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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census subdivision of Sarnia, CY - Ontario

Map of Sarnia, CY

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Chart A description: Sarnia, CY - Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

In 2011, Sarnia (City) had a population of 72,366, representing a percentage change of 1.3% from 2006. This compares to the national average growth of 5.9%.

Land area is 164.71 square kilometres with a population density of 439.4 persons per square kilometre. This compares to the provincial land area of 908,607.67 square kilometres with a population density of 14.1 persons per square kilometre.

In 2011, Sarnia (City) had 31,376 private dwellings occupied by usual residents. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 4.2%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

Sarnia (City) is part of the census agglomeration of Sarnia (Ontario).

Population and dwelling counts

Sarnia (City) – Neighbouring census subdivisions

Table 1 Sarnia (City) – Neighbouring census subdivisions, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
St. Clair, Ont.	TP	14,515	14,649	-0.9
Enniskillen, Ont.	TP	2,930	3,122	-6.1
Sarnia 45, Ont.	IRI	640	706	-9.3
Point Edward, Ont.	VL	2,034	2,019	0.7
Plympton-Wyoming, Ont.	T	7,576	7,506	0.9
Lambton Shores, Ont.	MU	10,656	11,150	-4.4

Ontario – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the highest population growth

Table 2 Ontario – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the highest population growth, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Milton	T	84,362	53,889 A	56.5
Whitchurch-Stouffville	T	37,628	24,390	54.3
Ajax	T	109,600	90,167	21.6
Brampton	CY	523,911	433,806	20.8
Vaughan	CY	288,301	238,866	20.7

Ontario – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the lowest population growth

Table 3 Ontario – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the lowest population growth, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Thunder Bay, Unorganized	NO	5,909	6,585	-10.3
Hearst	T	5,090	5,620	-9.4
Dryden	CY	7,617	8,195	-7.1
The Blue Mountains	T	6,453	6,825	-5.5

Age and sex

Sarnia, CY – Age distribution

Chart C: Sarnia, CY - Population by broad age groups

Chart C description: Sarnia, CY - Population by broad age groups

Table 4 Sarnia, CY – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	14.9%	15.6%	14.2%
15 to 64	65.9%	67.1%	64.7%
65 and over	19.3%	17.3%	21.1%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in Sarnia, CY was 19.3%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 65.9% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 14.9%. 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.

Sarnia, CY – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 5 Sarnia, CY – Population by broad age groups, 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	72,370	71,420	950	1.3
0 to 14	10,760	11,430	-670	-5.9
15 to 64	47,665	47,235	430	0.9
65 and over	13,945	12,750	1,195	9.4
Males
Total	34,745	34,195	550	1.6
0 to 14	5,410	5,730	-320	-5.6
15 to 64	23,330	23,085	245	1.1
65 and over	6,010	5,380	630	11.7
Females
Total	37,620	37,230	390	1.0
0 to 14	5,350	5,695	-345	-6.1
15 to 64	24,335	24,155	180	0.7
65 and over	7,940	7,375	565	7.7

Sarnia, CY – Population by five-year age groups and sex

Chart D description: Sarnia, CY - Population by five-year age groups and sex

Table 6 Sarnia, CY – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	72,370	34,745	37,620
0 to 4 years	3,620	1,790	1,830
5 to 9 years	3,395	1,730	1,665
10 to 14 years	3,740	1,890	1,850
15 to 19 years	4,715	2,370	2,340
20 to 24 years	4,950	2,505	2,440
25 to 29 years	4,240	2,140	2,105
30 to 34 years	3,725	1,800	1,930
35 to 39 years	3,800	1,845	1,960
40 to 44 years	4,180	2,035	2,140
45 to 49 years	5,260	2,475	2,790
50 to 54 years	5,990	2,900	3,090
55 to 59 years	5,735	2,780	2,955
60 to 64 years	5,070	2,480	2,590
65 to 69 years	3,900	1,860	2,045
70 to 74 years	3,070	1,400	1,675
75 to 79 years	2,740	1,195	1,550
80 to 84 years	2,240	950	1,285
85 years and over	2,000	615	1,385
Median age	44.8	43.2	46.1

Sarnia, CY – Median age¹ of the population

Chart E: Canada, Ontario and Sarnia, CY - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

Chart E description: Canada, Ontario and Sarnia, CY - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

In 2011, the median age in Sarnia, CY was 44.8 years. In comparison, the median age of Ontario was 40.4 years.

