WELLINGTON COUNTY – A new tool from Statistics Canada allows people to compare the quality of life in every Canadian municipality.
Compared to Guelph and Toronto, Wellington County has a high quality of life in terms of housing and poverty, but less people here have post-secondary education and there are less people who can converse comfortably in both English and French.
The Municipal Quality of Life Dashboard presents visual data surrounding four quality of life indicators: housing, poverty, education, and official national languages spoken.
It does not include data on other significant indicators of quality of life such as health, income, social connections, or governance.
The dashboard launched on July 14 and is based on data from Statistics Canada’s 2021 census data.
Poverty
Considerably less people are living in poverty in Wellington County than in Guelph or Toronto.
In 2021, Stats Canada defined poverty thresholds as $43,269 in rural areas of the county and $43,985 in urban areas.
Overall, almost five per cent of the county’s population experiences poverty, while 7% of Guelph’s population and 12.6% of Toronto’s population is in poverty. The provincial poverty rate is 8.3%.
The municipality with the highest poverty level in the County is Wellington North, with 7.3% of people in poverty, and the municipality with the lowest level is Puslinch at 2.8%.
Housing
There are also less people in need of housing in Wellington than the provincial average, with almost 80% of Wellington’s population living in “acceptable housing.”
In Ontario overall, 67% of people live in acceptable housing.
Statistics Canada defines acceptable housing as housing that is adequate, suitable, and affordable.
About 5% of the county’s population is in core need of housing and another 16% of people here are living in housing that Statistics Canada considers unacceptable, and are not able to afford to move.
Languages
About 5% of people in Wellington County are able to hold a conversation in both English and French, while less than 1% are not able to converse in either of Canada’s official languages.
That compares with almost 10% of people in Guelph and Toronto who speak both English and French.
In Guelph 1.5% of people cannot converse in either language, and in Toronto that percentage is 4.5.
The municipality in Wellington with the most people who speak both English and French is Erin, with 8.7% of residents able to converse in both languages.
The dashboard does not include data on other languages spoken.
Education
About half of Wellington County’s residents have attained a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree.
The municipalities with the highest percentage of graduates in Wellington County are Puslinch and Guelph/Eramosa, where almost 60% of residents have completed post-secondary education.
Guelph and Toronto also have about a 60% rate of post-secondary education.
Mapleton and Wellington North are home to the smallest percentage of post-secondary graduates, at 36% and 39% respectively.
In all Wellington County municipalities but Puslinch, a higher percentage of women than men have attained post-secondary education.
This is also the case in Guelph and Toronto.
In Puslinch, the numbers are close, where 61.9% of men and 57.5% of women are graduates from post-secondary schools.
To explore the Municipal Quality of Life Dashboard in full, visit the Statistics Canada website at www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2023025-eng.htm.
