Geography

Markham covers an area of 212.47 km2 (82.04 sq mi) and Markham’s City Centre is at 43°53′N 79°15′W. It is bounded by 5 municipalities; in the west is Vaughan with the boundary along Yonge Street between Steeles Avenue and Highway 7 and Richmond Hill with the boundary along Highway 7 from Yonge Street to Highway 404 and at Highway 404 from Highway 7 to 19th Avenue and Stouffville Road. In the south, it borders Toronto with the boundary along Steeles Avenue. In the North is borders Whitchurch–Stouffville with the boundary from Highway 404 to York-Durham Line between 19th Avenue and Stouffville Road. In the East it borders Pickering along the York-Durham Line.

Demographics

2011

According to the 2011 Canadian Census, the population of Markham is 301,709, a 15.3% increased from 2006, which is approximately 3 times faster then Canada as a whole. Markham’s land mass is 212.58 km2 with a population density is 1,419.3 people per km2. The median age is 39.6 years old which is slightly lower than the median age of Canada at 40.6 years old.

Most residents in Markham can speak English (91.0%), and only a small amount can speak French (1.7%). Many other languages cane be spoken in high quantity in Markham, such as; Cantonese (19.9%), Chinese – not specific (9.6%), Mandarin (9.4%), Tamil (6.4%), Hindi (3.0%), Nepali (2.9%), Urdu (2.9%), Gujarati (2.4%), Persian (2.3%), Punjabi (2.2%), Tagalog (2.2), Italian (2.1%) and more. In fact, 57.2% of the populations mother tongue was not English nor French.

According to the 2011 National Household Survey, 89.3% of Markham’s residents are Canadian citizens, and about 14.5% of residents are recent immigrants (from 2001 to 2011). The racial make up of Markham is; East Asian (39.7%), White (27.5%), South Asian (19.1%), Southeast Asian (3.9%), Black (3.2%), West Asian & Arab (3.2%), Latin American (0.5%), Aboriginal (0.2%), and 1.9% of the population is multiracial while the rest of the population (0.7%) is of another group. Markham has the highest visible minority population of any major Canadian city (over 100,000 residents) at 72.3%, and is one of eight major cities with no majority racial group.

Religiously speaking, 29.9% of Markham’s population does not affiliate with any religion. For those who do, the religious make up is Christian (44.1%), Hindu (10.1%), Muslim (7.3%), Buddhist (4.4%), Jewish (2.4%) and Sikh (1.4%). The rest fall into another category.

As far as education goes, for those who are 25 to 64 years old, the highest levels of education are as followed; 69.5% of people have a post-secondary schooling degree, 20.5% have a high school degree (or equivalent too) and 10.0% have nothing. The unemployment rate is 8.1% in Markham which is similar to the national average at 7.8%. The median household income before taxes is $86,022, and after taxes at $75,135, which is a quite a bit higher than the national average at $54,089.

The median value of a household in Markham is $500,741 which is 1.8 times higher than the national average at $280,552.

Canada 2011 CensusPopulation% of Total PopulationEthnicity group
Source: NHS 2011 ProfileWhite82,56027.5Chinese114,95038.3South Asian57,37519.1Black9,7153.2Filipino9,0203.0West Asian6,1852.1Arab3,4001.1Korean3,1601.0Southeast Asian2,7500.9Other visible minority1,9950.7Latin American1,6000.5Multiple visible minority5,8051.9Aboriginal4850.2Total population300,140100

Mother Tongue [30]PercentageEnglish38.5%Cantonese15.8%Chinese, not otherwise specified10.4%Tamil4.9%Mandarin4.8%Urdu2.1%Persian1.9%Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)1.6%Gujarati1.6%Panjabi (Punjabi)1.5%Italian1.4%

46.1% of residents stated their religion as Christian, almost evenly split between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Non-Christian religions include Hinduism: 5.7%, Judaism: 5.3%, Islam: 5.3%, Buddhism: 3.4%, Sikhism: 1.1%, and 23% indicated no religion.

City services

Police

There are no courts in Markham, but the city is served by an Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket, as well as an Ontario Small Claims court in Richmond Hill. The Ontario Court of Appeal is located in Toronto, while the Supreme Court of Canada is located in Ottawa. Policing is provided by York Regional Police at a station (5 District) at the corner of McCowan Road and Carlton Road and Highway 7. Highway 404, Highway 407 and parts of Highway 48 are patrolled by the Ontario Provincial Police. Toronto Police Service is responsible for patrol on Steeles from Yonge Street to the York – Durham Line.

Fire

Markham Fire and Emergency Services was established in 1970 as Markham Fire Department and replaced various local volunteer fire units. There are 9 fire stations currently serving Markham. Toronto/Buttonville Municipal Airport is also served by Markham’s Fire service.

Hospitals

The main healthcare facility in the city is Markham Stouffville Hospital, located in the far eastern end. Markham is also home to Shouldice Hospital, one of the world’s premier facilities for people suffering from hernias. For those living near Steeles, they sometimes will be able to receive treatment at The Scarborough Hospital Birchmount Campus in Toronto/Scarborough.

Education

Post-secondary

Markham currently does not have any universities itself, but Seneca College has campuses at Highways 7 and 404 and at Buttonville Municipal Airport. Most high school graduates continue to post-secondary education in universities across Ontario. There are local transit services that connect to various post-secondary institutions in the Greater Toronto Area.

Markham is located within driving distance of several universities in the Greater Toronto Area:

• University of Toronto Scarborough campus and downtown St. George campus

• Ryerson University in downtown Toronto

• York University in North York, Ontario

• UOIT in Oshawa, Ontario

Primary and secondary schools

Markham has a number of both public and Catholic high schools. All have consistently scored high on standardized tests and have some of the highest rate of graduates attending universities.

The York Region District School Board operates secular Anglophone public schools. The York Catholic District School Board operates Anglophone Catholic schools. The Conseil scolaire Viamonde operates secular Francophone schools, and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud operates Catholic Francophone schools.

• Secular, Anglophone public schools

  • Bill Crothers Secondary School

  • Bur Oak Secondary School

  • Markham District High School

  • Markville Secondary School

  • Middlefield Collegiate Institute

  • Milliken Mills High School

  • Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School

  • Thornhill Secondary School

  • Thornlea Secondary School

  • Unionville High School

• Anglophone Catholic schools

  • St. Brother André Catholic High School

  • St. Augustine Catholic High School

  • St. Robert Catholic High School

  • Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy

Economy

In the 19th century Markham had a vibrant, independent community with mills, distilleries and breweries around the Highway 7 and 48 intersection. The Thomas Speight Wagon Works exported products (wagons, horsecars) around the world, and Markham had a reputation as being more active than York (the former name for Toronto) early on. Most of these industries disappeared leaving farming as the main source of business.

Light industries and businesses began to move into Markham in the 1980s attracted by land and lower taxes. Today, it claims to be “Canada’s Hi-Tech Capital” with a number of key companies in the area, such as IBM, Motorola, Toshiba, Lucent, Honeywell, Apple, Genesis Microchip, and is home to the head office of graphics card producer ATI (recently merged with AMD).

Markham also maintains economic and cultural cooperation agreements with the city of Laval, Quebec, which is the second largest city in the Greater Montreal area.