Dawson Creek - Demographics

Demographics

The 1941 census, the first to include Dawson Creek as a defined subdivision, counted 518 residents. Its growth spurred by the construction of the Alaska Highway, the town recorded a sevenfold increase to 3,589 residents in the 1951 census. Within five years, the population doubled to 7,531. New transport links with southern British Columbia and Alberta spurred continued growth into the next decade. The population peaked in 1966 at 12,392, then declined throughout the 1970s, rising again briefly during the construction of the nearby town of Tumbler Ridge in the early 1980s. Dawson Creek's population has remained relatively stable since then. Between 2005 and 2009, the population rose from 10,869 to 11,514, per provincial estimates.

According to the 2006 Canadian census, there were 10,994 people living in 4,650 households within the city (the official provincial estimate was 11,093 people). Of the federally surveyed households, 33% were one-person households, slightly above the 28% average provincewide; households consisting of couples with children, at 26%, were very close to the provincial average; and households of couples without children, at 24%, were below the provincial average of 30%. Among its 3,000 census families, Dawson Creek had a smaller proportion of married couples than the province, 62% compared to 73%, but the same average number of persons per family, 2.9. With 92% of Dawson Creek residents being Canadian-born, and 93% speaking only English, the city has few visible minorities. Only 17% of residents aged 35–64 had a university certificate or diploma, compared to the provincewide rate of 29%. Among those aged 25–64, 20% did not have a high school certificate or equivalent, much higher than the 12% provincewide rate.

In 2005, the 22-officer Dawson Creek Royal Canadian Mounted Police municipal detachment reported 2,561 Criminal Code of Canada offenses. This translated into a crime rate of 225 Criminal Code offenses per 1,000 people, down from the previous year's rate of 231, but still much higher than the provincial average of 125. In 2004, per 1,000 people, the city had higher crime rates compared to the provincial averages on all Criminal Code offenses except theft from motor vehicles (19.8 city, 20.2 province), heroin-related offenses (0 city, 0.13 province), and murder (0 city, 0.03 province). The city had slightly higher but comparable levels of offensive weapons charges, cannabis-related offenses, robbery, and motor vehicle thefts. Per 1,000 people, the city had much higher levels of shoplifting (13.8 city, 4.2 province), cocaine-related offenses (7.8 city, 1.4 province), commercial break-and-enters (11.2 city, 4.2 province), residential break-and-enters (13.9 city, 6.0 province), and non-sexual assaults (26.2 city, 9.9 province).