The foundation of many cities was based on their proximity to water. Founded in 1842, Durham is one such city in Ontario. Due to the river encircling half of the city, it became one of the first cities in Canada to become self-sustaining. Since its founding, Durham has grown tremendously and, although the threat of flooding is always a possibility because of the three dams in the city, it continues to grow with each passing year.
City Size and Population Density
Durham spreads over a total surface area of 4.62 square kilometers (1.78 square miles) and has a population density of 572 individuals residing per square kilometer (1,484 individuals per square mile).
Demographics
Growth rates tend to show how successful a city is, and Durham has shown a 6.2% growth rate since the previous census of 2011. The population of 2011 was 608,124, and this grew to 645,862 for the current census of 2016.
Women outnumber men in Durham, with 331,190 women to 314,675 men.
As with most cities, the majority of Durham's residents are between the ages of 15 and 64, making up 67.6% of the population. 18% are under the age of 15, and 14.4% are between 65 and 84. 1.8% have made it past 85, with 105 people surpassing 100 years of age. The average age in Durham is 39.6, with women at 40.5 and men at 38.6 years of age.
Homes
The housing market in Durham is currently booming as the growth of the city increases the need for more dwellings. There are 227,905 homes within Durham, with the majority of 152,220 considered single-family detached homes. High rise apartment complexes with at least five stories per building make up 15,510 of all dwellings, and apartments with fewer than five stories stand at 14,230. Semi-detached homes make up 12,430 homes, with row houses coming in at 24,465, and duplexes currently at 8,650 dwellings. The smallest number of households is within the mobile home market, making up just 125 of all homes. Two hundred eighty houses are classified as 'other' in the 2016 census.
Families
Families are growing in Durham as the average number of people per family is 2.8 compared to the average in Ontario of 2.6. As of the 2016 census, 529,675 people were above the age of 15 and legally eligible to be married in Canada. Of that number, 266,470 people claim that they are married and 43,430 claim to be in a common law relationship. 146,925 people said that they had never been married and 16,310 people claimed that they were currently separated from their spouse. The number of people who said that they were divorced was 29,715, and the number of widows made up 28,830. Widows are more common than widowers as the numbers indicated that there were 21,315 widows and only 5,520 widowers within Durham. That statistic is in line with the rest of Ontario, as there are 508,880 widows and 128,265 widowers in the region.