Photo: Susan Drury from Watson Lake, Canada · CC BY 2.0Indigenous residents: 40%, a higher share than 99% of Canadian towns
Nearly a fifth of residents are under 15, against 16% across Canada’s towns. Watson Lake had about 1,291 residents in July 2025, by Statistics Canada’s estimate, and 495 households at the 2021 Census. Locally, 14% of households are one-parent families. Few places have as many renter households: 46% here, more than in 82% of Canadian towns.
What stands out about the people of Watson Lake
First Nations, Métis and Inuit residents
An Indigenous identity is reported by 40% of residents, more than in 99% of Canadian towns, and 33% are Registered or Treaty Indians. Identity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census.
Watson Lake grew +5% from 2016 to 2021, ahead of 53% of Canadian towns
Every figure here comes from the 2021 Census unless it carries another date. Two census counts, five years apart, and Statistics Canada’s newest estimate.
Change, 2016 to 2021
By July 2025, the estimate had risen a further 14%. Across Canada’s towns the median change was +4%.
A lower share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 76% of Canadian towns, at 9.3%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
In Watson Lake, 19% of residents are 65 or over. The median age here is 42, lower than in 51% of Canadian towns. Across Canada’s towns, 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split.
Watson Lake ranks above 76% of Canadian towns on one-person households: 34%
Private households by type and size.
Against Canada’s towns
People per household
Canada’s towns.
Households average 2.3 people, against 2.4 across Canada’s towns. To put it in context, 27% of households are one person living alone across Canada’s towns.
16% of residents 15 and over live common-law, more than in 79% of Canadian towns
Marital status of residents 15 and over, with common-law couples counted apart.
Marital status · residents 15 and over
Single and never married: 34% of adults, against a typical 27%. 35% of residents 15 and over are married, a lower share than in 78% of Canadian towns. Across Canada’s towns, common-law partners come to 11%.
78% of households live in a single-detached house, a share 70% 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
14% of homes were built in 2001 or later, more than the 6% built before 1961. For households in single-detached houses, the comparison across Canada’s towns is 64%. Households in buildings of five or more storeys are rarer here than in nearly three quarters of Canadian towns.
Median household income: $78,500 a year
The census asked about income in 2020: a pandemic year, with CERB and other emergency benefits counted in. Total household income: the median household, and the spread from low to high.
Households by income · share of households
At $78,500, the middle household in Watson Lake earned 9% less than the median across Canada’s towns ($86,000). Pandemic payments such as CERB reached 29% of income recipients here, against 28% in the typical town.
Only 9.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier in Watson Lake
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
Where 17% of residents are immigrants across Canada’s towns, Watson Lake has 9.3%. Across Canada’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 11%. Immigrants here were most often born in Europe (48%), then in Asia (29%).
More residents with no religion than 94% of Canadian towns: 57%
Visible minority, Indigenous identity and religion, as residents answered the census.
Visible minority and Indigenous identity · all residents
Religion · all residents
5.8% of residents belong to a visible minority and 40% have an Indigenous identity, against 15% and 2.8% across Canada’s towns. Residents with no religion make up 35% across Canada’s towns.
English is the mother tongue of 89%, and 3.5% speak French as well
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
Compared with 7.5% across Canada’s towns, 3.5% of residents speak English and French here. 0.9% of residents have French as their mother tongue, a lower share than in 77% of Canadian towns.
In Watson Lake, 15% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, fewer than in 81% of Canadian towns
From no certificate to a master’s: residents 25 to 64.
Highest qualification · residents 25 to 64
No certificate at all: 23%, against 9.5%. The wider picture: 27% of residents 25 to 64 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher across Canada’s towns.
A job for 54% of residents aged 15 and over
Counted in May 2021, during COVID-19, these rates catch the job market before it had recovered. 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: 54%, against 58% across Canada’s towns. 19% of residents are 65 or over.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Canada’s towns. Yukon has too few towns of 2,500 or more for a median of its own, so each figure is set beside the median of all Canadian towns of that size (whole cities and First Nations reserves left out).
- What these tables don’t give. Missing from the census as published: unpaid care, cars and internet access, and the shift in each age band since 2016. Ethnic origins past visible minority and Indigenous identity aren’t charted here.
- 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 Watson Lake’s residents
What is the average age in Watson Lake?
A median age of 42. Children under 15 make up 19%, and people 65 and over 19%.
Is Watson Lake bilingual?
Across Canada’s towns a typical 7.5% are bilingual; here 3.5% are. Another 0% speak only French and 97% only English, and French is the first language of 0.9%.
How diverse is Watson Lake?
9.3% of residents are immigrants (Canada’s towns: 17%); 5.8% belong to a visible minority and 40% have an Indigenous identity.
What religion are people in Watson Lake?
36% are Christian and 57% have no religion; 7.5% follow another religion.
Is Watson Lake good for families?
Under 15: 19% (Canada’s towns: 16%). Couple families: 42% of households. One-parent families: 14%. Schools near Watson Lake are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Watson Lake?
The median household in Watson Lake took in $78,500 in 2020, against $86,000 across Canada’s towns.
What is the population of Watson Lake?
Watson Lake had about 1,291 residents in July 2025, Statistics Canada estimates; the 2021 Census counted 1,133, 5% more than 2016.
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).