More than half the homes in Trail, BC were built before 1961: 53.0%, the highest share of any metro area or census agglomeration in Canada. About 400 kilometres west as the crow flies, Squamish has the opposite problem, if it's a problem: 17.9% of its homes were built between 2016 and 2021, also first in Canada.
So BC holds both ends of the country's house-age ranking. I went through the 2021 Census period-of-construction counts for all 152 of Canada's census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations (the 28 in BC among them) and sorted them every way I could: oldest, newest, most seventies, and which homes say they need major repairs. Canada as a whole: 20.2% of occupied homes were built before 1961 and 6.8% from 2016 to 2021.
Below: a map of all 152, the rankings, BC's towns side by side, Metro Vancouver's owners vs renters, an era finder for your own home's vintage, a quiz, and what the age of a home should change about how you buy one.
The map
Each dot is one of Canada's 152 census metropolitan areas (the 41 big ones, slightly larger dots) and census agglomerations (smaller urban areas). The default layer is the share of homes built before 1961. Switch layers for brand-new homes, the seventies, everything since 2001, and major repairs. Tap any dot for its full age profile against Canada's.
1%53%Share of occupied homes built in 1960 or earlier. Darker = older.
6,500 households counted. Typical (median) home built 1946–1960. Signature era: 1921–1945.Bars: share of homes built in each era. Black tick: Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock. Dot positions: OpenStreetMap Nominatim (the first named city of each area). Base map: Natural Earth (public domain).
Canada's oldest housing: Trail, then a lot of Ontario
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Show the numbers
| Metro area / CA | Built before 1961 |
|---|---|
| Trail, BC | 53.0% |
| Shawinigan, QC | 41.9% |
| Pembroke, ON | 39.8% |
| Thetford Mines, QC | 39.5% |
| Chatham-Kent, ON | 39.3% |
| Kenora, ON | 38.5% |
| Stratford, ON | 37.9% |
| Port Hope, ON | 37.8% |
| Owen Sound, ON | 37.7% |
| Brockville, ON | 37.4% |
| Moose Jaw, SK | 37.3% |
| Cape Breton, NS | 37.3% |
| Thunder Bay, ON | 36.7% |
| New Glasgow, NS | 36.5% |
| Norfolk, ON | 36.1% |
Trail isn't close. At 53.0%, it's 11 points ahead of second-place Shawinigan, QC (41.9%). Its typical home was built between 1946–1960, the only place in Canada whose median falls that early, and just 0.8% of its homes went up between 2016 and 2021. My read: that's what a town that built out in the first half of the last century, then mostly stopped, looks like in the data. Nicknamed, with love: The 1950s Called, They Want Their Bungalows Back.
The rest of the top 15 is mostly small-city Ontario and Quebec: Pembroke, Chatham-Kent, Kenora, Stratford, Port Hope, Owen Sound. For truly old, the 1920-or-before column is the one to watch. Stratford, ON leads at 19.9%, then Port Hope, ON (19.7%) and Owen Sound, ON (19.0%). In BC, Prince Rupert, BC is second-oldest (35.5% pre-1961), then Nelson (34.7%) and Port Alberni (34.0%).
The big cities are younger than you'd think. Montréal is at 23.6% pre-1961, Toronto 18.2%, Victoria 21.9% and Metro Vancouver 11.6%. Every one of them kept building after 1960, so the old stock is a smaller slice of a much bigger pie.
Canada's newest housing: Squamish, then small-town Ontario, Quebec and Alberta
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Show the numbers
| Metro area / CA | Built 2016–2021 |
|---|---|
| Squamish, BC | 17.9% |
| Cowansville, QC | 14.0% |
| Collingwood, ON | 13.1% |
| Steinbach, MB | 12.7% |
| Whitehorse, YT | 11.9% |
| Kelowna, BC | 11.7% |
| Centre Wellington, ON | 11.7% |
| Wasaga Beach, ON | 11.6% |
| Sylvan Lake, AB | 11.2% |
| Chilliwack, BC | 11.0% |
| Essa, ON | 10.5% |
| Vancouver, BC | 10.4% |
| Winkler, MB | 10.2% |
| Edmonton, AB | 10.2% |
| Woodstock, ON | 9.9% |
Squamish is first in Canada: 17.9% of its homes (9,160 households in the table) were built in roughly the five years before the census, and only 4.0% predate 1961. Cowansville, QC (14.0%) and Collingwood, ON (13.1%) follow. Kelowna is the newest bigger metro in the country at 11.7%, 6th overall.
