Photo: Garbanzo972 · CC BY-SA 3.0Older than 99% of Canadian towns: half of Saint-Donat is over 60.4
Children under 15: 7.9% here and 16% across Canada’s towns. Few places have as many one-person households: 39% here, more than in 87% of Canadian towns. Its population is up 17% on 2016. The census found that 23% of residents said they have no religion in Saint-Donat.
What stands out about the people of Saint-Donat
Older than most towns
Line Saint-Donat’s residents up by age and the one in the middle is 60.4; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 37% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
A bilingual town
47% of residents can hold a conversation in both English and French, more than in 89% of Canadian towns; 52% speak French only and 0.6% English only. English & French ↓
Growing faster than most
Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, Saint-Donat went from 3,888 to 4,561 residents (+17%), faster growth than in 94% of Canadian towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
47% of residents speak English and French, more than in 89% of Canadian towns
The 2021 Census is the source of every figure here unless a date says otherwise. The official languages residents can speak, and the ones they learned first.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
At home: French 95%, English 3%. The benchmark for bilingual residents across Canada’s towns: 7.5%. 2.8% of residents have English as their mother tongue, a lower share than in 90% of Canadian towns.
From 2016 to 2021, Saint-Donat outgrew 94% of Canadian towns: +17%
How the population moved between the last two censuses, and since.
Change, 2016 to 2021
By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 12%. Medians for comparison: +4% across Canada’s towns; +4% across Quebec’s towns.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 99% of Canadian towns: 37%
Residents by five-year age band, each beside the typical town (the tick).
60–64 is the most common age band: 14% of residents, 2 times the share across Canada’s towns. Across the comparison, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns. Here, 4.8% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Saint-Donat, 60.4. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
About 110 men for every 100 women.
Saint-Donat households average 1.9 people, smaller than in 94% 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 5.3%, against 8.2% across Canada’s towns.
In Saint-Donat, 25% of residents 15 and over live common-law, more than in 88% of Canadian towns
Married, common-law, single: residents 15 and over.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Singles who have never married make up 22% of adults, beside a typical 27%. As a reference point, 11% of residents 15 and over live common-law across Canada’s towns.
A larger share of households in single-detached houses than 78% of Canadian towns: 83%
Dwelling types, tenure and age of the housing. 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. Across Canada’s towns, 64% of households live in a single-detached house. Newer homes outnumber old: 29% date from 2001 or later, 18% from before 1961. There is little gap on renter households: 25%, about the same as across Canada’s towns.
The median household brings in $68,000 a year
The census asked about income in 2020: a pandemic year, with CERB and other emergency benefits counted in. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
At $68,000, the middle household in Saint-Donat earned 21% less than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The figure for Quebec’s towns: $74,000. In 2020, 24% of income recipients drew a COVID-19 emergency or recovery benefit; the typical town had 28%.
More residents who moved in within the year than 77% of Canadian towns: 15%
Where immigrants were born and when they came, and how recently residents moved in.
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
Where 5.8% of residents are not Canadian citizens across Canada’s towns, Saint-Donat has 0.4%. Elsewhere, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Canada’s towns. On the census count, 3.1% of residents are immigrants.
Saint-Donat: 3.9% of residents have an Indigenous identity, above 62% of Canadian towns
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Visible minority: 0.7% (Canada’s towns: 15%). Elsewhere, 2.8% of residents have an Indigenous identity across Canada’s towns.
Degree holders aged 25 to 64 make up 16% in Saint-Donat, less than in 79% of Canadian towns
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
Some 17% have no certificate, diploma or degree, against a typical 9.5%. Against that, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
Employment: 41% of residents 15 and over had a job
Census day was in May 2021, mid-pandemic: some of these rates are lower than in a usual year. Work, briefly: employment, unemployment, participation and working from home. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
At 41%, fewer residents are in work than the typical 58% across Canada’s towns, and 37% are 65 or over.
Among 41 towns of 5,005 to 5,170 people, the 2nd oldest
The Canadian towns closest in population, from youngest to oldest.
The youngest of these towns is River-Osborne, at 31.6; the oldest, Northern Bruce Peninsula, is at 61.6. Next to Saint-Donat on this scale come Gibsons (56), Cobble Hill (58.8) and Northern Bruce Peninsula (61.6).
Every neighbour of Saint-Donat has a younger population
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page. Saint-Donat has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 10–29 km out.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Donat | 5,087 | — | 60.4 | 37% | 3.1% |
| Notre-Dame-de-la-Merci | 1,154 | 10.2 km | 60.4 | 36% | 5% |
| Lac-Supérieur | 2,122 | 23.5 km | 52 | 22% | 5.1% |
| Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides | 1,651 | 24.4 km | 52 | 25% | 3.2% |
| Entrelacs | 1,124 | 28.3 km | 59.6 | 34% | 5.2% |
| Saint-Faustin--Lac-Carré | 4,009 | 29.0 km | 45.2 | 21% | 3.3% |
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. 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.
Questions about Saint-Donat’s residents
What is the median income in Saint-Donat?
Half of Saint-Donat’s households had more than $68,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Saint-Donat?
About 5,087, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 4,561 people in Saint-Donat, 17% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Saint-Donat?
The median age is 60.4, older than 99% of Canadian towns. 7.9% are under 15 and 37% 65 or older.
Is Saint-Donat bilingual?
47% of residents can speak both English and French (typical across Canada’s towns: 7.5%); 52% speak French only and 0.6% English only. French is the mother tongue of 94%.
How diverse is Saint-Donat?
Immigrants: 3.1% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 0.7%. Indigenous identity: 3.9%.
What religion are people in Saint-Donat?
23% said they have no religion and 77% that they are Christian; 0.5% named another faith.
Is Saint-Donat good for families?
7.9% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 51% of households and one-parent families 5.3%. Schools near Saint-Donat 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).