They don’t call it the Silver City for nothing.
Trail has one of the highest senior populations in the Kootenays, second only to Creston, with a total population of 1,930 people — or 25.1 per cent — 65 years of age or older, according to figures released by Statistics Canada Tuesday.
In fact, Trail was second in the median age category, again to Creston, with an average age of 49.8 years (Creston was 55.2), and had the second highest per capita of octogenarians and above at 9.3 per cent (Creston at 11 per cent).
As a result, Trail had the lowest proportion of young people in the zero-to-14 category with 13 per cent of the population, or 1,005 people. Over 62 per cent of the city’s population was in the working class age group (15-64).
A little further afield in the Golden City, Rossland led the Kootenays with the youngest median age at 39.9 years, edging out youthful Nelson that came in at 40.9.
The mountain kingdom had a perfect even split of male and females, with 1,780 on each side. In Trail, women outnumber men by 450, or 4,065 to 3,615.
As a point of fact, gender population favours women in Kootenay municipalities, with women making up 52 per cent of the population on average in most places, including Trail. However, in rural areas, the scale slips back the other way with there being more men residing in the Kootenay countryside.
Trail’s median age was also far higher than both the B.C. average of 41.9 years, and the national average of 40.6.
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary had a median of 33 per cent seniors overall (6.715 people), higher than neighbouring Central Kootenay regional district that had 19 per cent senior’s population (11,375 people).