Stretch the window to everything built since 2001 and Alberta takes over: Okotoks, AB (63.5%), Sylvan Lake, AB (57.4%) and Wood Buffalo, AB (57.0%). Okotoks, south of Calgary, is the only place in Canada where more than 60% of homes are this century's. Built Yesterday, basically. Squamish is at 41.7% on that measure, 11th in Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Show the numbers
| Metro area / CA | Built 2001+ |
|---|---|
| Okotoks, AB | 63.5% |
| Sylvan Lake, AB | 57.4% |
| Wood Buffalo, AB | 57.0% |
| Strathmore, AB | 50.0% |
| Grande Prairie, AB | 48.0% |
| Steinbach, MB | 47.4% |
| Wasaga Beach, ON | 47.2% |
| High River, AB | 42.7% |
| Winkler, MB | 42.5% |
| Lloydminster, AB/SK | 42.2% |
| Squamish, BC | 41.7% |
| Calgary, AB | 40.7% |
BC, town by town
All 28 BC metro areas and census agglomerations, sorted from the oldest housing to the newest by median era. 15 of them built a bigger share of their homes from 2016 to 2021 than Canada did (6.8%); only 7 have more pre-1961 housing than the national 20.2%.
| Metro area / CA | Households | Median era | Pre-1961 | 1971–1980 | 2016–2021 | Signature era |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trail | 6,500 | 1946–1960 | 53.0% | 16.2% | 0.8% | 1921–1945 |
| Prince Rupert | 5,275 | 1961–1970 | 35.5% | 22.7% | 1.6% | 1921–1945 |
| Port Alberni | 11,395 | 1961–1970 | 34.0% | 18.3% | 4.5% | 1946–1960 |
| Nelson | 8,460 | 1971–1980 | 34.7% | 15.7% | 4.9% | 1921–1945 |
| Powell River | 8,145 | 1971–1980 | 31.8% | 15.7% | 4.8% | 1921–1945 |
| Victoria | 173,410 | 1971–1980 | 21.9% | 18.7% | 8.5% | 1921–1945 |
| Dawson Creek | 7,265 | 1971–1980 | 20.7% | 17.6% | 4.6% | 1946–1960 |
| Cranbrook | 11,320 | 1971–1980 | 14.9% | 26.9% | 4.1% | 1970s |
| Quesnel | 9,885 | 1971–1980 | 12.6% | 32.9% | 2.1% | 1970s |
| Terrace | 7,785 | 1971–1980 | 11.2% | 27.4% | 5.5% | 1970s |
| Prince George | 36,500 | 1971–1980 | 10.0% | 32.1% | 4.5% | 1970s |
| Williams Lake | 9,500 | 1971–1980 | 8.6% | 33.1% | 3.5% | 1970s |
| Ladysmith | 6,080 | 1981–1990 | 19.7% | 18.4% | 5.8% | 1990s |
| Duncan | 19,115 | 1981–1990 | 16.5% | 19.8% | 6.5% | 1990s |
| Penticton | 20,840 | 1981–1990 | 14.4% | 18.6% | 8.3% | 1990s |
| Nanaimo | 48,770 | 1981–1990 | 12.7% | 18.0% | 8.8% | 1990s |
| Courtenay | 27,945 | 1981–1990 | 11.4% | 16.9% | 8.5% | 1990s |
| Vernon | 26,635 | 1981–1990 | 11.1% | 23.9% | 8.1% | 1970s |
| Kamloops | 45,030 | 1981–1990 | 10.3% | 26.0% | 7.1% | 1970s |
| Salmon Arm | 7,970 | 1981–1990 | 10.2% | 19.6% | 9.2% | 1990s |
| Campbell River | 17,215 | 1981–1990 | 7.9% | 21.4% | 8.0% | 1990s |
| Fort St. John | 11,505 | 1981–1990 | 6.5% | 23.3% | 7.1% | 1970s |
| Abbotsford–Mission | 66,360 | 1981–1990 | 6.2% | 18.6% | 8.7% | 1990s |
| Vancouver | 1,033,410 | 1991–1995 | 11.6% | 14.4% | 10.4% | 2011–2021 |
| Chilliwack | 40,755 | 1991–1995 | 10.8% | 15.4% | 11.0% | 1990s |
| Kelowna | 87,355 | 1991–1995 | 5.5% | 17.6% | 11.7% | 1990s |
| Parksville | 14,720 | 1991–1995 | 5.4% | 17.6% | 7.5% | 1990s |
| Squamish | 9,160 | 1991–1995 | 4.0% | 20.9% | 17.9% | 2011–2021 |
| British Columbia | 1,988,210 | 1981–1990 | 12.7% | 17.4% | 9.0% | – |
| Canada | 14,687,350 | 1981–1990 | 20.2% | 16.4% | 6.8% | – |
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Only five places in BC have a median home from the nineties: Metro Vancouver, Kelowna, Chilliwack, Squamish and Parksville. Everywhere else it's older: the seventies or eighties in most towns, the sixties in Prince Rupert and Port Alberni, and 1946–1960 in Trail. Victoria's median is 1971–1980, older than Vancouver's, with a bigger pre-1961 share (21.9% vs 11.6%).
