residents belong to a visible minority. At the 2021 Census, 17,940 people lived locally, in 6,300 households. A household here has 2.8 people on average; across Canada’s towns, 2.4.
What stands out about the people of Thornhill
More immigrants than most towns
Immigrants make up 50% of residents; the medians are 26% across Ontario’s towns and 17% across Canada’s towns. Immigrants here were most often born in Asia (58%), then in Europe (26%), and 18% arrived from 2011 to 2021. Immigrants & newcomers ↓
Many graduates
A bachelor’s degree or higher is held by 60% of 25- to 64-year-olds, more than in 94% of Canadian towns, and a master’s by 15%. Qualifications ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 26% in Thornhill, more than in 82% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
Children under 15 make up 14%, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Across the comparison, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. 60–64 is the most common age band: nearly one in ten residents.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Thornhill, 47.9. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Below 77% of Canadian towns: 20% of households are one person living alone
Private households by type and size.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
The share of one-parent families stands at 8.1%. The usual figure: 27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns.
Common-law partners: 2.6%, a lower share than 98% of Canadian towns
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
58% of residents 15 and over are married, against 46% across Canada’s towns. Across Canada’s towns, common-law partners come to 11%.
Thornhill ranks above 89% of Canadian towns on households in buildings of five or more storeys: 26%
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
17% of homes were built in 2001 or later, more than the 3.5% built before 1961. Fewer renter households than in three quarters of Canadian towns: 15%. Add to that, by its share of households in single-detached houses (55%), Thornhill is below 61% of Canadian towns.
$118,700 a year: the median household income
Census incomes are for 2020, the year before the census, when CERB and other pandemic benefits topped up many households. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
Household incomes run high in Thornhill: half had more than $118,700, 38% above the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Ontario’s towns have a median of $91,600. Emergency and recovery benefits reached 33% of those with an income, beside a typical 28%.
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 96% of Canadian towns: 6%
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
Immigrants, by continent of birth · share of all residents; the bar runs to 60%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Recent arrivals, from 2011 to 2021, are 18% of immigrants (typical: 27%); non-permanent residents add 2.5% of residents. Measured more widely, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. Residents without Canadian citizenship account for 10%.
Only 21% of residents said they have no religion in Thornhill
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Indigenous residents are rarer here than in 98% of Canadian towns. On average, just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns. Other faiths: Jewish (45%) and Muslim (4.6%).
7.8% of residents speak English and French, more than in 52% of Canadian towns
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
27% most often speak a language other than English or French at home, and 3.7% speak neither official language. The usual figure: 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns. Fewer residents whose mother tongue is French than in 71% of Canadian towns: 1%.
Thornhill ranks above 94% of Canadian towns on degree holders aged 25 to 64: 60%
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No diploma or degree: 2.5% here, 9.5% in the typical town. Set beside that, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
52% of residents 15 and over were in work
Counted in May 2021, during COVID-19, these rates catch the job market before it had recovered. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Fewer work here than in the typical town: 52%, against 58% across Canada’s towns. 26% of residents are 65 or over.
In its size band (17,494 to 18,501), the 5th oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
They run from Schmidtville, at 29, to Edmundston, at 54. Closest in median age to Thornhill are Unionville (47.5), L'Ancienne-Lorette (47.6), Central Saanich (49.6) and Greater Napanee (50.4).
1 of the 6 nearest towns are older than Thornhill
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornhill | 17,940 | — | 47.9 | 26% | 50% |
| Steeles Corners | 9,468 | 1.5 km | 40.7 | 16% | 61% |
| Beverley Glen | 38,720 | 1.8 km | 47.9 | 25% | 52% |
| Newtonbrook West | 23,978 | 2.3 km | 42.5 | 19% | 66% |
| Langstaff | 8,147 | 2.4 km | 49.5 | 26% | 49% |
| Newtonbrook East | 15,996 | 2.5 km | 44 | 23% | 64% |
| Westminster-Branson | 26,027 | 2.9 km | 44.2 | 21% | 68% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The census’s own words. These are self-reported answers: Indigenous identity, immigrant status, religion. The census’s “visible minority” comes from the Employment Equity Act (non-white in colour or race, Indigenous peoples aside), and the page sets each beside other towns without labelling any.
- Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns. Provincial and national yardsticks: Ontario’s towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents, and all Canadian towns of that size. No whole city and no First Nations reserve is in either median.
- 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.
Questions about Thornhill’s residents
How diverse is Thornhill?
50% of residents are immigrants (Canada’s towns: 17%); 37% belong to a visible minority and 0% have an Indigenous identity.
What religion are people in Thornhill?
25% are Christian and 21% have no religion; 53% follow another religion.
Is Thornhill good for families?
Under 15: 14% (Canada’s towns: 16%). Couple families: 62% of households. One-parent families: 8.1%. Schools near Thornhill are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Thornhill?
The median household in Thornhill took in $118,700 in 2020, against $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Thornhill?
17,940, at the 2021 Census: Statistics Canada makes no later estimate for Thornhill alone.
What is the average age in Thornhill?
A median age of 47.9, older than 79% of Canadian towns. Children under 15 make up 14%, and people 65 and over 26%.
Is Thornhill bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 7.8% are. Another 0% speak only French and 89% only English, and French is the first language of 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).