NHS Focus on Geography Series – Kentville

Demographic characteristics of Aboriginal people

In 2011, 2.6% (150) of the population of Kentville had an Aboriginal identity.^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 1} Of those, 90.0% (135) reported a First Nations identity^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 2} only, 6.7% (10) reported a Métis identity only, and 0.0% (0) reported an Inuit identity only. An additional 0, or 0.0%, reported other Aboriginal identities and 0, or 0.0%, reported more than one Aboriginal identity.

Table 1 – Population by Aboriginal identity, Kentville

In general, the Aboriginal population in Canada is younger than the non-Aboriginal population.

In Kentville, Aboriginal children aged 14 and under represented 16.7% of the total Aboriginal population and 2.5% of all children in Kentville. Non-Aboriginal children aged 14 and under accounted for 17.1% of the non-Aboriginal population.

The age distribution of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit is shown in table 2.

Table 2 – Age distribution by Aboriginal identity, Kentville

Living arrangements of Aboriginal children

In Kentville, 0.0% of Aboriginal children aged 14 and under lived in a family^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 3} with both their parents (biological or adoptive) and 100.0% lived in a lone-parent family.^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 4} Other Aboriginal children in that age group were stepchildren,^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 5} grandchildren living in a skip-generation family,^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 6} foster children^{Aboriginal Peoples Footnote 7} or children living with other relatives.

Living arrangements of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children aged 14 and under are illustrated in table 3.

Table 3 – Percentage distribution of the population aged 14 and under by living arrangement for selected Aboriginal identity categories, Kentville

Language and Aboriginal peoples

In 2011, 0.0% of the Aboriginal identity population reported an Aboriginal language as mother tongue, defined as the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood.

As well, 0.0% of Aboriginal people reported speaking an Aboriginal language at home: 0.0% spoke it most often while another 0.0% spoke it on a regular basis.

Linguistic characteristics of First Nations people, Métis and Inuit are shown in tables 4 to 6.

Table 4 – Number and proportion of Aboriginal identity population, First Nations people, Métis and Inuit for selected Aboriginal language indicators, Kentville

In Kentville, 73.3% of the Aboriginal identity population reported that they were able to conduct a conversation only in English or only in French. Additionally, 26.7% of Aboriginal people reported that they were able to conduct a conversation in both of Canada's official languages. The other 0.0%, or 0, reported that they were not able to conduct a conversation in either of these two languages.

Table 5 – Percentage distribution of the population by knowledge of official languages for selected Aboriginal identity categories, Kentville

In Kentville, among the 0 Aboriginal people who reported being able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language, % reported that same language as their mother tongue. The other % reported a different language, such as English or French, as mother tongue, which suggests these individuals have acquired an Aboriginal language as a second language.

On the other hand, among the 0 Aboriginal people who reported an Aboriginal language as mother tongue, % could no longer conduct a conversation in this language, despite the fact that they still understand it.

Table 6 – Population who reported an ability to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal language that is not their mother tongue and population who reported an Aboriginal mother tongue but who could not conduct a conversation in that language, for selected Aboriginal identity categories, Kentville

Immigrant population

According to the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS), 370 (6.3%) of the population of Kentville were foreign-born (immigrants), 5,460 (93.4%) were Canadian-born (non-immigrants) and 20 (0.3%) were non-permanent residents.^{Ethnocultural Footnote 1} In comparison, the proportion of the population of Nova Scotia who were immigrants was 5.3%, 93.9% were non-immigrants, and 0.8% were non-permanent residents.

Figure 1 Percentage of Canadian born (non-immigrants), foreign born (immigrants) and non permanent residents in Kentville (Town)

Figure 1 Percentage of Canadian born (non-immigrants), foreign born (immigrants) and non permanent residents in Kentville (Town)

Of the immigrants living in Kentville in 2011, 110 came to Canada between 2006 and 2011. These recent immigrants made up 29.7% of the immigrants in Kentville.

The most common countries of birth of immigrants living in Kentville were: Netherlands (accounting for 25.7% of the immigrant population in Kentville) and United Kingdom (25.7%). In comparison, the top countries of birth of immigrants living in Nova Scotia were: United Kingdom (accounting for 22.8% of the immigrant population in Nova Scotia), and United States (17.1%).

