Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 54.5: Vanier is older than 94% of Canadian towns
In Vanier, 6% of households live in a single-detached house, beside 64% across Canada’s towns. Children under 15 account for 9.8%. 16% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, a higher share than in 83% of Canadian towns. The 2021 Census put the neighbourhood’s population at 13,494, in 6,860 households.
What stands out about the people of Vanier
Older than most towns
The middle resident of Vanier is 54.5; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 34% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
A neighbourhood of renters
Renters are 73% of households, more than in 97% of Canadian towns, and 88% of households live in an apartment. Homes ↓
Many people living alone
One-person households make up 51%, more than in 97% of Canadian towns, and 34% of residents are 65 or over. Households ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
28% of residents speak English and French, more than in 79% 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
5.6% most often speak a language other than English or French at home, and 1% speak neither official language. Residents whose mother tongue is English are rarer here than in 97% of Canadian towns. The wider picture: 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns.
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 97% of Canadian towns, at 34%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 8.3%, against 11% across Canada’s towns. Across the comparison, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Vanier, 54.5. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 84 men for every 100 women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
51% of households are one person living alone, more than in 97% of Canadian towns
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Quebec’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Households average 1.8 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. The share of one-parent families stands at 7.5%. For comparison, 27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns.
Fewer married residents 15 and over than 97% of Canadian towns: 24%
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Just over a third of adults are single and have never married; the typical town has 27%. In Vanier, 20% of residents 15 and over live common-law.
73% of households rent their home, a share 97% of Canadian towns don’t reach
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
By its share of households in buildings of five or more storeys (8%), Vanier is above 77% of Canadian towns. Across Canada’s towns, a quarter of households rent their home. Older homes outnumber new: 20% predate 1961, 15% date from 2001 or later.
The median household brings in $49,400 a year
The income year is 2020: a year of pandemic benefits such as CERB, which the figures count. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
Household incomes run lower in Vanier: half had less than $49,400, 43% under the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The figure for Quebec’s towns: $74,000. Emergency and recovery benefits reached 29% of those with an income, beside a typical 28%.
Vanier ranks above 64% of Canadian towns on residents without Canadian citizenship: 8.9%
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
The largest groups of immigrants were born in Africa (47%) and in the Americas (15%). Across Canada’s towns, 5.8% of residents are not Canadian citizens. Of the immigrants living here, 59% came between 2011 and 2021; across Canada’s towns the share is 27%.
25% of residents said they have no religion, below 77% of Canadian towns
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Other faiths: Muslim (4.9%). By way of comparison, 35% of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns. Compared with other places, Indigenous residents are scarce here: 1.1%, fewer than in nearly four fifths of Canadian towns. In Vanier, 17% of residents belong to a visible minority, beside 15% across Canada’s towns.
In Vanier, 19% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, fewer than in 70% of Canadian towns
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No diploma or degree: 20% here, 9.5% in the typical town. As a yardstick, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
51% 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 work rates at a glance. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
Fewer work here than in the typical town: 51%, against 58% across Canada’s towns. 34% of residents are 65 or over.
The 2nd oldest of 41 towns of 13,181 to 13,803 people
Similar-sized towns by median age; each dot is a town.
The span goes from 32 (Redstone) up to 62 (Sidney). In age, Vanier keeps company with Bathurst (53.2), Montcalm (53.6) and Sidney (62).
No nearby town is as old as Vanier
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanier | 13,494 | — | 54.5 | 34% | 13% |
| Saint-Sauveur | 16,104 | 1.7 km | 37.8 | 17% | 8.4% |
| Saint-Roch | 8,381 | 2.2 km | 38.8 | 17% | 14% |
| Lairet | 15,251 | 2.2 km | 40.8 | 22% | 11% |
| Vieux-Limoilou | 14,347 | 2.2 km | 38.7 | 18% | 7.6% |
| Saint-Sacrement | 10,650 | 2.6 km | 47.8 | 33% | 12% |
| Montcalm | 13,572 | 2.7 km | 53.6 | 35% | 10% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Quebec’s towns and Canada’s towns. Two medians frame each figure: one for Quebec’s towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, one for all Canadian towns of that size, with whole cities and First Nations reserves left out. Percentiles rank the town within Canada.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. There is no census profile for a neighbourhood, so we add up the dissemination areas inside it. Each count is a sum of Statistics Canada’s rounded counts, the median age and income come from the published groups, and with 2016’s areas drawn differently there is no 2016 count.
- 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. 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.
Questions about Vanier’s residents
Is Vanier bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 28% are. Another 70% speak only French and 0.3% only English, and French is the first language of 88%.
How diverse is Vanier?
Immigrants make up 13% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 17% are members of a visible minority, and 1.1% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
What religion are people in Vanier?
Christian: 69%. No religion: 25%. Another religion: 6%.
Is Vanier good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 9.8%. 34% of households are couple families and 7.5% one-parent families. Schools near Vanier are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Vanier?
$49,400 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Vanier (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
What is the population of Vanier?
The 2021 Census counted 13,494 people in Vanier.
What is the average age in Vanier?
54.5 is the median age, older than 94% of Canadian towns. Under 15: 9.8%. 65 and over: 34%.
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).