Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0One-person households make up 17% in Whitby, less than in 84% of Canadian towns
Households in buildings of five or more storeys: 7.1%, above just over three quarters of Canadian towns. Nearly a fifth of residents are under 15. Residents aged 65 and over are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns. With about 162,413 residents in July 2025, Whitby counted 46,460 households at the 2021 Census.
A growing town: +8% since 2016, faster than 72% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
The July 2025 estimate adds another 17%. Across Canada’s towns the median change is +4%; across Ontario’s towns, +6%.
A larger share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 78% of Canadian towns: 13%
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
More residents are 45–49 than any other five-year age: 7.6% of residents. With a median age of 40, Whitby is younger than 63% of Canadian towns. By way of comparison, 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Whitby, 40. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women.
Larger households than 87% of Canadian towns: 2.9 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.
Set against 8.2% across Canada’s towns, one in ten households are one-parent families in Whitby.
A lower share of common-law partners than 81% of Canadian towns, at 6.8%
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Where 46% of residents 15 and over are married across Canada’s towns, Whitby has 53%. The share of common-law partners across Canada’s towns is 11%.
Renter households make up 18% in Whitby, less than in 67% of Canadian towns
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
Newer homes outnumber old: 39% date from 2001 or later, 8.2% from before 1961. Single-detached houses hold 70% of households, more than in 58% of Canadian towns, and buildings of five or more storeys 7.1%. The usual figure: 25% of households rent their home across Canada’s towns.
Half of households earn more than $123,000 a year
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. Total household income: the median household, and the spread from low to high.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Whitby had $123,000 before tax, 43% above the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). For Ontario’s towns, the median household income is $91,600. Pandemic payments such as CERB reached 29% of income recipients here, against 28% in the typical town.
Whitby sits above 69% of Canadian towns for immigrants (28%)
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
Nearly a quarter of immigrants arrived between 2011 and 2021, against 27% across Canada’s towns. Immigrants here were most often born in Asia (47%), then in Europe (24%). A year before the census, 10% lived somewhere else: fewer than the typical 11% across Canada’s towns. By way of comparison, 17% of residents are immigrants across Canada’s towns.
More visible minority residents than 73% of Canadian towns: 35%
Identity and faith, in the census’s categories.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Other faiths: Muslim (6.7%) and Hindu (5.4%). At 32%, the share of residents with no religion is lower than in three fifths of Canadian towns. Across the comparison, 15% of residents belong to a visible minority across Canada’s towns. In Whitby, 1.5% of residents have an Indigenous identity, beside 2.8% across Canada’s towns.
8.3% of residents speak English and French, more than in 54% 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
9.7% most often speak a language other than English or French at home, and 1.2% speak neither official language. Against that, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns. Residents whose mother tongue is French are about as common here as across Canada’s towns, at 1.3%.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64: 38%, a higher share than 68% of Canadian towns
Education of residents 25 to 64, by highest credential.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Some 5.6% have no certificate, diploma or degree, against a typical 9.5%. By way of comparison, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
In work on census day: 59% of adults
These rates date from May 2021, during the pandemic, and run lower than a normal year’s. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Employment here, 59%, matches the middle of Canada’s towns (58%) within a couple of points.
Of 41 towns its size (105,520 to 243,107 people), the 12th youngest
Median age of the Canadian towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest of these towns is Milton, at 36; the oldest, Cape Breton, is at 50.4. By median age, Whitby sits among Oshawa (39.2), Bowmanville (39.2), Chilliwack (40.4) and Langley (40.8).
1 of the 3 nearest towns are older than Whitby
Neighbouring places and their median ages; each name opens its page.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- What these tables don’t give. Not in the Census Profile: unpaid care, cars, internet access, and how each age group has changed since 2016. We also chart no ethnic origins besides visible minority and Indigenous identity.
- The census’s own words. “Visible minority” is the census’s term from the Employment Equity Act: people, other than Indigenous peoples, who are non-white in colour or race. Indigenous identity, immigrant status and religion are as residents answered. The page compares them with other towns and never labels a town by them.
Questions about Whitby’s residents
How diverse is Whitby?
28% of residents are immigrants (Canada’s towns: 17%); 35% belong to a visible minority and 1.5% have an Indigenous identity.
What religion are people in Whitby?
54% are Christian and 32% have no religion; 14% follow another religion.
Is Whitby good for families?
Under 15: 19% (Canada’s towns: 16%). Couple families: 61% of households. One-parent families: 9.9%. Schools near Whitby are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Whitby?
The median household in Whitby took in $123,000 in 2020, against $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Whitby?
Whitby had about 162,413 residents in July 2025, Statistics Canada estimates; the 2021 Census counted 138,501, 8% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Whitby?
A median age of 40, younger than 63% of Canadian towns. Children under 15 make up 19%, and people 65 and over 15%.
Is Whitby bilingual?
8.3% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 0.1% speak French only and 90% English only. French is the mother tongue of 1.3%.
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).