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Canadian neighbourhood data, from the official sources

V9S

British Columbia

In plain English

V9S had a population of 17,977 in the 2021 Census in Nanaimo. Its population density makes it a suburban area.

There were 8,800 private dwellings across 13 km².

Median household income was 23% lower than the national figure.

Median after-tax household income was 19% lower than the national figure.

The median age was 11% higher than the national figure.

The unemployment rate was 17% lower than the national figure.

The share of people in low income (LIM-AT) was 24% higher than the national figure.

Average household size was 17% lower than the national figure.

Where this is

The boundary of forward sortation area V9S covering 13 km², in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The outline marks the whole postal area; it is not a street-level boundary.

The area

V9S · BC
Population, 2021

17,977

British Columbia · mostly Nanaimo

Counts for V9S, 2021 Census. These describe this area and are deliberately not compared to a city or a country — a count of households is not comparable to a national total.
Private dwellings8,800
Owner households4,495
Renter households4,025
Immigrants2,580
Land area13 km²

Compared with

Selected 2021 Census figures for V9S, against its city, province and Canada. A blank comparison means the figure was not published for that geography.
MeasureV9SNanaimoBritish ColumbiaCanada
Median household income$64,500$77,500$85,000$84,000
Median after-tax income$58,800$70,000$76,000$73,000
Median age4645.642.841.6
Unemployment rate8.5%8.3%8.4%10.3%
Low income (LIM-AT)13.8%10.7%10.8%11.1%
Average household size22.32.42.4

Getting around

2021 reference year · dissemination-block level
What this measures:

How close everyday amenities are — not how good they are. Each figure is the share of this area’s residents who have that amenity within the distance shown, weighted by where people actually live.

Residents with a grocery store within a 1 km walk

94%

23 points higher than the national share of 70%

Share of V9S’s residents with each amenity within reach. The proximity index in the last column is scaled against all of Canada, where the national average is close to zero — read it against Canada, never on its own.
AmenityWithinV9SCanadaComparedIndex vs Canada
Grocery storeSupermarkets and general-line grocery retailers.1 km walk94%70%23 points higher than Canada22% below it
Public transitA transit stop, weighted by how many trips serve it.1 km walk99%66%33 points higher than Canada27% below it
ParkNeighbourhood parks and green space.1 km walk99%80%18 points higher than Canada1.6× the national index
PharmacyPharmacies and drug stores.1 km walk53%45%8 points higher than Canada1.1× the national index
Child careLicensed child care facilities.1.5 km walk100%86%14 points higher than Canada10% below it
Primary schoolPrimary education facilities. Proximity only — not a measure of any school.1.5 km walk87%71%15 points higher than Canada1.0× the national index
Secondary schoolSecondary education facilities. Proximity only — not a measure of any school.1.5 km walk82%60%22 points higher than Canada1.4× the national index
LibraryPublic libraries.1.5 km walk2%28%27 points lower than Canada98% below it
Health careDoctors, clinics and other health facilities.3 km drive100%92%8 points higher than Canada39% below it
EmploymentJobs, weighted by how many are at each location.10 km drive100%98%about the same as Canada67% below it

1% of V9S’s residents live in a block Statistics Canada classifies as an amenity-dense neighbourhood — one with a grocery store, pharmacy, health care, child care, a primary school, a library, a transit stop and a source of employment all in range. Nationally it is 16%. This is StatCan’s composite, not ours.

Source: Statistics Canada, Proximity Measures Database (17-26-0002), 2021 reference year. Data current as of 2026-08-12. Statistics Canada Open Licence. Measured at the dissemination block and aggregated to this postal area, weighted by population.

Rent

metropolitan-area level
Average asking rent across Nanaimo, Statistics Canada experimental estimates, January 2026.
UnitBeing asked (StatCan)
Apartment, 1 bedroom$1,680
Apartment, 2 bedrooms$2,060
Apartment, 3 or more bedroomsnot published
Apartment, No bedroomnot published
House, 2 bedroomsnot published
House, 3 or more bedroomsnot published
Room$880
Coverage:

CMHC surveys purpose-built rental buildings only in centres of 10,000 or more, and publishes zone-level figures for eighteen major centres. V9S is not in one, so only the asking-rent series is available and it describes the whole Nanaimo area.

Source: Statistics Canada, table 46-10-0092 (asking rents, experimental). Data current as of January 2026. Statistics Canada Open Licence. Experimental estimates drawn from online listings, published for selected metropolitan areas only.

Air quality

live · nearest station
Air Quality Health Index at Nanaimo / Parksville

1.32

Low risk · 8:00 AM PDT Thursday 13 August 2026

The Air Quality Health Index combines ozone, fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide into one health-risk scale. It is a reading at a station, not a measurement of any address.
StationNanaimo / Parksville
Distance from V9S3.3 km
Reading1.32Low risk
Highest forecast3

Measured at Nanaimo / Parksville, 3.3 km from V9S. The index runs from 1 upward and combines ozone, fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide into one health-risk scale.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Air Quality Health Index. Data current as of 8:00 AM PDT Thursday 13 August 2026. Open Government Licence – Canada. This is the only live figure on this page; everything else is annual or from the census.

