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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census metropolitan area of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Map of St. John's

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Chart A description: St. John's, CMA - Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

In 2011, the population of St. John's census metropolitan area (CMA) was 196,966, representing a percentage change of 8.8% from 2006. This compares to the national growth of 5.9% and to the average growth among all CMAs of 7.4%.

In St. John's, the land area is 804.65 square kilometres with a population density of 244.8 persons per square kilometre. This compares to the national land area of 8,965,121.42 square kilometres with a population density of 3.7 persons per square kilometre. The land area of all CMAs is 92,648.98 square kilometres with 249.58 persons per square kilometre.

In total, there were 78,960 private dwellings occupied by usual residents in St. John's in 2011. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 11.7%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

Population and dwelling counts

Census subdivisions in the St. John's CMA

Table 1 St. John's CMA – Census subdivisions, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	Type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	Type	2011	2006	% change
St. John's	CY	106,172	100,646	5.5
Conception Bay South	T	24,848	21,966	13.1
Mount Pearl	CY	24,284	24,671	-1.6
Paradise	T	17,695	12,584	40.6
Torbay	T	7,397	6,281	17.8
Portugal Cove-St. Philip's	T	7,366	6,575	12.0
Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove	T	2,098	1,978	6.1
Pouch Cove	T	1,866	1,756	6.3
Flatrock	T	1,457	1,214	20.0
Bay Bulls	T	1,283	1,078	19.0
Witless Bay	T	1,179	1,070	10.2
Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove	T	924	915	1.0
Bauline	T	397	379	4.7

Census metropolitan areas (CMAs) or census agglomerations (CAs) in Newfoundland and Labrador

Table 2 Newfoundland and Labrador – Metropolitan areas, population rank and population change, 2006 to 2011
CMA or CA name	Type	Population			Rank
CMA or CA name	Type	2011	2006	% change	Nat.	Prov.
St. John's	CMA	196,966	181,113	8.8	20	1
Corner Brook	CA	27,202	27,194 A	0.0	94	2
Grand Falls-Windsor	CA	13,725	13,558	1.2	128	3
Bay Roberts	CA	10,871	10,507	3.5	147	4

Age and sex

St. John's – Age distribution

Chart C: St. John's - Population by broad age groups

Chart C description: St. John's - Population by broad age groups

Table 3 St. John's – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	15.9%	16.9%	14.9%
15 to 64	71.4%	71.8%	71.0%
65 and over	12.7%	11.3%	14.0%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in St. John's was 12.7%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 71.4% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 15.9%. In comparison, the national percentages were 68.5% for the population aged 15 to 64 and 16.7% for the population aged 0 to 14.

St. John's – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 4 St. John's – Population by broad age groups and sex, and population change between 2006 and 2011, 2006 to 2011 censuses
Broad age groups by sex	Population
Broad age groups by sex	2011	2006	change	% change
Both sexes
Total	196,965	181,110	15,855	8.8
0 to 14	31,250	29,280	1,970	6.7
15 to 64	140,660	131,070	9,590	7.3
65 and over	25,055	20,760	4,295	20.7
Males
Total	94,735	86,650	8,085	9.3
0 to 14	16,000	15,005	995	6.6
15 to 64	68,025	62,975	5,050	8.0
65 and over	10,705	8,670	2,035	23.5
Females
Total	102,235	94,465	7,770	8.2
0 to 14	15,250	14,275	975	6.8
15 to 64	72,635	68,100	4,535	6.7
65 and over	14,345	12,095	2,250	18.6

St. John's – Population by five-year age groups and sex

Chart D description: St. John's - Population by five-year age groups and sex

Table 5 St. John's – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	196,965	94,735	102,235
0 to 4 years	10,725	5,440	5,285
5 to 9 years	10,230	5,280	4,945
10 to 14 years	10,295	5,280	5,015
15 to 19 years	11,325	5,665	5,660
20 to 24 years	15,210	7,535	7,670
25 to 29 years	14,605	7,100	7,505
30 to 34 years	13,850	6,625	7,220
35 to 39 years	14,070	6,790	7,275
40 to 44 years	14,650	7,015	7,640
45 to 49 years	15,835	7,520	8,315
50 to 54 years	15,130	7,300	7,835
55 to 59 years	14,015	6,720	7,295
60 to 64 years	11,965	5,750	6,215
65 to 69 years	8,750	4,155	4,595
70 to 74 years	5,970	2,785	3,185
75 to 79 years	4,290	1,795	2,490
80 to 84 years	3,125	1,125	1,995
85 to 89 years	1,920	630	1,285
90 to 94 years	795	185	605
95 to 99 years	200	30	170
100 years and over	20	5	15
Median age	39.4	38.3	40.3

St. John's – Median age¹ of the population

Chart E: Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador and St. John's - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

Chart E description: Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador and St. John's - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

The median age in St. John's was 39.4 years. In comparison, the median age of Newfoundland and Labrador was 44 years.