In 2011, among Kentville's immigrant population, 91.9% spoke English and/or French most often at home. Meanwhile, the most frequently reported non-official language spoken most often at home by immigrants in Kentville was Tamil. This compared to the top three non-official languages for immigrants in Nova Scotia, which were Arabic, Chinese, n.o.s. and Persian (Farsi).^{Ethnocultural Footnote 2}

Visible minority population and ethnic origins

The 2011 NHS estimated that 200 individuals in Kentville belonged to a visible minority group, accounting for 3.4% of its total population.^{Ethnocultural Footnote 1} In comparison, visible minorities comprised 5.2% of Nova Scotia's population.

The largest visible minority groups living in Kentville were Black and South Asian. In Nova Scotia, the largest visible minority groups were Black and Arab.

The three most frequently reported ethnic origins in Kentville, for people reporting either one or multiple ethnic origins, were English, Canadian and Scottish. This compared to the top three in Nova Scotia, which were Canadian, Scottish and English.

Table 1 – Most frequently reported ethnic origins, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Religion

According to the 2011 NHS, 74.0% of the population in Kentville reported a religious affiliation, while 26.1% said they had no religious affiliation.^{Ethnocultural Footnote 1} For Nova Scotia as a whole, 78.2% of the population reported a religious affiliation, while 21.8% had no religion.

The most frequently reported religious affiliation in Kentville was Baptist, reported by 1,310 (22.4%) of the population. Other frequently reported religions included: Roman Catholic (16.9%) and United Church (11.1%). In comparison, the top three most frequently reported religions in Nova Scotia were: Roman Catholic (reported by 32.8% of the population of Nova Scotia), United Church (12.1%) and Anglican (11.0%).

Table 2 – Most frequently reported religions, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Educational attainment ^{Education Footnote 1}

In 2011, 61.7% of the 4,135 adults aged 25 years and over in Kentville had completed some form of postsecondary education, compared with 59.6% at the national level.

Of the population aged 25 years and over in Kentville, 29.1% had a university certificate or degree. An additional 24.5% had a college diploma and 8.0% had a trades certificate.

The share of the adult population that had completed a high school diploma as their highest level of educational attainment was 24.5%, and 13.5% had completed neither high school nor any postsecondary certificates, diplomas or degrees.

Table 1 – Population aged 25 and over by highest level of educational attainment^{Education Footnote 1}, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia, Canada

Overall, successive generations of Canadians have been completing high school and attaining postsecondary qualifications in increasing proportions. In 2011, 41.7% of Canadians aged 65 years and over had a postsecondary credential; this compares with 69.5% among adults between the ages of 25 and 44. As well, 35.7% of those aged 65 years and over had not completed any certificate, diploma or degree compared with 9.5% of individuals aged 25 to 44.

In Kentville, 54.5% of those aged 65 years and over had a postsecondary credential, compared to 70.2% of adults between 25 and 44 years of age; 18.5% of individuals aged 65 years and over had no certificate, diploma or degree, compared to 7.4% of 25 to 44 year-olds.

Kentville (Town) – Proportion of the population aged 25 years and over by level of educational attainment and age groups

Kentville (Town) – Proportion of the population aged 25 years and over by level of educational attainment and age groups

Major field of study

Table 2 – Most common fields of study^{Education Footnote 9} for the population aged 25 years and over with postsecondary qualifications, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia, Canada

Location of study^{Education Footnote 11}

In 2011, there were 2,550 residents of Kentville aged 25 years and over with postsecondary credentials. Of these graduates, 73.1% had studied in Nova Scotia, 19.0% had studied in another province or territory and 7.6% had studied outside Canada. Nationally, 72.5% of graduates had studied in the same province/territory in which they lived in 2011, 10.4% had studied in another province or territory and 17.1% had studied outside Canada.

In all provinces, individuals with trades or college certificates were more likely than those with university credentials to have earned their highest certificate, diploma or degree in the province in which they lived in 2011.

Table 3 – Population aged 25 years and over with postsecondary qualifications by location of study and by level of educational attainment, Kentville (Town)

Labour

In Kentville, 2,570 people were employed and 280 were unemployed for a total labour force of 2,850 in May 2011. The employment rate was at 53.0% and the unemployment rate was at 9.8%.

Table 1 Total population aged 15 years and over by labour force status, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Within Kentville, 14.0% of the employed labour force was aged 15 to 24 and 11.7% was aged 55 to 64. This compares to 12.9% and 16.2% respectively for Nova Scotia.

