# Westmorland County, New Brunswick

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.

## Origins

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.

## Transportation
### Major highways

* Route 2 (TCH)
* Route 15
* Route 16 (TCH)
* Route 106
* Route 112
* Route 114
* Route 126
* Route 128

## Census subdivisions
### Communities

There were the eleven municipalities within Westmorland County before the 2023 local governance reforms (listed with 2021 figures):
| Official Name | Designation | Area km$^2$ | 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 |

### First Nations

There is one First Nations reserve in Westmorland County (population as of 2021):
| Official Name | Designation | Area km$^2$ | Population | Parish |
| Fort Folly 1 | Reserve | 0.55 | 36 | Dorchester |

### Parishes

The county is subdivided into seven parishes (listed by 2016 population):
| Official Name | Area km$^2$ | 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 |

## Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Westmorland County had a population of 163,576 living in 70,090 of its 75,506 total private dwellings, a change of 9.3% from its 2016 population of 149,623. With a land area of 3,659.74 km$^2$ (1,413.03 sq mi), it had a population density of 44.7/km$^2$ (115.8/sq mi) in 2021.

### Language

The dominant dialect of Acadian French spoken in Westmorland County is Chiac.
Canada Census Mother Tongue - Westmorland County, New Brunswick :
| Census | Total | English | English | English | French | French | French | French & English | French & English | French & English | Non-official languages | Non-official languages | Non-official languages |
| Year | Responses | Count | Trend | Pop % | Count | Trend | Pop % | Count | Trend | Pop % | Count | Trend | Pop % |
| 2016 | 146,610 | 77,450 | 1.3% | 52.83% | 60,570 | 3.0% | 41.31% | 2,430 | 13.0% | 1.66% | 6,160 | 74.0% | 4.20% |
| 2011 | 140,925 | 76,475 | 7.8% | 54.27% | 58,795 | 7.2% | 41.72% | 2,115 | 67.2% | 1.50% | 3,540 | 17.6% | 2.51% |
| 2006 | 130,080 | 70,945 | 3.6% | 54.54% | 54,860 | 7.4% | 42.17% | 1,265 | 6.3% | 0.97% | 3,010 | 102.7% | 2.31% |
| 2001 | 122,405 | 68,510 | 1.2% | 55.97% | 51,060 | 6.7% | 41.71% | 1,350 | 7.2% | 1.10% | 1,485 | 12.9% | 1.21% |
| 1996 | 118,330 | 67,700 | n/a | 57.21% | 47,860 | n/a | 40.45% | 1,455 | n/a | 1.23% | 1,315 | n/a | 1.11% |

## Access routes

Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county limits: