Cities / Toronto

Established family · West End, Toronto

High Park & Swansea

A huge park, Lake Ontario trails and Bloor West shops

  • Families with kids
  • Nature lovers
  • Cyclists

At a glance

A west-end neighbourhood around High Park and the Swansea lakeshore, with Victorian houses, mid-rise apartments and some high-rise towers along Bloor and the lake. Households are 40% renters, and 15% of residents are children.

Median home value
$1.20M
2021 census, owner estimate · city $900K
Residents
25,763
Toronto Police estimate for 2025, up from 22,665 at the 2021 census
Households renting
40%
city 48%
Homes that are apartments
62%
city 61%

What the numbers mean

  • Owners valued the median home at $1.20M in the 2021 census, 33% above the Toronto median of $900K. Prices have moved since, so treat it as a relative guide.
  • 40% of households rent, below the 48% city-wide.
  • Tenants here paid a median of $1,530 a month in shelter costs (rent plus utilities and fees) in the 2021 census, close to the $1,450 median across Toronto's 158 neighbourhoods. That figure covers all tenants, including long-term ones, so a new lease will cost more.

Who lives here

Share of residents by age, Toronto Police estimate for 2025, up from 22,665 at the 2021 census.

0-1415%
15-195%
20-244%
25-3416%
35-4416%
45-5414%
55-6413%
65+16%

Homes

Share of homes by type, Toronto Police estimate for 2025, up from 22,665 at the 2021 census.

Single-detached25%
Semi-detached5%
Row house3%
Duplex flat5%
Apartment under 5 storeys29%
Apartment 5+ storeys33%

Daily errands on foot1

Places within the neighbourhood or a 5-minute walk of its edge, compared with the typical neighbourhood in Toronto.

Supermarkets
8
city median 9
Cafés and bakeries
58
city median 38
Pharmacies and clinics
33
city median 20
Playgrounds and dog parks
49
city median 30

Upfront closing costs2

Toronto buyers pay land transfer tax twice, once to Ontario and once to the City, so the bill is about double Ontario's alone. Government fees at the median home price: This uses the 2021 census home-value estimate, and today's prices are higher, so the real bill will be larger.

Ontario land transfer tax
$20,480
on $1.20M
Toronto municipal land transfer tax
$20,480
on $1.20M
Total
$40,950
3.4% of the price

Household income and housing costs3

What households here earn and how much of it housing takes, 2021 Census.

Median household income
$101,000
2020, before tax
Spend 30%+ on housing
29%
of owner and tenant households
Owners' monthly cost
$1,820
median shelter cost
Tenants' monthly cost
$1,530
median shelter cost

Typical apartment rent nearby4

High Park & Swansea sits in CMHC's Toronto (West) survey zone. October 2025 average rent of purpose-built rental apartments in that zone:

Studio
$1,410
−$81 vs metro average
1 bedroom
$1,798
+$37 vs metro average
2 bedroom
$2,252
+$207 vs metro average
3 bedroom or more
$3,238
+$944 vs metro average

How it's changing

Toronto doesn't publish building permits by neighbourhood, so we can't chart construction here yet.

Safety5

Reported incidents in 2025 (the latest full year Toronto Police publish by neighbourhood), per 1,000 residents, compared with the median of 158 Toronto neighbourhoods.

Reported crime
9.6
per 1,000 · below the 12.5 median
Violent crime
5.1
per 1,000 · median 7.1
Property crime
4.5
per 1,000 · median 5.5
  • Reported crime runs about 23% below the median Toronto neighbourhood: 9.6 incidents per 1,000 residents a year, versus 12.5.
  • The most common reported crime is assault, 49% of the total. 47% of incidents are property crime.
  • Crime has been roughly flat since 2020, at about 238 reported incidents a year.

What gets reported

Top crime types in the rate, same period.

Assault49%
Break and enter24%
Theft from vehicles13%
Vehicle theft9%
Robbery5%

Other reported incidents

Counted by police but left out of the rate, same period.

Bicycle theft
19
Theft over $5,000
6
Shootings and firearm discharges
2

Reported crime by year

Sources and notes

  1. Source: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), counted October 19, 2026. Counts places inside the neighbourhood or within 400 m (about a 5-minute walk) of its edge, in a straight line. Volunteers map OpenStreetMap, so some places may be missing and counts are a guide, not a census. Supermarkets are tagged shop=supermarket; cafés amenity=cafe and shop=bakery; pharmacies and clinics amenity=pharmacy and amenity=clinic; playgrounds and dog parks leisure=playground and leisure=dog_park. Medians are across the neighbourhoods in this guide. ↩
  2. Source: Government of Ontario, Calculating Land Transfer Tax; City of Toronto, MLTT rates; City of Toronto MLTT rates and fees. 2026 rules, applied to this community's median census home value. First-time buyer refunds (up to $4,000 provincial and $4,475 municipal) are not deducted. Toronto adds higher rates on the part of a price above $3 million from April 1, 2026. Legal fees, title insurance, inspection and adjustments are extra. ↩
  3. Source: City of Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles, 2021 Census (158-neighbourhood model). Income is median total household income in 2020 (before tax). The share spending 30% or more of income on shelter combines owner and tenant households; 30% is the standard affordability line. Shelter costs for owners include mortgage payments, property tax and utilities; for tenants, rent and utilities. 2021 Census, a 25% sample, so small neighbourhoods carry some error. ↩
  4. Source: CMHC Rental Market Survey, Housing Market Information Portal. These are zone averages across all units in apartment buildings of three or more units, not a figure for High Park & Swansea alone, and they are not asking rents. Houses, basement suites and condos rented out by owners are not included. Zones are large, so neighbouring communities can share one figure. ↩
  5. Source: Toronto Police Service, Neighbourhood Crime Rates open data (2020 to 2025). Rates use Toronto Police 2025 population estimates. Incidents are counted where they occur. Police services count crime differently, so compare with the local median rather than across cities. How we calculate this. ↩