Table 2 Employed labour force by age groups, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Within Kentville, the top occupations were: Professional occupations in education services; Service support and other service occupations, n.e.c.; Professional occupations in law and social, community and government services. For Nova Scotia as a whole the top occupations were: Administrative and financial supervisors and administrative occupations; Service support and other service occupations, n.e.c.; Service representatives and other customer and personal services occupations.

Table 3 Top occupations for the employed labour force, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Within Kentville, the top industries were: Health care and social assistance; Retail trade; Educational services; Accommodation and food services. For Nova Scotia as a whole the top industries were: Health care and social assistance; Retail trade; Public administration.

Table 4 Top industries for the employed labour force, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

The number of self-employed in Kentville amounted to 260 or 10.1% of all total employed workers.

Table 5 Employed labour force by class of workers, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

In 2011, 2.0% of commuters within Kentville used public transit to get to work. This compares to Nova Scotia at 6.6%. 79.0% of the population used a car, truck or van as a driver, while 11.0% used a car, truck or van as a passenger. The average commuting time to work in Kentville was 16.8 minutes, this compares to Nova Scotia at 21.7 minutes.

Within Kentville, 91.8% of the employed labour force aged 15 years and over worked at their usual place, 2.9% worked at home and 5.1% had no fixed workplace address.

Table 6 Employed labour force by mode of transportation, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Table 7 Average commuting duration for the employed labour force, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Table 8 Employed Labour force by time leaving for work, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Table 9 Employed labour force by place of work status, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

In Kentville, 99.1% (3,170) of the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2010 or 2011 reported English only as the language used most often at work, 0.0% (0) reported French only and 0.0% (0) said they used both official languages (English and French) equally. In addition, 0.0% of the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2010 or 2011 reported using an official language and a non-official language equally most often at work and 0.0% a non-official language only.

Furthermore, 0.0% (0) of the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2010 or 2011 reported working in English on a regular basis, 1.1% (35) in French on a regular basis and 0.0% (0) in the country's two official languages on a regular basis. In addition, 0.0% (0) of of the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2010 or 2011 reported using an official language and a non-official language on a regular basis at work and 0.8% (25) a non-official language only.

In Nova Scotia, 97.9% (509,945) of the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2010 or 2011 reported English only as the language used most often at work, 1.3% (6,670) reported French only and 0.4 (1,880) said they used both official languages (English and French) equally. Furthermore, 0.1% of the population aged 15 years and over who worked in 2010 or 2011 reported using an official language and a non-official language equally most often at work.

As for the language used at work on a regular basis in Nova Scotia, the proportions are as follows: 1.1% (5,470) reported using English; 2.5% (12,985) use French; 0.0% (15) use both official languages; 0.0% (235) reported using an official language and a non-official language; and 0.5% (2,665) a non-official language only.

Table 10 Languages used at work, Kentville (Town), Nova Scotia

Income composition

The total income for the population in private households can be broken down into two basic components: market income^{Income Footnote 1} and government transfers.^{Income Footnote 2} In Kentville, 82.1% of total income was from market income in 2010 and 17.9% was from government transfers. (Aggregate total income for Kentville was 156.3 million dollars in 2010.)

Figure 1 Income composition for the population in private households in 2010

Income composition for the population in private households in 2010

Market income's main component was employment income. In Kentville, it accounted for $72.90 of every $100 of market income, below the figure for Nova Scotia of $82.20. For the two components of employment income, wages and salaries represented $67.60 and net income from self-employment, $5.30.

The other components of market income were smaller than employment income: in Kentville, investment income represented $10.10 per $100 of market income, retirement income, $15.30 and $1.80 came from other private sources of money.

The main government transfer received in Kentville was Canada Pension Plan or Quebec Pension Plan with $34.90 of every $100 of total government transfers received, followed by: Old Age Security (OAS) pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement ($27.00), Other income from government sources ($15.90), Employment Insurance benefits ($13.20), and Child benefits ($8.90).

Table 1 – Income composition for the population in private households in 2010, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

High total income

Among the Canadian population in private households aged 15 years and over, ten percent had total incomes of more than $80,400 in 2010. To be in the top five percent, Canadians needed to have a total income of slightly above $102,300 and to be in the top one percent required just over $191,100, nearly seven times the national median income of $27,800.^{Income Footnote 3}

In Kentville, 2.2% percent of the population aged 15 years and over had total income that put them in the top five percent and 0.5% in the top one percent. This compared with 5.0% and 1.0% in Canada.

