Photo: Jfvoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Younger than 90% of Canadian towns: half of Wellesley is under 35.2
The share of residents with no religion is 20%, against 35% across Canada’s towns. For Wellesley, the census puts residents who moved in within the year at 5.3%. At 15%, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is higher than in 93% of Canadian towns. This Ontario town is home to some 12,413 people (July 2025 estimate), in 3,365 households at the 2021 Census.
What stands out about the people of Wellesley
Younger than most towns
Line Wellesley’s residents up by age and the one in the middle is 35.2; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 25% are under 15 and 14% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
+1% since 2016: slower than 74% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. The census counts of 2016 and 2021, the estimate after them, and the change set beside other towns.
Change, 2016 to 2021
The July 2025 estimate adds another 10%. Medians for comparison: +4% across Canada’s towns; +6% across Ontario’s towns.
25% of residents are under 15, a share 97% of Canadian towns don’t reach
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
With residents aged 65 and over at 14%, Wellesley is behind 77% of Canadian towns on that count. Against that, 16% of residents are under 15 across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Wellesley, 35.2. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split.
Wellesley households average 3.4 people, larger than in 97% of Canadian towns
Private households by type and size.
Against Ontario’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
3.9% of households are one-parent families, against 8.2% across Canada’s towns. Fewer one-person households than in 91% of Canadian towns: 15%.
Common-law partners: 5%, a lower share than 91% of Canadian towns
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Compared with 46% across Canada’s towns, 61% of residents 15 and over are married here. The comparison figure for common-law partners is 11% across Canada’s towns.
Wellesley ranks below 80% of Canadian towns on renter households: 13%
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
Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. For comparison, 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. In Wellesley, 85% of households live in a single-detached house.
$119,000 a year: the median household income
Incomes are 2020’s, the census’s reference year, and include pandemic benefits such as CERB. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
Wellesley’s median household took in $119,000 before tax, 38% more than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Across Ontario’s towns the median is $91,600. Emergency and recovery benefits reached 16% of those with an income, beside a typical 28%.
5.4% of residents are immigrants
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
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
The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (55%) and in the Americas (29%). Wellesley has fewer immigrants than 80% of Canadian towns, at 5.4%. Recent arrivals are 17% of immigrants (2011 to 2021), beside 27% across Canada’s towns.
79% said they are Christian and 20% that they have no religion
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Here 1.1% of residents have an Indigenous identity, where the figure across Canada’s towns is 2.8%. The share of visible minority residents stands at 2.2%.
English is the mother tongue of 64%, and 3.1% speak French as well
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
0.5% of residents have French as their mother tongue (Canada’s towns: 1.5%). Bilingual residents are rarer here than in 93% of Canadian towns.
Only 19% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in Wellesley
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
68% of adults were employed in May 2021
The census counted work in May 2021, mid-pandemic, so read these rates as a pandemic snapshot. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Employment runs above the middle of Canada’s towns (58%), at 68%.
4th lowest median age among 41 towns of 12,148 to 12,678
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The group spans Blackfalds, youngest at 31.8, to Elliot Lake, oldest at 60.4. The closest ages to Wellesley’s belong to Spring Valley (32.9), Grenet (34.2), Norwich (36) and Highland West (36.3).
Every neighbour of Wellesley has an older population
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wellesley | 12,413 | — | 35.2 | 14% | 5.4% |
| New Hamburg | 22,890 | 14.8 km | 42.8 | 21% | 10% |
| Perth East | 13,423 | 16.6 km | 36.4 | 16% | 6% |
| Waterloo | 142,450 | 16.9 km | 36 | 15% | 28% |
| Elmira | 31,382 | 17.9 km | 39.6 | 18% | 13% |
| Highland West | 12,476 | 18.2 km | 36.3 | 11% | 39% |
| Westmount | 5,048 | 19.0 km | 37.1 | 17% | 28% |
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. 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.
Questions about Wellesley’s residents
How diverse is Wellesley?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 17% are immigrants; here, 5.4%. A visible minority makes up 2.2% and Indigenous residents 1.1%.
What religion are people in Wellesley?
Most often Christian (79%) or no religion (20%); other religions make up 0.8%.
Is Wellesley good for families?
Children under 15 are 25% of residents, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Couple families make up 70% of households and one-parent families 3.9%. Schools near Wellesley are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Wellesley?
Median total household income in Wellesley was $119,000 in 2020, against a median of $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Wellesley?
The latest figure is an estimate: 12,413 residents in July 2025. At the 2021 Census, Wellesley counted 11,318, about the same as 2016.
What is the average age in Wellesley?
Half the residents are older than 35.2 and half younger, younger than 90% of Canadian towns; 25% are children under 15 and 14% are 65 or over.
Is Wellesley bilingual?
Both official languages are spoken by 3.1% of residents, against a typical 7.5% across Canada’s towns. 94% speak only English and 0% only French; 0.5% grew up with French.
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).