Table 6 Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador and St. John's – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
Newfoundland and Labrador	41.7	44.0
St. John's	38.4	39.4

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families² in St. John's was 56,995, which represents a change of 8.5% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In St. John's, 68.2% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 14.3% were common-law-couples and 17.6% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: St. John's - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: St. John's - Census families by family structure

St. John's – Family structure

Table 7 Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's – Distribution of census families by family structure, 2011 Census
Geographic name	Total families	Married-couple families		Common-law-couple families		Lone-parent families		% change, census families, 2006 to 2011
Geographic name	Total families	number	%	number	%	number	%	% change, census families, 2006 to 2011
Canada †	9,389,695	6,293,950	67.0	1,567,905	16.7	1,527,840	16.3	5.5
Newfoundland and Labrador	159,385	114,335	71.7	20,630	12.9	24,420	15.3	2.3
St. John's	56,995	38,845	68.2	8,145	14.3	10,010	17.6	8.5

St. John's – Presence of children within couple families

Married couples		Common-law-couples
with children	without children	with children	without children
19,015 (40.5%)	19,825 (42.2%)	2,870 ( 6.1%)	5,275 (11.2%)

Chart G description: St. John's - Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census metropolitan area of St. John's, 46.6% were couples with children aged 24 and under at home. In comparison, as a whole, 46.9% of couples in Canada had children aged 24 and under at home.

Among couples with children aged 24 and under at home in the census metropolitan area of St. John's, 88.9% were intact families, that is, in which all children were the biological or adopted children of both parents, while 11.1% were stepfamilies, in which there was at least one child was the biological or adopted child of only one married spouse or common-law partner. For Canada as a whole in 2011, 12.6% of couples with children aged 24 and under were stepfamilies.

St. John's – Marital status

Chart H description: St. John's - Marital status

In St. John's, 57.4% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (47.6%) or living with a common-law partner (9.8%).

The remaining 42.6% were not married and not living with a common-law partner, including those who were single (never-married), separated, divorced or widowed.

Note: Percentages may not total 100 percent due to random rounding.

Table 8 Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	St. John's		Newfoundland and Labrador		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	165,715	100.0	437,905	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	95,180	57.4	273,040	62.4	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	78,880	47.6	231,745	52.9	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	16,300	9.8	41,295	9.4	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	70,535	42.6	164,870	37.6	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	48,875	29.5	107,375	24.5	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	3,770	2.3	8,700	2.0	698,245	2.5
Divorced	9,005	5.4	19,855	4.5	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	8,885	5.4	28,930	6.6	1,584,525	5.7

St. John's – Types of private households

There were 78,960 private households³ in St. John's in 2011, a change of 11.7% from 2006. Of these, 27.1% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of 0.8% compared with five years earlier.

Table 9 Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁴	St. John's		Newfoundland and Labrador		Canada
Household type⁴	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Private households	78,960	100.0	208,840	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁵	21,390	27.1	54,010	25.9	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁶	23,935	30.3	75,980	36.4	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁷	9,165	11.6	21,745	10.4	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	18,865	23.9	46,325	22.2	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple-family households⁸	1,250	1.6	3,780	1.8	268,060	2.0
Other households⁹	4,365	5.5	6,995	3.3	543,340	4.1

St. John's – Structural type of dwelling

In St. John's, 56.8% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 0.7% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Table 10 Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	St. John's		Newfoundland and Labrador		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	78,960	100.0	208,845	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	44,830	56.8	155,295	74.4	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	4,030	5.1	8,330	4.0	646,240	4.9
Row house	6,230	7.9	10,050	4.8	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	520	0.7	705	0.3	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	6,400	8.1	11,375	5.4	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	16,665	21.1	21,305	10.2	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹⁰	175	0.2	415	0.2	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹¹	115	0.1	1,365	0.7	183,510	1.4

Language

St. John's – Mother tongue

Chart J description: St. John's - Mother tongue and language spoken most often at home

Note: Counts for mother tongue as well as those for language spoken most often at home include single responses only.

In St. John's, 96.9% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 0.4% reported French only, and 2.3% reported only a non-official language, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 97.6% for English only, 0.5% for French only and 1.7% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 98.2% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.2% spoke only French and 1.2% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 98.5% for English only, 0.2% for French only and 1.0% for only a non-official language.

