Reflecting on Jasper’s demographic landscape in the wake of the wildfire

The heartbreaking photos and headlines of the major wildfire that destroyed parts of the historic town of Jasper on July 24 have gripped Canada and the world ever since. This tragedy is especially poignant as Jasper is celebrated for its breathtaking beauty and stands as a world-renowned tourist destination.

The wildfire struck at the height of the tourist season and over 25,000 tourists, seasonal workers and residents were estimated to have evacuated the area prior to the fire’s arrival. Our deepest sympathies go out to those who lost their home, business or livelihood as a result of this tragedy.

We know quite a bit about the residents of Jasper thanks to the Census of Population, our once-every-five-year conversation with Canadians. We last spoke with the residents of Jasper in May 2021; this is what they told us.

A profile of the people of Jasper

We counted 4,738 permanent residents living in Jasper in May 2021, up 3.2% from five years earlier but below the national growth rate of 5.2%. Almost three in four residents (73.5%) were aged 15 to 64, while the remainder of the town’s population was evenly split between youth aged 14 and younger (615 people) and seniors (635 people).

Just over one in eight people living in Jasper at the time of the 2021 Census were in a private household (11.3%).

Among census families living in Jasper in 2021, 62.4% were married couples, 26.5% were common-law couples and 11.4% were one-parent families.

Counting people in tourist areas during the census

The 2021 Census population counts for a particular geographic area represent the number of Canadians whose usual place of residence is in that area, regardless of where they happened to be on Census Day.

For certain places, however, such as tourist or vacation areas, the number of people staying there at any particular time could significantly exceed the number of usual residents.

The census dwelling counts also do not include collective, commercial, institutional or communal dwellings. Some hotels in Jasper, such as Jasper Park Lodge, offer collective dwellings to their seasonal employees.

One-third of households in Jasper live in a single-detached home

Over four in five households in Jasper lived in either a single-detached house (33.4%), an apartment with fewer than five storeys (30.4%) or a row house (20.0%) in the spring of 2021.

Just over half (50.4%) of the 1,675 households in Jasper owned their home at the time of the 2021 Census, down 2.1 percentage points from five years earlier.

The average owner-estimated value of single-detached houses in Jasper was $924,000 in 2021, up from $684,000 five years earlier.

Early estimates suggest that approximately one-third of the buildings in Jasper were destroyed in the fire.

One in four residents of Jasper work in accommodation and food services

Perhaps not surprisingly given the town’s status as one of the world’s premier tourist destinations, accommodation and food services was the largest employer in Jasper, accounting for just over one-quarter (25.4%) of the total workforce in the spring of 2021.

Over one in six people living in Jasper (15.8%) were working in arts, entertainment and recreation at the time of the census.

Retail trade (12.0%), transportation and warehousing (9.2%), and health care and social assistance (8.8%) rounded out the top five industries in Jasper.

We will be reconnecting with the townspeople of Jasper once again in May 2026. Their responses will help us better understand the full extent of this tragedy.

Tracking the labour market in the Jasper region before and after the wildfire

The fire not only destroyed homes and businesses—it also cost jobs.

We communicate with a random sample of Canadians every month through a variety of surveys, most notably the Labour Force Survey. In mid-July, just before the wildfire struck Jasper, the unemployment rate in the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River region (three-month moving average) was 4.6%, down from 5.1% a year earlier. Meanwhile, the employment rate was 72.4%, up from 67.3% (unadjusted for seasonality).

The impact of the fire on the labour market in the Jasper region will become clearer with the results of the Labour Force Survey for August on September 6, 2024.

One in five Canadians extremely or very concerned about weather-related emergencies or natural disasters

We asked Canadians to share their level of concern about the risk of natural disasters and weather-related emergencies in the fall of 2022 through our Canadian Social Survey. We also asked whether they or someone in their household had taken steps to prepare, or helped others in their community prepare, for such events.

In the fall of 2022, half (50%) of Canadians told us they were a little concerned or not concerned at all about the risk of a weather-related emergency or natural disaster. The other half was somewhat concerned (30%) or extremely or very concerned (20%).

Almost one-quarter (24%) of Canadians told us they or someone in their household had taken steps in the previous 12 months to prepare for a weather-related emergency or natural disaster, while 1 in 10 (10%) had helped others in their community prepare.