Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0Half of Dégelis is over 55.2, older than 95% of Canadian towns
38% of households are one person living alone, against 27% across Canada’s towns. Few places have so few children under 15: 12% here, fewer than in 88% of Canadian towns. The 2021 Census found 1,385 households in Dégelis; by July 2025 the population was about 2,943. The census found that 7.3% of residents lived at another address a year earlier here.
What stands out about the people of Dégelis
Older than most towns
Dégelis’s median age is 55.2; 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.
Bilingual residents: 19%, a higher share than 74% of Canadian towns
The figures are the 2021 Census’s, except where another date is given. 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
By its share of residents whose mother tongue is English (1%), Dégelis is below 95% of Canadian towns. The benchmark for bilingual residents across Canada’s towns: 7.5%.
Slower than most: +1% since 2016, behind 72% of Canadian towns
Residents at the 2016 and 2021 censuses and the latest estimate, with the 2016–2021 change beside other towns.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Across Canada’s towns, the typical town changed +4%; across Quebec’s towns, +4%. Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025 is 2% higher again.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 31% in Dégelis, more than in 94% of Canadian towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
60–64 is the most common age band: one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across Canada’s towns. For comparison, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. The census found that 8.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Dégelis.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Dégelis, 55.2. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split.
Dégelis households average 2 people, smaller than in 90% of Canadian towns
Private households by type and size.
Against Quebec’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
One-parent families make up 9%, close to the figure across Canada’s towns.
Dégelis: 24% of residents 15 and over live common-law, above 88% of Canadian towns
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
27% of adults have never married and don’t live common-law (typical: 27%). Elsewhere, 11% of residents 15 and over live common-law across Canada’s towns.
A higher share of renter households than 68% of Canadian towns, at 35%
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 74% of Canadian towns. For renter households, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 25%. A third of homes were built before 1961 and 9.8% in 2001 or later. Set against 64% across Canada’s towns, 63% of households live in a single-detached house in Dégelis.
Half above, half below $57,200 a year in household income
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. What households took in before tax, at the middle and across income groups.
Households by income · share of households
Household incomes run lower in Dégelis: half had less than $57,200, 33% under the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The provincial yardstick is $74,000, the median across Quebec’s towns. 23% of income recipients received COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefits (typical: 28%).
0.4% 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 20%
When immigrants arrived · share of immigrants
Citizenship and moving · share of residents
Residents without Canadian citizenship: 0.5%, below 96% of Canadian towns. Immigrants are rarer here than in 99% of Canadian towns.
Below 97% of Canadian towns: 12% of residents said 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
Across Canada’s towns, the share of visible minority residents is 15%; Dégelis has 0.4%. The wider picture: just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns. Census figures put Indigenous residents at 1.1% here.
Dégelis sits below 96% of Canadian towns for degree holders aged 25 to 64 (9.5%)
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Across Canada’s towns, 27% of 25- to 64-year-olds hold a degree; in Dégelis, 9.5%, and 44% have a college or trades credential (typical: 29%).
Employment: 53% of residents 15 and over had a job
These rates date from May 2021, during the pandemic, and run lower than a normal year’s. The census’s work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Across Canada’s towns the typical rate is 58%, above this 53%; 31% of residents are 65 or over.
Ranked by age, 4th oldest of 41 towns this size
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
The youngest of these towns is Paisley, at 31.7; the oldest, Algonquin Highlands, is at 60.4. Saint-Marc-des-Carrières (52.4), Division No. 1, Subdivision E (52.8), Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon (56.4) and Electoral Area C, Strathcona (58.4): the towns nearest Dégelis in median age.
1 of the 5 nearest towns are older than Dégelis
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page. No closer places have figures: these lie 22–29 km from Dégelis.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dégelis | 2,943 | — | 55.2 | 31% | 0.4% |
| Saint-Jacques | 1,763 | 22.3 km | 52.4 | 24% | 2.7% |
| Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac | 5,194 | 22.8 km | 52.8 | 29% | 1% |
| Saint-Joseph | 1,641 | 25.6 km | 48.8 | 22% | 1.3% |
| Rivière-Bleue | 1,310 | 29.4 km | 57.6 | 35% | 0% |
| Edmundston | 18,174 | 29.5 km | 54 | 31% | 3.9% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Quebec’s towns and Canada’s towns. A figure here is set beside two middles, the median across Quebec’s places of 2,500 people or more and the median across all Canadian towns that size; reserves and entire cities are excluded from both.
- What these tables don’t give. For origins the charts stop at visible minority and Indigenous identity, and the Census Profile has nothing on unpaid care, cars or the internet, or on change by age since 2016.
- 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 Dégelis’s residents
What is the median income in Dégelis?
Half of Dégelis’s households had more than $57,200 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Dégelis?
About 2,943, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 2,884 people in Dégelis, about the same as 2016.
What is the average age in Dégelis?
The median age is 55.2, older than 95% of Canadian towns. 12% are under 15 and 31% 65 or older.
Is Dégelis bilingual?
English and French: 19% speak both (Canada’s towns: 7.5%). English only: 0.2%. French only: 81%. French mother tongue: 99%.
How diverse is Dégelis?
Immigrants: 0.4% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 0.4%. Indigenous identity: 1.1%.
What religion are people in Dégelis?
12% said they have no religion and 88% that they are Christian; 0% named another faith.
Is Dégelis good for families?
12% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 50% of households and one-parent families 9%. Schools near Dégelis are on its Schools page.
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).