Table 2 – Population aged 15 years and over by total income, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

A national map showing the spatial distribution of persons with total income in the top five percent of persons with the highest total income is also available. Canada. Percentage of population in top five percent of total income in 2010 by 2011 census division (CD)

Employment income

Of those persons with employment income in Kentville, 42.7% worked full year, full time^{Income Footnote 4} in 2010 compared to 51.0% in Nova Scotia. The median employment income was $41,582 for these workers ($43,057 for those in Nova Scotia).

Family income

The median after-tax income of economic families in Kentville in 2010 was $57,894, the median for couple families was $63,440 and for lone-parent families, $32,091. For persons not in economic families (persons living alone or with non relatives only), the median after-tax income was $21,542.

These compare to the medians in Nova Scotia of $59,371 for after-tax family income of all economic families, $64,136 for couple families, $36,309 for lone-parent families and $22,573 for persons living alone or without relatives.

Table 3 – Median after-tax income in 2010 for economic families and persons not in economic families, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Figure 2 Median after-tax income in 2010 for Kentville, Nova Scotia and Canada

Median after-tax income in 2010 for Kentville, Nova Scotia and Canada

Families came in different sizes and larger families may have benefited from pooling of resources and economies of scale. In Kentville, based on their after-tax income adjusted for family size, 41.7% of the population was in the top half of the income distribution, similar to the rate of 43.1% in Nova Scotia.

In Kentville, the percentage of the population in the lowest income decile group^{Income Footnote 5} at 13.7% was higher than in Nova Scotia (10.9%). The percentage of the population in the highest decile group was 4.0%, lower than in Nova Scotia (5.7%).

Table 4 – Population in private households by adjusted after-tax family income in 2010, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Low income^{Income Footnote 6}

In the NHS, a relative measure is used to classify persons by income status: the low-income measure based on after-tax income (LIM-AT). For this measure, the income threshold is half the Canadian median of after-tax household income. The income has been adjusted to account for household size. Persons in households with a household income below this threshold^{Income Footnote 7} were considered to be in low income.

Based on the after-tax income low-income measure, the proportion of the population in low income in Kentville was 23.1%, above the rate of 17.4% observed in Nova Scotia. In Kentville, compared to the population of all ages, for persons under 18, the rate was higher (28.3%) and for the population aged 65 years and over, it was lower at 15.6%.

Table 5 – Income status based on after-tax low-income measure (LIM-AT) in 2010, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

A map showing the proportion of the population in low income within Atlantic Region is also available.

Housing

The number of households in Kentville was 2,660. The homeownership rate in Kentville was 60.9% - which was lower than the Nova Scotia homeownership rate of 70.8%.

Table 1 – Housing tenure for all households, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Kentville – Affordability^{Housing Footnote 1}

Households in Kentville that paid 30% or more of household total income toward shelter costs represented 29.3% of non-farm, non-reserve households with total income greater than zero. This proportion was higher than the Nova Scotia proportion (22.3%).

A lower proportion of owner households paid 30% or more compared to tenant households in Kentville (13.2% for owners versus 54.6% for renters).

Households in Kentville paid an average monthly shelter cost of $819 – which was lower than the Nova Scotia amount of $845. The average monthly shelter cost for tenant households was $689, this was lower than the average monthly shelter cost for owner households of $903.

Table 2 – Housing affordability for non-farm, non-reserve households, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Kentville – Need for major repairs^{Housing Footnote 2}

In Kentville, 7.9% of households reported living in dwellings that required major repairs. This was lower than the Nova Scotia proportion of 9.9%. The proportion of households reporting major repair requirements was lower for owners than renters (5.6% for owner-occupied dwellings and 11.6% for renter-occupied dwellings).

Table 3 – Need for major repairs by housing tenure, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Kentville – Suitability

In Kentville, 3.4% of households lived in dwellings that were not suitable; that is, the dwelling was crowded because there were not enough bedrooms based on the National Occupancy Standard.^{Housing Footnote 3} This was lower than the Nova Scotia proportion of 3.7%. The proportion of households living in dwellings that were not suitable was lower for owners than renters (0.0% for owner households and 7.7% for renter households).

Table 4 – Housing suitability by housing tenure, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

Related data

• 2011 NHS Profile – Kentville, Town (Census Subdivision), Nova Scotia
• 2011 NHS Data Tables – Kentville, Town (Census Subdivision), Nova Scotia
  • Aboriginal Peoples
  • Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity
  • Education and Labour
  • Income and Housing
• 2011 Census Focus on Geography Series – Kentville, Town (Census Subdivision), Nova Scotia