Reporting facilities nearby

2024 · within 10 km
What this is:

Facilities that reported releasing a listed substance to the National Pollutant Release Inventory, within 10 km of V9S. Distance is measured from the edge of the postal area, so a facility inside it shows as inside this area.

Reported releases to air, 2024, in tonnes. Quantities are estimated and reported by the facilities themselves.
FacilityDistanceSubstancesReleased to air
Harmac Pacific OperationsNanaimo · Pulp and Paper7.1 km30incl. dioxins/furans5,420 t
Nanaimo TerminalNanaimo · Oil and Gas Pipelines and Storageinside this area2171 t
Duke Point SawmillNanaimo · Wood Products4.0 km4125 t
Nanaimo TerminalNanaimo · Oil and Gas Pipelines and Storageinside this area6112 t
Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control CentreNanaimo · Water and Wastewater Systems2.6 km328 t
Coastland Wood Industries Ltd., Nanaimo MillNanaimo · Wood Products3.1 km327 t
Nanaimo Regional LandfillNanaimo · Waste Treatment and Disposal6.6 km28 t
CFB Esquimalt - Nanaimo Rifle RangeNanaimo · Other (Except Manufacturing)3.8 km10.00 t
AJF NanaimoNanaimo · Other (Except Manufacturing)0.2 km0not reported
west coast chrome incnanaimo · Other Manufacturing1.7 km0not reported
Environmental 360 Solutions (BC) Ltd.Nanaimo · Waste Treatment and Disposal6.4 km0not reported

Together these facilities reported 5,891 t released to air in 2024. That is what was reported within 10 km — not what reached this area, which depends on stack height, wind and chemistry that this inventory does not model.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Pollutant Release Inventory. Data current as of 2024 reporting year. Open Government Licence – Canada.

Crime

2025 · metropolitan-area figures
Read this first:

These figures describe the whole of Nanaimo, British Columbia — a metropolitan area — not V9S. Police-reported crime is not published for postal areas anywhere in Canada.

Crime Severity Index, 2025

106.0

Nanaimo, British Columbia · 41% higher than the national index of 75.0

Severity indexes for Nanaimo, British Columbia, 2025. The Crime Severity Index weights each offence by how serious the courts treat it, so it is an index and not a count — 100 is Canada in 2006.
MeasureNanaimo, British ColumbiaCanadaCompared
Crime Severity Index106.075.041% higher than Canada
Violent Crime Severity Index115.497.219% higher than Canada
Non-violent Crime Severity Index103.266.854% higher than Canada
Weighted clearance rate26.7%36.6%9.9 percentage points lower than Canada
Reported incidents per 100,000 residents, 2025. These count incidents without weighting them by seriousness, so they are not comparable with the indexes above.
ViolationsNanaimo, British ColumbiaCanadaCompared
All violations10,369 per 100,0006,065 per 100,00071% higher than Canada
Criminal Code, excluding traffic9,648 per 100,0005,585 per 100,00073% higher than Canada
Violent Criminal Code2,100 per 100,0001,443 per 100,00046% higher than Canada
Property crime4,965 per 100,0003,141 per 100,00058% higher than Canada
Crime Severity Index for Nanaimo, British Columbia (solid) against Canada (dashed), 2021 to 2025. In 2025 it was lower than in 2021 — 106.0 against 121.6. A change in the index can come from a change in the number of offences, in how serious they were, or in how many were reported to police.
Year-by-year figures
Crime Severity Index by year. This table is the chart above, in full.
YearNanaimo, British ColumbiaCanada
2021121.674.9
2022128.378.7
2023126.681.3
2024107.578.8
2025106.075.0

Source: Statistics Canada, table 35-10-0026 (crime severity index); table 35-10-0177 (incident-based crime statistics). Data current as of 2025 reference year. Statistics Canada Open Licence. Police-reported crime only — offences that are not reported to police are not counted anywhere in these figures.

Common questions

Do these figures describe a specific address in V9S?
No. V9S is a forward sortation area — the first three characters of a postal code — and every figure here describes the whole of it. That is the finest granularity Canadian open data supports; a full six-character postal code requires a licensed Canada Post file. Conditions on one street can differ from the area average.
Why is the crime figure for Nanaimo, British Columbia rather than for V9S?
Police-reported crime is not published for postal areas anywhere in Canada. Statistics Canada publishes it by police service, aggregated to metropolitan areas and provinces, which for V9S means Nanaimo, British Columbia. There is no municipal feed covering this area, so the regional figure is the finest available.
How current is this profile?
The census figures are from the 2021 Census. The other panels carry their own dates, shown beside each one, because they are published on different schedules — crime annually, CMHC rents each October, asking rents quarterly, and the air quality index live. Each figure is labelled with the vintage it came from rather than the date you are reading it.
Does this page rank or score V9S?
No. There is no score, no grade, no star rating and no ranking against other areas. Every figure is a measurement with a source, a date and a stated granularity, and none of them are combined. The site describes places using published statistics; it does not draw conclusions about the people who live in them.

What this page will not do

Note:

No score, no ranking, no grade. This page will not score this neighbourhood, rank it against another, or present the people who live here as a feature of the place. Every figure above is a measurement with a source, a date and a stated granularity, and none of them are added together.

Look up another area

Source: Census Profile, 2021 Census (98-401-X). Data current as of 2026-08-12. Statistics Canada Open Licence. Figures describe the whole forward sortation area, not a street.