BRAMPTON HAS HIGHEST AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE

The 2021 census shows Brampton has the highest average number of people per household among Ontario's 25 most populated cities and towns and it's not even close. The average number of residents per household in Brampton, which is Ontario's fourth-largest city by population, increased from 3.5 to 3.6 between 2016 and 2021.

Milton ranked second with an average household size of 3.3, followed closely by Ajax at 3.2. Vaughan and Markham rounded out the top five at 3.1 and three residents per household, respectively. Those five cities were the only cities among the top 25 with an average of three people per household or above.

Mississauga, Brampton's neighbour to the south, was sixth on the list with an average household size of 2.9, while neighbouring Toronto was near the bottom of the list at 2.4 people per household.

The average for Ontario was 2.6, meaning Brampton has on average one more person per household than the provincial average.

Overcrowding has been a long-standing problem in Brampton, with illegal basement apartments and rooming houses remaining a hot-button issue in the city.

The issue has been raised at city council numerous times in recent years with council calling on the provincial government for legislative help to tackle the problem.

According to the census, Brampton is also Ontario's youngest city by a wide margin among Ontario's top-10 biggest cities at an average resident age of 36.5. Kingston was a distant second with an average age of 39. Brampton also ranked first among Canada's big cities in terms of population growth between 2016 and 2021, adding 69,732 new residents and growing its population by 10.6 per cent to 656,480 in 2021.