| Westmorland | |
| Settlement Type: | County |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | New Brunswick |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Established Date: | 1785 |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Land Km2: | 3,666.15 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 163,576 |
| Population Density Km2: | 44.7 |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Change 2016-2021 |
| Population Blank1: | 9.3% |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Dwellings |
| Population Blank2: | 75,506 |
| Timezone: | AST |
| Utc Offset: | -4 |
| Timezone Dst: | ADT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -3 |
| Coordinates: | 46.06°N -64.51°W |
| Area Code: | 506 |
Westmorland County (2021 population: 163,576) is a county in New Brunswick, a province of Canada. It is in the south-eastern part of the province. It contains the fast-growing commercial centre of Moncton and its northern and eastern suburbs. Also located in the county are the university town of Sackville and the local tourist destination of Shediac.
Westmorland County is centrally located in the Maritimes and is New Brunswick's most populous county. Fishing and tourism are important industries along the Northumberland Strait shore, and there is some mixed farming in the Petitcodiac River Valley and in the Tantramar Marsh region. The city of Moncton accounts for half of the county's population and has developed as a major transportation, distribution, commercial and retail centre. Dorchester is the historic shire town.
The county, once a part of Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, was one of the original eight counties delineated shortly after the creation of the British colony of New Brunswick in 1784. Initially it included what is now Albert County and part of Saint John County.
Due to sweeping social reforms of the Louis Robichaud premiership, the counties no longer serve their role as regional local government and administrative units.
There were the eleven municipalities within Westmorland County before the 2023 local governance reforms (listed with 2021 figures):
| Official Name | Designation | Area km2 | Population | Parish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moncton | City | 141.92 | 79,470 | Moncton | |
| Dieppe | City | 54.05 | 28,114 | Dorchester, Moncton | |
| Shediac | Town | 53.95 | 7,535 | Shediac | |
| Beaubassin East | Rural community | 291.08 | 6,718 | Botsford, Shediac | |
| Sackville | Town | 74.17 | 6,099 | Sackville | |
| Memramcook | Village | 187.67 | 5,029 | Dorchester | |
| Cap-Pelé | Village | 23.36 | 2,441 | Botsford, Shediac | |
| Salisbury | Village | 13.54 | 2,387 | Salisbury | |
| Petitcodiac | Village | 17.21 | 1,476 | Salisbury | |
| Dorchester | Village | 5.79 | 906 | Dorchester | |
| Port Elgin | Village | 2.66 | 381 | Sackville, Westmorland |
There is one First Nations reserve in Westmorland County (population as of 2021):[2]
The county is subdivided into seven parishes (listed by 2016 population):
| Official Name | Area km2 | Population | Municipalities | Unincorporated communities | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moncton | 579.63 | 10,704 | Moncton (city) Dieppe (city) | Allison / Ammon / Berry Mills / Boundary Creek / Canaan / Cape Breton / Gallagher Ridge / Greater Lakeburn / Indian Mountain / Irishtown / Lakeville / LeBlancville / Lutesville / McQuade / Meadow Brook / Melanson Settlement / New Scotland / O'Neil / Pacific Junction / Painsec / Painsec Junction / Scotch Settlement / Shaw Brook / Steeves Mountain / Stilesville | |
| Shediac | 196.71 | 5,144 | Beaubassin East (rural community) Shediac (town) | Batemans Mills / Chapman Corner / East Shediac / Evangeline / MacDougall / Malakoff / Moncton Road / Petit Pre / Ohio-du-Barachois / Pointe-du-Chêne / Saint-Philippe / Scoudouc / Scoudouc Road / Shediac Bridge-Shediac River / Shediac Cape / Shediac Road / The Bluff | |
| Salisbury | 874.16 | 3,377 | Salisbury (village) Petitcodiac (village) | Dobsons Corner / Fawcett / Fawcett Hill / Fredericton Road / Glenvale / Harewood / Havelock / Hicksville / Hillgrove / Intervale / Kay Settlement / Killams Mills / Kinnear Settlement / Leeman Hill / Lewis Mountain / Monteagle / North Branch / Pollett River / River Glade / Scott Road / Second North River / Steeves Settlement / The Glades / Upper Ridge / Wheaton Settlement | |
| Sackville | 579.98 | 1,204 | Sackville (town) | Aboushagan / Aboushagan Road / Anderson Settlement / Babcock Road / British Settlement / Brooklyn / Brooklyn Road / Centre Village / Coles Island Road / Cookville / Evans / Fairfield / Harper's Brook / Johnson's Mills / Lower Rockport / Midgic / Rockport / Upper Rockport / Ward / West Sackville / Westcock / Wood Point / Woodhurst | |
| Botsford | 304.16 | 1,120 | Cap-Pelé (village) | Bayfield / Bayside / Botsford / Cadman Corner / Cape Spear / Cape Tormentine / Chapmans Corner / Hardy / Johnston Point Road / Little Shemogue / Malden / Mates Corner / Melrose / Murray Corner / Murray Road / Petit-Cap / Smith Settlement / Spence Settlement / The Bluff / Timber River / Westmorland / Upper Cape / Woodside | |
| Westmorland | 175.43 | 997 | Port Elgin (village) | Aulac / Baie-Verte / Baie Verte Road / Coburg / Etter Ridge / Fromm's Swamp / Halls Hill / Jolicure / Mount Whatley / Pointe de Bute / Tidnish Bridge / Uniacke Hill / Upper Point de Bute / Westmorland | |
| Dorchester | 90.13 | 438 | Memramcook (village) Dorchester (village) Fort Folly 1 (reservation) | Calhoun / Cherry Burton / Dorchester Cape / Middleton / Taylor Village / Upper Dorchester |
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Westmorland County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 3659.74km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[3]
The dominant dialect of Acadian French spoken in Westmorland County is Chiac.
| Canada Census Mother Tongue - Westmorland County, New Brunswick | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Total | ||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Responses | Count | Trend | Pop % | Count | Trend | Pop % | Count | Trend | Pop % | Count | Trend | Pop % | ||||||
| 77,450 | 1.3% | 52.83% | 60,570 | 3.0% | 41.31% | 2,430 | 13.0% | 1.66% | 6,160 | 74.0% | 4.20% | ||||||||
| 76,475 | 7.8% | 54.27% | 58,795 | 7.2% | 41.72% | 2,115 | 67.2% | 1.50% | 3,540 | 17.6% | 2.51% | ||||||||
| 70,945 | 3.6% | 54.54% | 54,860 | 7.4% | 42.17% | 1,265 | 6.3% | 0.97% | 3,010 | 102.7% | 2.31% | ||||||||
| 68,510 | 1.2% | 55.97% | 51,060 | 6.7% | 41.71% | 1,350 | 7.2% | 1.10% | 1,485 | 12.9% | 1.21% | ||||||||
| 67,700 | n/a | 57.21% | 47,860 | n/a | 40.45% | 1,455 | n/a | 1.23% | 1,315 | n/a | 1.11% | ||||||||
Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county limits:[4]
See also: List of historic places in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.
See main article: article and List of people from Westmorland County, New Brunswick.