BC's seventies belt
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Show the numbers
| Metro area / CA | Built 1971–1980 |
|---|---|
| Sept-Îles, QC | 33.5% |
| Williams Lake, BC | 33.1% |
| Quesnel, BC | 32.9% |
| Prince George, BC | 32.1% |
| Elliot Lake, ON | 31.2% |
| Brooks, AB | 29.6% |
| North Battleford, SK | 29.5% |
| Baie-Comeau, QC | 28.2% |
| Terrace, BC | 27.4% |
| Cranbrook, BC | 26.9% |
| Kamloops, BC | 26.0% |
| Amos, QC | 25.1% |
The 1970s were the biggest building decade in a lot of Canada, and the BC Interior has more of them than almost anywhere: three of the top four. Williams Lake (33.1%), Quesnel (32.9%) and Prince George (32.1%) are 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the country, behind only Sept-Îles, QC (33.5%). In those three, roughly one home in three is a seventies build, against 16.4% nationally. Kamloops (26.0%), Terrace (27.4%) and Cranbrook (26.9%) aren't far off.
My read: if you're buying in the Cariboo or Prince George, a lot of what you'll look at was built in that decade. Their age matters less than what's been done to them since: windows, roof, electrical panel, plumbing.
Metro Vancouver: renters live in the older buildings
- Owner households
- Renter households
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Show the numbers
| Owner households | Renter households | |
|---|---|---|
| ≤1920 | 2% | 3% |
| 21–45 | 3% | 3% |
| 46–60 | 6% | 7% |
| 61–70 | 6% | 13% |
| 71–80 | 13% | 16% |
| 81–90 | 16% | 13% |
| 91–95 | 11% | 6% |
| 96–00 | 9% | 6% |
| 01–05 | 7% | 6% |
| 06–10 | 10% | 7% |
| 11–15 | 9% | 7% |
| 16–21 | 10% | 12% |
Metro Vancouver has 1,033,410 households in the table, and the median home was built in 1991–1995, a decade newer than Canada's. Just 11.6% predate 1961, and 10.4% were built from 2016 to 2021 (Canada: 6.8%).
The owner-renter split is where it gets interesting. 13.1% of renter households live in homes built 1961–1970, against 6.3% of owners. In raw numbers, more renters (51,360) than owners (40,515) live in homes from that decade. My read: that's where a lot of the region's older walk-up and tower rentals sit. Owners have more of the 1971–80 stock (86,110 vs 62,835 renters) and most of the eighties and nineties. Since 2016, the two groups are close: 9.6% of owners and 11.7% of renters live in homes that new.
For what's being built now, see my Vancouver housing starts post.
Old homes and major repairs
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, table 98-10-0242-01 (private households, 25% sample data). Analysis by EstateBlock
Show the numbers
| Built | Major repairs needed |
|---|---|
| 1920 or before | 13.9% |
| 1921–1945 | 12.2% |
| 1946–1960 | 9.7% |
| 1961–1970 | 8.4% |
| 1971–1980 | 7.0% |
| 1981–1990 | 5.0% |
| 1991–1995 | 4.3% |
| 1996–2000 | 3.3% |
| 2001–2005 | 2.6% |
| 2006–2010 | 1.8% |
| 2011–2015 | 1.2% |
| 2016–2021 | 0.9% |
The census long form asks households whether their home needs major repairs, meaning things like defective plumbing or wiring, or structural repairs. Nationally, 11.3% of households in pre-1961 homes say yes, against 0.9% in homes built 2016–2021: about 13 times as likely. Homes from 1920 or before top the chart at 13.9%. Note that this is the household's own assessment, not an inspector's.
Among the 152 places, the highest shares are Prince Rupert, BC (14.1%), Yellowknife, NT (10.6%) and New Glasgow, NS (10.4%). More than a third of Prince Rupert's homes (35.5%) were built before 1961. Metro Vancouver is at 5.3% and Kelowna at 3.9%.
Era finder: where is your home's vintage most common?
Pick the decade your place was built. You'll see the 8 places in Canada where that era makes up the biggest share of homes, plus where BC and Metro Vancouver land.
Homes built 1970s: 16.4% of Canada, 17.4% of BC
Where they're most common:
- Sept-Îles, QC: 33.5%
- Williams Lake, BC: 33.1%
- Quesnel, BC: 32.9%
- Prince George, BC: 32.1%
- Elliot Lake, ON: 31.2%
- Brooks, AB: 29.6%
- North Battleford, SK: 29.5%
- Baie-Comeau, QC: 28.2%
Most in BC: Williams Lake (33.1%). Fewest in BC: Vancouver (14.4%). Metro Vancouver: 14.4%, 131st of 152.
