Skip to main content
Hamilton For RentRentals (opens DistrictIQ in a new tab)

Hamilton, Ontario

Renting in Central

Central is a 1.1 km² area of Hamilton, home to about 3,698 people at the 2021 Census. It is a majority-renter area: 70.3% of households rented their home, and 66.7% of homes are apartments. Inside the boundary: 1 school, 3 licensed child care facilities, 7 parks, 32 transit stops.

1.1 km²3,698 residents (2021)1 school32 transit stops

The boundary this page uses

Boundary and area name published by the City of Hamilton.

Everything counted below — schools, licensed child care, parks, transit stops — is counted inside that boundary, so the figures describe Central rather than a radius around a point.

Contains public sector Data made available under the City of Hamilton's Open Data Licence. Layer retrieved August 2, 2026.

Who lives here

From the 6 Statistics Canada dissemination areas whose centre falls inside the boundary. Rates are population-weighted; counts are summed.

3,698
Residents (2021)
70.3%
Households that rent
29.4% own
66.7%
Homes that are apartments
$59,257
Median household income
2020 income, 2021 Census
49.4%
Households with children
39.6
Median age
2.0
Average household size
Age profile
  • 0 - 4 years old180 · 4.8%
  • 5 - 9 years old110 · 2.9%
  • 10 - 19 years old175 · 4.7%
  • 20 - 34 years old1,135 · 30.4%
  • 35 - 49 years old735 · 19.7%
  • 50 - 54 years old235 · 6.3%
  • 55 - 64 years old495 · 13.3%
  • 65 - 69 years old205 · 5.5%
  • 70 - 79 years old215 · 5.8%
  • 80 - 84 years old60 · 1.6%
  • 85+ years old185 · 5%

How Central compares with Hamilton

70.3% of households in Central rented their home at the 2021 Census, against 34.3% across Hamilton. This is one of the parts of Hamilton where renting is the norm rather than the exception, so purpose-built and converted rental housing is a normal part of the streetscape.

Both figures are the share of households that rent, from the 2021 Census. The Central figure is aggregated from the dissemination areas inside the boundary; the Hamilton figure is the city-wide count Statistics Canada publishes. Census figures describe 2021, and neighbourhoods change — treat them as context rather than as today’s market.

Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021. Adapted under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. Sum (population, age bands) or population-weighted mean (rates, medians) of the 2021 dissemination areas whose centre lies inside the municipal boundary.

Schools

1 publicly funded school sits inside the boundary. Being inside an area is not the same as being assigned to it — attendance areas are set by the boards and must be checked per address.

Just outside the boundary

Source: Ontario Ministry of Education, School Information and Student Demographics (2024–2025). Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.

Licensed child care

3 licensed facilities are located inside the boundary. A licence is not a vacancy — contact operators directly about waiting lists and fees.

FacilityTypeProgrammes
Hamilton Early Learning Centre10 George StreetChild Care CentreFull Day(6 hours or more in a day)
United Children Academy80 Queen Street NorthChild Care CentreFull Day(6 hours or more in a day)
Wesley School Age Program-Hess Street Site107 Hess StreetChild Care CentreFull Day(6 hours or more in a day), Before school, After school

Source: Ontario Ministry of Education, Licensed child care facilities in Ontario (31 July 2026 snapshot); locations matched to the City of Hamilton’s open address register. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.

Parks, transit and public facilities

Counted inside the boundary from the City of Hamilton's own open data.

7
Parks inside the boundary
7.4 hectares in total
32
HSR (Hamilton Street Railway) stops
24 routes serve them
1 km
Nearest GO station
West Harbour GO

Largest green spaces

  • Sir John A. MacDonald Secondary · 3.2 ha
  • Central Park · 3.2 ha
  • Hess Street Elementary · 0.7 ha
  • York St · 0.2 ha
  • Garry Hill Memorial Park · 0.1 ha
  • King Street West General Open Space

Public facilities inside the boundary

Library
Hamilton Central Library — 55 York Boulevard

Routes serving stops inside Central: 01-Westbound, 02-Westbound, 03-Westbound, 04, 04-Eastbound, 04-Westbound, 05-Westbound, 06-Eastbound, 06-Westbound, 07-Eastbound, 07-Westbound, 08-Eastbound, 08-Westbound, 09-Northbound, 09-Southbound, 10-Westbound, 20-Southbound, 21-Northbound, 21-Southbound, 22-Northbound, 22-Southbound, 23-Northbound, 23-Southbound, 24-Northbound. Stop counts say nothing about frequency — check the schedule for the trips you actually make.

Contains public sector Data made available under the City of Hamilton's Open Data Licence.

Renting in Central

Hamilton is served by the HSR bus network, with the most frequent corridors running east–west across the lower city. Two GO stations sit in the city — Hamilton GO Centre downtown and West Harbour GO on the Lakeshore West line — and Aldershot GO just over the Burlington line is a common commuter station too. The escarpment limits north–south routes, so check the actual trip rather than the map distance.

Before you sign

Walk the block at the hour you would actually come home. Check what is included in the rent, how utilities are billed, what parking costs, and where the nearest stop for the trips you make daily is. Ontario’s standard lease and the Residential Tenancies Act apply here as everywhere in the province — the renter guide covers what to check.

Common questions

Do many people rent in Central?
At the 2021 Census, 70.3% of households in Central were renters and 66.7% of homes were apartments. Those figures come from the 6 Statistics Canada dissemination areas inside the municipal boundary, so they describe this area rather than Hamilton as a whole.
Which schools are in Central?
1 publicly funded school sits inside the boundary: Hess Street Junior Public School. Being inside the area is not the same as being assigned to it — attendance areas are set by the school boards and must be checked per address.
How is transit in Central?
32 HSR (Hamilton Street Railway) stops are inside the boundary, on 24 routes, and West Harbour GO is about 1 km away in a straight line. Check the actual trip at the times you travel — stop counts say nothing about frequency.
What green space does Central have?
The municipality's parks layer records 7 parks inside the boundary, about 7.4 hectares in total.

Nearby neighbourhoods

Straight-line distance between the centres of each municipal boundary.

Keep researching

Where this page’s data comes from

Full method notes, refresh cadence and the list of data this site deliberately does not publish are on the data page.