Photo: Pierre Bona · CC BY-SA 3.0Shefford sits below 95% of Canadian towns for renter households (7.7%)
The share of residents who moved in within the year is 8%, against 11% across Canada’s towns. Here, nearly a fifth of households are one person living alone. The median age in Shefford is 47.2, higher than in 77% of Canadian towns. About 7,704 people lived in the town in July 2025, Statistics Canada estimates.
What stands out about the people of Shefford
A bilingual town
Both official languages: 53% of residents speak English and French, more than in 92% of Canadian towns. Another 45% speak only French and 1.7% only English. English & French ↓
Common-law couples
Common-law unions take in 34% of adults, more than in 97% of Canadian towns, while 37% are married. Couples ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
In Shefford, 53% of residents speak English and French, more than in 92% of Canadian towns
Every figure here comes from the 2021 Census unless it carries another date. Who can speak English and French, mother tongue, and the language spoken most at home.
Can hold a conversation in · share of all residents
Mother tongue · share of all residents
6.3% of residents have English as their mother tongue; across Canada’s towns the figure is 66%. At home: French 91%, English 6.4%. To put it in context, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns.
From 2016 to 2021, Shefford outgrew 52% of Canadian towns: +4%
Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
The July 2025 estimate adds another 6%.
Fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than 73% of Canadian towns: 9.5%
Every five-year age group as a share of residents; ticks mark the typical town.
The largest age band is 60–64: 9.8% of residents, 1.4 times the share across Canada’s towns. Among Quebec’s towns, Centre has the highest share aged 65 or over, at 46%. For comparison, 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Canada’s towns.
Median age of Canadian towns of 2,500+
■ Shefford, 47.2. The typical town is 42.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
About 107 men for every 100 women.
Bigger households than 58% of Canadian towns: 2.5 people each on average
Who shares a home: household types and sizes.
Against Quebec’s towns and Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
With one-parent families at 6%, Shefford is behind 83% of Canadian towns on that count.
34% of residents 15 and over live common-law, a share 97% of Canadian towns don’t reach
How adults live as couples, or don’t, with common-law unions shown on their own.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
37% of residents 15 and over are married (Canada’s towns: 46%). For common-law partners, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 11%.
A larger share of households in single-detached houses than 93% of Canadian towns: 92%
The kinds of homes people live in, who owns and who rents, and how old the homes are. 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: 37% date from 2001 or later, 9.1% from before 1961. Households in single-detached houses: 64% across Canada’s towns, for comparison.
Households here have a median income of $96,000 a year
Census incomes cover 2020, when emergency benefits like CERB lifted many households’ totals. Income per household, before tax, with the groups it falls into.
Households by income · share of households
At $96,000, the middle household in Shefford out-earned the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000) by 12%. For Quebec’s towns, the median household income is $74,000. The pandemic’s benefits: 27% of income recipients, against 28% in the typical town.
3.4% of residents are immigrants
Birthplaces and arrival years of immigrants, citizenship and recent moves.
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
Across Canada’s towns, the share of residents without Canadian citizenship is 5.8%; Shefford has 1.1%. The largest groups of immigrants were born in Europe (74%) and in the Americas (20%). Fewer immigrants than in 88% of Canadian towns: 3.4%.
Shefford ranks above 57% of Canadian towns on residents with no religion: 37%
Residents’ own answers on visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
Set against 15% across Canada’s towns, 1.2% of residents belong to a visible minority in Shefford. Measured more widely, just over a third of residents said they have no religion across Canada’s towns. Indigenous residents: 1.8% of the total.
More degree holders aged 25 to 64 than 54% of Canadian towns: 29%
The highest diploma or degree of adults of working age (25 to 64).
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
With no certificate, diploma or degree: 9.5%, beside a typical 9.5%. Set beside that, 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
63% of residents 15 and over were in work
The census was taken in May 2021, during the pandemic, so these rates show a labour market still recovering. Four labour figures from the census. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
More people work here than in the typical town: 63%, against 58% across Canada’s towns.
Oldest by rank: 12th of 41 towns of 7,556 to 7,846 people
Towns of about this size, placed by median age.
The youngest of these towns is La Broquerie, at 28.6; the oldest, Minden Hills, is at 58.8. Fort Frances (46.4), Saint-Félix-de-Valois (47.2), River East (47.9) and Dryden (48): the towns nearest Shefford in median age.
Among its 6 nearest neighbours, 2 are older than Shefford
Places nearby, shaded by median age, each linked to its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shefford | 7,704 | — | 47.2 | 20% | 3.4% |
| Bromont | 12,413 | 7.3 km | 47.6 | 22% | 5.4% |
| Waterloo | 5,714 | 8.3 km | 42.8 | 21% | 3.4% |
| Granby | 72,180 | 9.7 km | 47.6 | 26% | 5.3% |
| Roxton Pond | 4,884 | 12.4 km | 40.8 | 17% | 2.6% |
| Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford | 1,552 | 12.5 km | 40.8 | 18% | 3.3% |
| Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby | 3,545 | 13.1 km | 39.2 | 12% | 1.7% |
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. 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 Shefford’s residents
Is Shefford good for families?
17% of residents are under 15 (Canada’s towns: 16%); couple families are 70% of households and one-parent families 6%. Schools near Shefford are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Shefford?
Half of Shefford’s households had more than $96,000 in 2020, before tax; across Canada’s towns the median was $86,000.
What is the population of Shefford?
About 7,704, by Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025. The 2021 Census found 7,253 people in Shefford, 4% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Shefford?
The median age is 47.2, older than 77% of Canadian towns. 17% are under 15 and 20% 65 or older.
Is Shefford bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 53% are. Another 45% speak only French and 1.7% only English, and French is the first language of 90%.
How diverse is Shefford?
Immigrants: 3.4% (Canada’s towns: 17%). Visible minority: 1.2%. Indigenous identity: 1.8%.
What religion are people in Shefford?
37% said they have no religion and 63% that they are Christian; 0.2% named another faith.
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).