Quiz: guess the vintage
6 questions, all answered from the same census data. Pick one; the answer shows straight away.
1. Which of these has the biggest share of homes built before 1961?
Answer
Trail, BC: 53.0%, the most of all 152 places. Halifax is at 18.1% and Montréal at 23.6%.
2. Which had the biggest share of homes built from 2016 to 2021?
Answer
Squamish: 17.9%, first in Canada. Kelowna had 11.7%. Okotoks (8.6%) wins a different race: 63.5% of its homes were built in 2001 or later.
3. Metro Vancouver's median home was built when?
Answer
1991–1995. Half of Metro Vancouver's occupied homes are older than that and half are newer. Canada's and BC's median is 1981–1990; Victoria's is 1971–1980.
4. Which BC city has the biggest share of 1970s homes?
Answer
Williams Lake, at 33.1%. Quesnel (32.9%) and Prince George (32.1%) are right behind; Kamloops is at 26.0%. Only Sept-Îles, Quebec, has more.
5. Across Canada, how much more likely are pre-1961 homes to need major repairs than homes built 2016–2021?
Answer
About 13 times: 11.3% of households in pre-1961 homes report needing major repairs, vs 0.9% in homes built 2016–2021.
6. In Metro Vancouver, who lives in more of the 1961–1970 buildings: owners or renters?
Answer
Renters: 51,360 renter households vs 40,515 owner households in homes built 1961–1970. My read: that's the walk-up and rental tower era.
What it means if you're buying
For current prices, see my Squamish real estate and Greater Vancouver market updates. More census fun: who works from home in Canada and Canada's commute times.
How I did this
All housing numbers come from Statistics Canada's table 98-10-0242-01, 2021 Census of Population, which counts private households by the period their home was built, for Canada, the provinces and territories, and every census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA). I downloaded the full table, kept the totals across all ages and household sizes, and computed shares from the twelve construction periods. "Homes" here means occupied private dwellings (one per household), so empty homes, vacation properties and new units that weren't occupied on census day in May 2021 aren't counted. The table also covers only households in non-farm, non-reserve private dwellings with income above zero, so homes on reserves and farms are left out, and totals run a little below the census's full household counts. Units built after the census aren't in it either; a lot of Metro Vancouver, Squamish and Kelowna has been built since.
The period of construction is what the household reported. These are 25% sample estimates, and Statistics Canada rounds the counts (they all end in 0 or 5), so small places can move by a point or so. CMA and CA boundaries are Statistics Canada's 2021 ones: "Vancouver" means the whole CMA, from West Vancouver to Langley, and "Trail" includes nearby communities. The median era is the construction period that holds the household at the middle of the list. The signature era is the one with the highest share compared with Canada's. Major repairs is also self-reported.
Dot positions come from OpenStreetMap Nominatim (the first named city in each area). Base map from Natural Earth. The nicknames are mine, a joke about buildings, not the people in them. I left out income, rent and affordability measures on purpose; this is about the houses.
FAQ
Which Canadian city has the oldest housing?
By share of homes built before 1961, Trail, BC: 53.0% in the 2021 Census, the highest of Canada's 152 census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. For homes built in 1920 or earlier, Stratford, Ontario leads at 19.9%.
Which Canadian city has the newest housing?
Squamish, BC had the biggest share of homes built from 2016 to 2021: 17.9%. Okotoks, Alberta has the most built since 2001: 63.5%.
How old is the average home in Metro Vancouver?
The median occupied home in the Vancouver CMA was built in 1991–1995, according to the 2021 Census. 11.6% were built before 1961 and 10.4% from 2016 to 2021. Canada's and BC's median is 1981–1990.
What share of homes in BC were built before 1991?
54.0% of BC households in the 2021 Census table lived in homes built in 1990 or earlier. WorkSafeBC says asbestos was widely used in B.C. building materials until the early 1990s.
Sources
- Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0242-01: Housing indicators by tenure including presence of mortgage payments and subsidized housing, household size and period of construction (2021 Census)
- Statistics Canada, full table download (CSV)
- Statistics Canada, Web Data Service (spot checks)
- Statistics Canada Open Licence
- WorkSafeBC: Asbestos
- OpenStreetMap Nominatim (place locations; data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL)
- Natural Earth: admin-1 states and provinces (public domain)
- EstateBlock.com: Squamish, Chilliwack, Vancouver and Abbotsford listings (snapshot Nov 4, 2026)