Table 11 St. John's – Mother tongue and language spoken most often at home, 2011 Census
Selected languages	Mother tongue		Language spoken most often at home
Selected languages	number	%	number	%
Total	194,940	100.0	194,935	100.0
English	188,965	96.9	191,490	98.2
French	810	0.4	350	0.2
Non-official language	4,520	2.3	2,265	1.2
Multiple responses	635	0.3	830	0.4

Table 12 St. John's – Mother-tongue retention, 2011 Census
Mother tongue	Mother-tongue retention¹² (in percentage)
Mother tongue	Total retention; language spoken at home at least on a regular basis	Complete retention; language spoken most often at home	Partial retention; language spoken at home on a regular basis
Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.
English	99.9	99.9	0.1
French	56.0	30.7	25.2
Non-official language	78.7	54.1	24.6

St. John's – Non-official languages

In St. John's, the three most common mother tongues were Chinese, n.o.s. (0.4%), Arabic (0.2%) and Spanish (0.2%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were Innu/Montagnais (0.4%), Chinese, n.o.s. (0.2%) and Inuktitut (0.1%).

Table 13 St. John's – The most common non-official-language mother tongues, 2011 Census
Mother tongue	Number	Percentage of non-official language mother-tongue population	Percentage of total population
Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.
Chinese, n.o.s.	745	15.1	0.4
Arabic	425	8.6	0.2
Spanish	370	7.5	0.2
German	210	4.3	0.1
Bengali	200	4.1	0.1
Russian	185	3.8	0.1
Mandarin	170	3.5	0.1
Urdu	165	3.4	0.1
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	130	2.6	0.1
Cantonese	120	2.4	0.1

St. John's – Bilingualism

Table 14 St. John's – Rate of English-French bilingualism by mother tongue and age groups, 2011 Census
Age groups	Mother tongue
Age groups	Total	English	French	Non-official language
Note: Counts for mother tongue include single responses only. Consequently, the total excludes multiple responses.
Total	7.2	6.9	82.2	7.3
0 to 19	13.5	13.4	78.9	8.2
20 to 44	8.5	8.2	89.2	6.7
45 to 64	3.3	2.8	84.2	7.2
65 and over	1.7	1.3	61.9	9.4

Table 15 St. John's – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	194,935	100.0
English only	180,240	92.5
French only	40	0.0
English and French	14,345	7.4
Neither English nor French	305	0.2

Symbols:

···: not applicable
†: excludes census data for one or more incompletely enumerated Indian reserves or Indian settlements. For further information, refer to Notes.
¶: incompletely enumerated Indian reserve or Indian settlement. For further information, refer to Notes.
A: adjusted figure due to boundary change. For further information, refer to Content considerations.
E: use with caution. For further information, refer to Cautionary note.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Median age: Age 'x' that divides a population in two groups of the same population size, one group being older than age 'x' and the other group being younger than age 'x'.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

Census family: Refers to a married couple (with or without children), a common-law couple (with or without children) or a lone parent family.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Household, private: Refers to a person or a group of persons (other than foreign residents) who occupy a private dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

Household type: Refers to the basic division of private households into family and non-family households. Family household refers to a household that contains at least one census family, that is, a married couple with or without children, or a couple living in common-law with or without children or a lone parent living with one or more children.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

Couple-family households with children: Refers to couple households with at least one child aged 24 and under.

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote 6

Couple-family households without children: Refers to couple households without children aged 24 and under. Includes couple households with all children aged 25 and over.

Return to footnote 6 referrer

Footnote 7

Lone-parent-family households: Refers to all lone-parent family households regardless of age of children.

Return to footnote 7 referrer

Footnote 8

Multiple-family households: Refers to a household in which two or more census families (with or without additional persons) occupy the same private dwelling.

Return to footnote 8 referrer

Footnote 9

Other households: Refers to two or more people who share a private dwelling, but who do not constitute a census family.

Return to footnote 9 referrer

Footnote 10

Other single-attached house: A single dwelling that is attached to another building and that does not fall into any of the other categories, such as a single dwelling attached to a non-residential structure (e.g., a store or a church) or occasionally to another residential structure (e.g., an apartment building).

Return to footnote 10 referrer

Footnote 11

Movable dwelling includes mobile homes and other movable dwellings such as houseboats and railroad cars.

Return to footnote 11 referrer

Footnote 12

Mother-tongue retention: Retention refers to the situation where people speak their mother tongue at home. Retention is defined as 'complete' when the mother tongue is the language spoken most often and 'partial' when it is spoken on a regular basis but not most often. The (complete or partial) retention rate refers to the proportion of the population with a given mother tongue that speaks that language at home most often or on a regular basis. The retention rate provides an indication of a group's linguistic vitality, particularly the importance of transmitting languages between generations.

Return to footnote 12 referrer

Source:

Statistics Canada. 2012. Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-310-XWE2011004. Ottawa, Ontario. Analytical products, 2011 Census. Last updated October 24, 2012.

Related data:

2011 Census Topic-based tabulations – Census metropolitan area of St. John's
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census metropolitan area of St. John's
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census metropolitan area of St. John's

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census