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Hamilton, Ontario

Renting in Riverdale

Riverdale is a 1.6 km² area of Hamilton, home to about 10,220 people at the 2021 Census. It is a majority-renter area: 62.2% of households rented their home, and 58.9% of homes are apartments. Inside the boundary: 2 schools, 3 licensed child care facilities, 5 parks, 16 transit stops.

1.6 km²10,220 residents (2021)2 schools16 transit stops

The boundary this page uses

The City of Hamilton divides Riverdale into 2 planning units (Riverdale West and Riverdale East). This page covers all of them.

Everything counted below — schools, licensed child care, parks, transit stops — is counted inside that boundary, so the figures describe Riverdale 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 13 Statistics Canada dissemination areas whose centre falls inside the boundary. Rates are population-weighted; counts are summed.

10,220
Residents (2021)
62.2%
Households that rent
37.2% own
58.9%
Homes that are apartments
$69,221
Median household income
2020 income, 2021 Census
66.8%
Households with children
41.1
Median age
2.6
Average household size
Age profile
  • 0 - 4 years old590 · 5.8%
  • 5 - 9 years old590 · 5.8%
  • 10 - 19 years old1,085 · 10.6%
  • 20 - 34 years old2,185 · 21.4%
  • 35 - 49 years old1,845 · 18%
  • 50 - 54 years old620 · 6.1%
  • 55 - 64 years old1,390 · 13.6%
  • 65 - 69 years old605 · 5.9%
  • 70 - 79 years old880 · 8.6%
  • 80 - 84 years old250 · 2.4%
  • 85+ years old185 · 1.8%

How Riverdale compares with Hamilton

62.2% of households in Riverdale 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 Riverdale 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

2 publicly funded schools sit 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
Today'S Family - St. Agnes80 Colcrest StreetChild Care CentreBefore school, After school
Wesley Licensed School Age Program - Lake Avenue School157 Lake AvenueChild Care CentreBefore school, After school
Wesley Riverdale Child Care150 Violet DriveChild Care CentreFull Day(6 hours or more in a day)

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.

5
Parks inside the boundary
32.4 hectares in total
16
HSR (Hamilton Street Railway) stops
8 routes serve them
9.8 km
Nearest GO station
Hamilton GO Centre

Largest green spaces

  • Bow Valley Open Space · 21.1 ha
  • Henry & Beatrice Warden Park · 3.9 ha
  • Riverdale East Park (oaklands) · 3.7 ha
  • Lake Avenue Park/Bow Valley Open Space · 2 ha
  • St. Agnes Elementary · 1.7 ha

Public facilities inside the boundary

Recreation
Dominic Agostino Riverdale Community Centre — 150 Violet Drive

Routes serving stops inside Riverdale: 02-Eastbound, 02-Westbound, 44-Eastbound, 55-Eastbound, 55-Westbound, 56-Northbound, SC-IND-Eastbound, SC-IND-Westbound. 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 Riverdale

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 Riverdale?
At the 2021 Census, 62.2% of households in Riverdale were renters and 58.9% of homes were apartments. Those figures come from the 13 Statistics Canada dissemination areas inside the municipal boundary, so they describe this area rather than Hamilton as a whole.
Which schools are in Riverdale?
2 publicly funded schools sit inside the boundary: Lake Avenue Public School, St. Agnes Catholic Elementary 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 Riverdale?
16 HSR (Hamilton Street Railway) stops are inside the boundary, on 8 routes, and Hamilton GO Centre is about 9.8 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 Riverdale have?
The municipality's parks layer records 5 parks inside the boundary, about 32.4 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.