Parksville, British Columbia, is one of the rare places in Canada with a mild Mediterranean climate and a long sandy ocean beach, which most likely explains why it has the largest concentration of seniors of any city in Canada.
Over two in five residents of Parksville are seniors
There were five times more seniors living in Parksville on July 1, 2022, than children 14 years of age and younger (44.2% compared with 8.7%). By way of comparison, less than one in five Canadians (18.8%) were aged 65 years and older nationally as of July 1, 2022. Just under half (47.1%) of the residents of Parksville were aged 15 to 64 years .
Given the high rate of seniors in Parksville, there were almost as many people not in the labour force (10,305) as there were people working (10,420) in the spring of 2021.
Parksville’s population is growing at the slowest pace among the six smallest cities on Vancouver Island
Parksville’s population (+0.9%) grew at the slowest pace among the six census agglomerations on Vancouver Island from July 1, 2021, to July 1, 2022, trailing Nanaimo (+1.9%), Campbell River (+1.8%), Courtenay (+1.7%) and Duncan (+1.2%). A census agglomeration is a town or city with a population of 10,000 to 100,000 people.
One reason for Parksville’s slower growth is that there were far more deaths than births over this one year period, leading to a natural decrease of 514 people.
Nevertheless, there were 300 more people living in Parksville on July 1, 2022, compared with the same day a year earlier, bringing the total population to 31,809 people.
The year-over-year population growth was mainly due to 475 more people relocating from within British Columbia to Parksville than moving elsewhere in the province.
Population growth was also due to 242 more people moving from outside of British Columbia to the city compared with those who left the province entirely. Parksville also saw more people arriving from outside of Canada (+97) than leaving the country.
A city of single-family homes
Like many smaller cities across Canada, the single-family home is the predominant building type in Parksville. Of the 14,765 occupied private dwellings during the 2021 Census, 10,610 were single houses, 220 were apartments or flats and 490 were mobile homes.
Three in five Parkville residents have Canadian roots going back three or more generations
Parksville is not nearly as ethnically diverse as Canada’s largest cities. During the 2021 Census, the vast majority (95.5%) of Parksville residents identified as non-visible minorities, with most tracing their roots back to Europe. In Parksville, three in five residents could trace their roots in Canada by three generations or more.
In May 2021, 4.5% of Parksville residents reported belonging to a racialized community compared with 16% of Canadians nationally. Filipino (415), South Asian (225) and Chinese (220) were the largest racialized communities in Parksville.
At the time of the 2021 Census, 50 refugees were living in Parksville.
The median after-tax income of Parksville residents is below the national average
The average after-tax income of Parksville residents ($49,160) was lower than the national average ($54,450) in 2020.
Less than half (41.3%) of the income Parksville residents declared on their tax forms in 2020 came from employment, one-quarter (25.2%) came from government transfers, from which less than one-tenth (4.4%) came from COVID-19 benefits.
Health care and social assistance are the biggest employers in Parksville
Perhaps not surprisingly, given its aging population, health care and social assistance (1,720 people) was the biggest employer in Parksville at the time of the 2021 Census, followed by retail trade (1,575) and construction (1,305).
The unemployment rate on Vancouver Island and the Coastal region where Parksville is located stood at 3.6% on a three-month moving average in March 2023, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier and lower than the provincial (4.9%) or national average (5.4%).
Crime Severity Index in the City of Parksville is above the British Columbia average
Police-reported crime in the City of Parksville, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), stood at 110.14 in 2021, above the provincial average of 92.86. The CSI measures both the volume and severity of crimes.
The Violent CSI, which measures violent crime, almost doubled in the City of Parksville, rising from 53.91 in 2020 to 103.32 in 2021, while the Non-violent CSI fell from 126.83 to 112.34.
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Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).