Table 7 Canada, Ontario and Sarnia, CY – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
Ontario	39.0	40.4
Sarnia, CY	43.2	44.8

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families² in Sarnia was 20,900, which represents a change of 1.4% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In Sarnia, 69.9% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 12.3% were common-law-couples and 17.8% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: Sarnia - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: Sarnia - Census families by family structure

Sarnia – Family structure

Table 8 Canada, Ontario, CSD of Sarnia, CY and neighbouring census subdivisions – 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
Ontario †	3,612,205	2,612,890	72.3	394,670	10.9	604,645	16.7	5.5
Sarnia, CY	20,900	14,605	69.9	2,565	12.3	3,730	17.8	1.4
St. Clair, TP	4,520	3,560	78.8	475	10.5	485	10.7	0.1
Enniskillen, TP	855	715	83.6	65	7.6	75	8.8	-4.5
Sarnia 45, IRI	180	75	41.7	25	13.9	85	47.2	0.0
Point Edward, VL	635	465	73.2	70	11.0	95	15.0	0.8
Plympton-Wyoming, T	2,305	1,925	83.5	175	7.6	200	8.7	3.6
Lambton Shores, MU	3,340	2,685	80.4	345	10.3	315	9.4	-4.8

Sarnia – Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census subdivision of Sarnia, 40.5% 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.

Presence of children within couple families
* Children aged 24 and under at home
Married couples with children *	5,945
Married couples without children *	8,665
Common-law-couples with children *	1,010
Common-law-couples without children *	1,550

Sarnia – Marital status

Chart H description: Sarnia - Marital status

In Sarnia, 56.5% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (48.2%) or living with a common-law partner (8.3%).

The remaining 43.5% 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 9 Canada, Ontario, Sarnia, CY – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	Sarnia, CY		Ontario		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	61,610	100.0	10,671,050	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	34,825	56.5	6,158,605	57.7	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	29,695	48.2	5,367,400	50.3	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	5,130	8.3	791,210	7.4	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	26,785	43.5	4,512,440	42.3	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	15,615	25.3	2,985,020	28.0	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	2,140	3.5	319,805	3.0	698,245	2.5
Divorced	4,090	6.6	593,730	5.6	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	4,935	8.0	613,880	5.8	1,584,525	5.7

Sarnia – Types of private households

There were 31,375 private households³ in Sarnia in 2011, a change of 4.2% from 2006. Of these, 21.8% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of -11.2% compared with five years earlier.

Table 10 Canada, Ontario, Sarnia, CY – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁴	Sarnia, CY		Ontario		Canada
Household type⁴	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total private households	31,375	100.0	4,887,505	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁵	6,825	21.8	1,402,420	28.7	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁶	9,965	31.8	1,408,120	28.8	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁷	3,520	11.2	535,825	11.0	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	9,825	31.3	1,230,980	25.2	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple family households⁸	290	0.9	128,660	2.6	268,060	2.0
Other households⁹	945	3.0	181,500	3.7	543,340	4.1

Sarnia – Structural type of dwelling

In Sarnia, 66.7% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 12.5% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Table 11 Canada, Ontario, Sarnia, CY – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	Sarnia, CY		Ontario		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	31,375	100.0	4,887,510	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	20,940	66.7	2,718,880	55.6	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	1,320	4.2	279,470	5.7	646,240	4.9
Row house	1,755	5.6	415,230	8.5	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	3,925	12.5	789,975	16.2	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	2,480	7.9	498,160	10.2	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	790	2.5	160,460	3.3	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹⁰	70	0.2	9,535	0.2	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹¹	100	0.3	15,795	0.3	183,510	1.4

Language

Sarnia, CY – Mother tongue

Chart J description: Sarnia, CY - 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 Sarnia, 87.9% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 2.7% reported French only, and 8.4% reported a non-official language only, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 68.2% for English only, 3.9% for French only and 25.7% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 95.1% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.8% spoke only French and 2.8% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 79.0% for only English, 2.2% for only French and 14.4% for only a non-official language.

Table 12 Sarnia, CY – 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	71,575	100.0	71,575	100.0
English	62,930	87.9	68,040	95.1
French	1,900	2.7	555	0.8
Non-official language	6,040	8.4	1,985	2.8
Multiple responses	700	1.0	995	1.4

Table 13 Sarnia, CY – 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	99.8	0.1
French	51.5	29.4	22.1
Non-official language	65.7	40.1	25.6

Sarnia, CY – Non-official languages

In Sarnia, the three most common mother tongues were Italian (1.5%), Dutch (1.1%) and German (0.6%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were Italian (2.1%), Chinese, n.o.s. (1.6%) and Cantonese (1.5%).

Table 14 Sarnia, CY – 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.
Italian	1,075	16.5	1.5
Dutch	765	11.7	1.1
German	465	7.1	0.6
Portuguese	375	5.8	0.5
Spanish	365	5.6	0.5

Sarnia, CY – Bilingualism

Table 15 Sarnia, CY – 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	7.1	4.9	87.1	5.4
0 to 19	10.0	8.8	87.2	14.1
20 to 44	6.8	5.4	90.4	4.8
45 to 64	5.8	2.8	85.9	5.7
65 and over	6.6	2.4	85.0	3.4

Table 16 Sarnia, CY – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	71,575	100.0
English only	65,985	92.2
French only	65	0.1
English and French	5,305	7.4
Neither English nor French	220	0.3

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 subdivision of Sarnia, City - Ontario
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census subdivision of Sarnia, City - Ontario
2011 Census Data Navigator – Census subdivision of Sarnia, City - Ontario
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census subdivision of Sarnia, City - Ontario

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census