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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census agglomeration of Lethbridge, Alberta

Map of Lethbridge

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Chart A description: Lethbridge, CA - Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

In 2011, the population of Lethbridge census agglomeration (CA) was 105,999, representing a percentage change of 11.3% from 2006. This compares to the national growth of 5.9% and to the average growth among all CAs of 4.2%.

In Lethbridge, the land area is 2,975.62 square kilometres with a population density of 35.6 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 CAs is 232,264.62 square kilometres with 18.56 persons per square kilometre.

In total, there were 41,555 private dwellings occupied by usual residents in Lethbridge in 2011. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 11.8%. 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 Lethbridge CA

Table 1 Lethbridge CA – Census subdivisions, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	Type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	Type	2011	2006	% change
Lethbridge	CY	83,517	74,685 A	11.8
Lethbridge County	MD	10,061	10,254 A	-1.9
Coaldale	T	7,493	6,177	21.3
Coalhurst	T	1,963	1,523	28.9
Picture Butte	T	1,650	1,592	3.6
Nobleford	VL	1,000	689	45.1
Barons	VL	315	276	14.1

Census metropolitan areas (CMAs) or census agglomerations (CAs) in Alberta

Table 2 Alberta – 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.
Calgary	CMA	1,214,839	1,079,310	12.6	5	1
Edmonton	CMA	1,159,869	1,034,945	12.1	6	2
Lethbridge	CA	105,999	95,196	11.3	34	3
Red Deer	CA	90,564	83,154 A	8.9	43	4
Medicine Hat	CA	72,807	68,822	5.8	50	5
Wood Buffalo	CA	66,896	52,643	27.1	51	6
Grande Prairie	CA	55,032	47,107 A	16.8	59	7
Lloydminster	CA	30,798	27,023	14.0	87	···
Lloydminster (Saskatchewan part / partie de la Saskatchewan)		12,766	11,113	14.9	···	9
Lloydminster (Alberta part / partie de l'Alberta)		18,032	15,910	13.3	···	10
Okotoks	CA	24,511	17,150 A	42.9	101	8
Brooks	CA	23,430	22,452	4.4	103	9
Camrose	CA	17,286	15,630 A	10.6	117	11
Cold Lake	CA	13,839	11,991	15.4	127	12
High River	CA	12,920	10,716 A	20.6	134	13
Sylvan Lake	CA	12,762	10,703 A	19.2	136	14
Wetaskiwin	CA	12,525	11,689 A	7.2	138	15
Strathmore	CA	12,305	10,280 A	19.7	140	16
Canmore	CA	12,288	12,039	2.1	141	17
Lacombe	CA	11,707	10,752 A	8.9	144	18

Age and sex

Lethbridge – Age distribution

Chart C: Lethbridge - Population by broad age groups

Chart C description: Lethbridge - Population by broad age groups

Table 3 Lethbridge – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	18.2%	19.0%	17.4%
15 to 64	67.4%	68.0%	66.8%
65 and over	14.4%	13.0%	15.8%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in Lethbridge was 14.4%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 67.4% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 18.2%. 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.

Lethbridge – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 4 Lethbridge – 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	106,000	95,195	10,805	11.4
0 to 14	19,270	17,575	1,695	9.6
15 to 64	71,430	64,070	7,360	11.5
65 and over	15,300	13,550	1,750	12.9
Males
Total	52,045	46,530	5,515	11.9
0 to 14	9,885	8,970	915	10.2
15 to 64	35,395	31,685	3,710	11.7
65 and over	6,765	5,875	890	15.1
Females
Total	53,950	48,670	5,280	10.8
0 to 14	9,385	8,605	780	9.1
15 to 64	36,035	32,385	3,650	11.3
65 and over	8,530	7,675	855	11.1

Lethbridge – Population by five-year age groups and sex

Chart D description: Lethbridge - Population by five-year age groups and sex

Table 5 Lethbridge – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	106,000	52,045	53,950
0 to 4 years	7,140	3,725	3,415
5 to 9 years	6,045	3,060	2,985
10 to 14 years	6,085	3,100	2,985
15 to 19 years	7,110	3,605	3,500
20 to 24 years	9,175	4,465	4,710
25 to 29 years	8,360	4,280	4,075
30 to 34 years	7,030	3,550	3,475
35 to 39 years	6,275	3,175	3,100
40 to 44 years	6,155	3,015	3,140
45 to 49 years	7,135	3,540	3,595
50 to 54 years	7,575	3,690	3,885
55 to 59 years	6,825	3,305	3,515
60 to 64 years	5,800	2,765	3,040
65 to 69 years	4,325	2,085	2,245
70 to 74 years	3,395	1,590	1,805
75 to 79 years	2,905	1,335	1,575
80 to 84 years	2,455	1,015	1,435
85 to 89 years	1,445	495	945
90 to 94 years	595	195	400
95 to 99 years	140	40	100
100 years and over	35	5	30
Median age	36.6	35.4	38.0

Lethbridge – Median age¹ of the population

Chart E: Canada, Alberta and Lethbridge - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

Chart E description: Canada, Alberta and Lethbridge - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

The median age in Lethbridge was 36.6 years. In comparison, the median age of Alberta was 36.5 years.

