Communities

   
Downtown

Luxury brands and glittery new condo-hotel dot the landscape of downtown.  But there are still sign of vintage Vancouver; casual wear in the business district and North Shore mountains visible beyond the glass tower.
Average age: 33              
Residents per block: 130            
Percentage of renters:  50
Median household income: $35,000                          
Typical household:  Single

Yaletown

Vancouver’s original and highly successful experiment in condo densification sees brick warehouses in this former industrial zone converted to stylish lotfs with high-end retail and restaurants occupying former loading docks beneath. Grab a spot on a patio lining Hamilton or mainland and watch the primed  and primed parade by
Average age:  36
Residents per block: 408
Percentage of renters: 48
Median household income: $81,000
Typical household:  Couple

Coal Harbour

Coal harbour occupies a carefully manicured strech of waterfront between the downtown core and Stanley park.  Joggers skirts the sea beneath glittering glass towers, ritzy hotels, and MIA residents ( for many, this hood is a satellite home, a pretty perch for a pricy pied-a-terre)
Average age:  37
Residents per block: 331
Percentage of renters:  65
Median household income: $63,000
Typical household:  Couple

West End

New policies brought a flood of high-rise developments to the WestEnd this year, which has been locked in a kind of density stasis since the 80s.  The city’s gay community is centred here, as is a good portion of its seniors and year–abroad Aussies.  What such demographic group have in common is an attraction to the plethora of studios that fill those art deco apartments and modernist concrete towers.
Average age:  42
Residents per block: 436
Percentage of renters:  76
Median household income:  39,500
Typical household:  Single

Granville Island

The city’s most-loved public space and top tourist draw packs old tin-sided buildings, a top arts university, and a public market onto a onetime wasteland turned manmade island(cost of conversion back in the 70s: $50 million) The newly unveiled Olympic Village nearby makes the island that much more interesting. 

Kitsilano

Kits has undergone a series of personality changes ( post-war suburbs, hippie haven, millionaires’ Row)  each accompanied by a sizable bump in property values.  A golden land of labradoodles and fair-trade yogaphiles, this most blessed of boroughs is at a turning point-densification will only wait so long.
Average age:  37
Residents per block: 147
Percentage of renters: 53
Median household income: 79,500
Typical household:  Couple

South Granville

The high street for antiques, artwork, and luxury clothing, south Granville is the good life in a scant 10 blocks.  Occupying prime real estate between tony shaughnessy and downtown, the neighbourhood is home to red-lipsticked downagers and the designer-stroller set.
Average age:  35
Residents per block: 262
Percentage of renters: 82
Median household income: $65,500
Typical household: Single

Cambie Village

Despite the long term construction  pain, the longer-terms gain of the new rapid transit Canada line( attractive new streetscapes and a rush of locally focused businesses and amenities) has been felt most dramatically in Cambie Village.  This is a neighbourhood on the verge.
Average age:  37
Residents per block: 106
Percentage of renters: 45
Median household income: 81,000
Typical household: Couple with two children

South Main

The heart of East Vancouver’s hipster culture is located here, amid a fast gentrifying but still trendy strip of independent boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants.
Average age: 37
Residents per block: 116
Percentage of renters: 54
Median household income: 66,500
Typical household:  Couple with two children

Commercial Drive

Long time home of the city’s Italian and Portuguese communities, the Drive has welcomed bohos escaping yuppiedom, and, more recently, young families settling in to relatively affordable character homes.  Add a slate of new restaurants with pedigreed chefs and you have got city’s most eclectic and appealing hoods.
Average age:  36
Residents per block: 128
Percentage of renters: 67
Median household income: $52,000
Typical household:  Couple with two children

Gastown

Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood, once overrun with tacky tourist shops, is now the epicentre of fashion-forward boutiques and the most exciting restaurants and bar in the city.
Average age:  47
Residents per block: 232
Percentage of renters: 93
Median household income: 31,500
Typical household: Single

North Shore

When Someone waves a band at the mountains and tells you they’re from “the North Shore,” they’re hiding something.  It’s West Van or North Van.  To the west: the nouveau riche crouch in their spanking new McMansions while “ the originals” wonder who took over their forested Pleasantville.  To the North: a rush of 30-somethings are moving to the hillside community and SeaBusing to downtown jobs. 
Average age: 44
Residents per block: 43
Percentage of renters:  35
Median household income: $94,500
Typical household:  Couple with two children

Source: Vancouver magazine