Photo: Richard Coté · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 61.2: Stratford is older than 99% of Canadian towns
Residents with no religion: 14%, below 95% of Canadian towns. The latest estimate, for July 2025, is 1,062 residents; the 2021 Census found 535 households. Here, 4.8% of residents are aged 15 to 24. Higher than in 94% of Canadian towns: 93% of households live in a single-detached house.
What stands out about the people of Stratford
Older than most towns
Stratford’s median age is 61.2; the typical median across Canadian towns is 42. 38% are 65 or over, against 19% across Canada’s towns. Ages ↓
Common-law couples
27% of residents 15 and over live common-law, more than in 90% of Canadian towns; 43% are married. Couples ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
In Stratford, 31% of residents speak English and French, more than in 81% of Canadian towns
All figures are the 2021 Census’s unless another date is shown. 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
By its share of residents whose mother tongue is English (2.4%), Stratford is below 91% of Canadian towns. Elsewhere, 7.5% of residents speak English and French across Canada’s towns.
A +10% change since 2016: faster than 80% of Canadian towns
Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
Statistics Canada’s estimate for July 2025 is 3% higher again. For comparison, the median is +4% across Canada’s towns and +4% across Quebec’s towns.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 99% of Canadian towns: 38%
Age bands of five years, the town’s bars against the typical town’s ticks.
Across Canada’s towns, the share of children under 15 is 16%; Stratford has 8.7%. As a yardstick, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Canada’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
46% women, 54% men
About 118 men for every 100 women.
Stratford 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.
Across Canada’s towns, the share of one-parent families is 8.2%; Stratford has 3.7%. One-person households account for 34%.
Stratford sits above 90% of Canadian towns for common-law partners (27%)
Residents 15 and over by marital status; the census counts common-law couples separately.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Across Canada’s towns, the share of married residents 15 and over is 46%; Stratford has 43%. Common-law partners: 11% across Canada’s towns, for comparison.
Stratford sits below 91% of Canadian towns for renter households (9.4%)
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
Older homes outnumber new: 30% predate 1961, 24% date from 2001 or later. Typically, a quarter of households rent their home across Canada’s towns. Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in 74% of Canadian towns.
Households here have a median income of $62,000 a year
Incomes are 2020’s, the census’s reference year, and include pandemic benefits such as CERB. Household income before tax: the median, and households by income group.
Households by income · share of households
The middle household in Stratford had $62,000 before tax, 28% below the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). The median across Quebec’s towns is $74,000. Pandemic payments such as CERB reached 18% of income recipients here, against 28% in the typical town.
In Stratford, 7.8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 84% of Canadian towns
Immigrants, newcomers and movers.
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 are rarer here than in 99% of Canadian towns. Census figures put immigrants at 2% in Stratford. Across Canada’s towns, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
86% said they are Christian and 14% that 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
Visible minority residents make up 2.4%, against 15% across Canada’s towns. Indigenous residents are rarer here than in 98% of Canadian towns.
Stratford ranks below 98% of Canadian towns on degree holders aged 25 to 64: 8.2%
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 Stratford, 8.2%, and 56% have a college or trades credential (typical: 29%).
An employment rate of 44%
The census counted work in May 2021, mid-pandemic, so read these rates as a pandemic snapshot. The census’s labour rates, in brief. Jobs, industries and the commute are on Work & commute.
44% of residents 15 and over have a job, against a typical 58% across Canada’s towns; 38% are 65 or more.
Stratford is older than every town around it
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each links to its own page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratford | 1,062 | — | 61.2 | 38% | 2% |
| Disraeli | 2,390 | 10.8 km | 56.4 | 35% | 1.7% |
| Disraeli | 1,169 | 12.5 km | 55.6 | 29% | 0.9% |
| Weedon | 2,845 | 16.3 km | 56.4 | 32% | 1.7% |
| Saint-Joseph-de-Coleraine | 1,920 | 17.9 km | 53.6 | 31% | 2.2% |
| Lambton | 1,714 | 18.7 km | 56 | 30% | 1.6% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. 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.
- Against Quebec’s towns and Canada’s towns. Provincial and national yardsticks: Quebec’s towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents, and all Canadian towns of that size. No whole city and no First Nations reserve is in either median.
Questions about Stratford’s residents
How diverse is Stratford?
Immigrants make up 2% of residents, against 17% across Canada’s towns. 2.4% are members of a visible minority, and 0% are First Nations, Métis or Inuit.
What religion are people in Stratford?
Christian: 86%. No religion: 14%. Another religion: 0%.
Is Stratford good for families?
Across Canada’s towns, a typical 16% of residents are under 15; here, 8.7%. 59% of households are couple families and 3.7% one-parent families. Schools near Stratford are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Stratford?
$62,000 before tax, in 2020: the middle household’s income in Stratford (Canada’s towns: $86,000).
What is the population of Stratford?
Statistics Canada estimates 1,062 residents for July 2025; the 2021 Census counted 1,036 in Stratford, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Stratford?
61.2 is the median age. Under 15: 8.7%. 65 and over: 38%.
Is Stratford bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 31% are. Another 68% speak only French and 0.5% only English, and French is the first language of 96%.
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).