Table 6 Canada, Alberta and Lethbridge – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
Alberta	36.0	36.5
Lethbridge	36.5	36.6

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families² in Lethbridge was 28,800, which represents a change of 10.9% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In Lethbridge, 73.5% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 12.3% were common-law-couples and 14.2% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: Lethbridge - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: Lethbridge - Census families by family structure

Lethbridge – Family structure

Table 7 Canada, Alberta, Lethbridge – 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
Alberta †	999,525	719,355	72.0	135,660	13.6	144,510	14.5	10.5
Lethbridge	28,800	21,155	73.5	3,550	12.3	4,090	14.2	10.9

Lethbridge – Presence of children within couple families

Married couples		Common-law-couples
with children	without children	with children	without children
9,845 (39.8%)	11,315 (45.8%)	1,260 ( 5.1%)	2,295 ( 9.3%)

Chart G description: Lethbridge - Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census agglomeration of Lethbridge, 44.9% 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 agglomeration of Lethbridge, 87.3% were intact families, that is, in which all children were the biological or adopted children of both parents, while 12.7% 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.

Lethbridge – Marital status

Chart H description: Lethbridge - Marital status

In Lethbridge, 58.4% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (50.2%) or living with a common-law partner (8.2%).

The remaining 41.6% 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, Alberta, Lethbridge – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	Lethbridge		Alberta		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	86,730	100.0	2,960,470	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	50,675	58.4	1,756,860	59.3	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	43,555	50.2	1,484,705	50.2	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	7,120	8.2	272,155	9.2	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	36,055	41.6	1,203,615	40.7	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	23,615	27.2	823,935	27.8	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	1,770	2.0	70,855	2.4	698,245	2.5
Divorced	5,775	6.7	177,375	6.0	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	4,895	5.6	131,440	4.4	1,584,525	5.7

Lethbridge – Types of private households

There were 41,555 private households³ in Lethbridge in 2011, a change of 11.4% from 2006. Of these, 26.1% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of 6.1% compared with five years earlier.

Table 9 Canada, Alberta, Lethbridge – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁴	Lethbridge		Alberta		Canada
Household type⁴	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Private households	41,555	100.0	1,390,275	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁵	10,850	26.1	407,145	29.3	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁶	13,145	31.6	406,380	29.2	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁷	3,715	8.9	128,330	9.2	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	10,635	25.6	342,735	24.7	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple-family households⁸	535	1.3	27,900	2.0	268,060	2.0
Other households⁹	2,670	6.4	77,785	5.6	543,340	4.1

Lethbridge – Structural type of dwelling

In Lethbridge, 68.3% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 1.7% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Table 10 Canada, Alberta, Lethbridge – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	Lethbridge		Alberta		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	41,555	100.0	1,390,275	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	28,370	68.3	883,260	63.5	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	2,240	5.4	71,850	5.2	646,240	4.9
Row house	1,800	4.3	97,865	7.0	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	725	1.7	58,205	4.2	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	4,990	12.0	197,945	14.2	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	2,030	4.9	33,505	2.4	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹⁰	35	0.1	1,060	0.1	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹¹	1,360	3.3	46,590	3.4	183,510	1.4

Language

Lethbridge – Mother tongue

Chart J description: Lethbridge - 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 Lethbridge, 84.4% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 0.9% reported French only, and 13.6% reported only a non-official language, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 77.0% for English only, 1.9% for French only and 19.4% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 92.6% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.3% spoke only French and 5.7% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 85.7% for English only, 0.7% for French only and 10.5% for only a non-official language.

Table 11 Lethbridge – 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	105,115	100.0	105,115	100.0
English	88,745	84.4	97,285	92.6
French	965	0.9	330	0.3
Non-official language	14,275	13.6	6,020	5.7
Multiple responses	1,130	1.1	1,485	1.4

Table 12 Lethbridge – 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	99.8	99.6	0.1
French	48.5	28.5	20.0
Non-official language	67.5	45.6	21.9

Lethbridge – Non-official languages

In Lethbridge, the three most common mother tongues were German (4.3%), Dutch (2.1%) and Spanish (1.1%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were German (2.3%), Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (1.9%) and Panjabi (Punjabi) (1.5%).

Table 13 Lethbridge – 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.
German	4,485	29.4	4.3
Dutch	2,255	14.8	2.1
Spanish	1,185	7.8	1.1
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	565	3.7	0.5
Chinese, n.o.s.	525	3.4	0.5

Lethbridge – Bilingualism

Table 14 Lethbridge – 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	4.3	3.7	85.0	2.7
0 to 19	4.8	4.7	80.0	2.8
20 to 44	5.2	4.7	92.9	3.4
45 to 64	3.5	2.3	82.9	3.1
65 and over	2.6	1.5	80.0	1.5

Table 15 Lethbridge – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	105,115	100.0
English only	99,640	94.8
French only	40	0.0
English and French	4,640	4.4
Neither English nor French	790	0.8

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 agglomeration of Lethbridge
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census agglomeration of Lethbridge
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census agglomeration of Lethbridge

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census