Surrounded by the exhilarating beauty of the Coastal Mountain Range, the North Shore - which includes the City and District of North Vancouver - has one of the most skillfully interwoven city infrastructures anywhere.  Its location, across Burrard Inlet from the City of Vancouver, offers the North Shore several distinct advantages, including a broad range of business locations, services and housing.

The North Shore has some of the mildest weather in Canada, with its coastal marine climate containing few of the cold blasts of the typical Canadian winter and maintaining a mild temperature year round.  The pleasures of Grouse Mountain are only a fifteen minute drive away from Lonsdale Avenue - a main North Vancouver business zone. The North Shore is also one of the few areas on Earth where you can literally go skiing in the morning and scuba diving in the afternoon.

The City of North Vancouver covers 11 square kilometers (just over 4 square miles) with a 1996 population of 41,918 residents.  The number of residents is forecast to grow to 43,000 by the year 2006.

Average household income in the City of North Vancouver in 1993 was $45,041, making it quite an affluent city.  Almost 55 per cent of the population is between the ages of 20 and 49, reflecting the family orientation of the city.  Finding people with post secondary education is easy to do, with an estimated 59 per cent having attended university or technical college, and 13 per cent holding university degrees.

For years, Vancouver has seen the number of available rental spaces shrink significantly.  No such problem exists in the City of North Vancouver.  Across the Inlet, 48 per cent of all housing is apartments under five stories and 59 per cent of all housing accommodation are rentals.  The City of North Vancouver is surrounded by the District of North Vancouver, which also includes the areas of Deep Cove, Lynn Canyon and Edgemont Village within its 162 square kilometers (or 62.5 square miles), at the foot of the Coastal Mountain Range.

The number of residents in the District in 1996 totaled 83,000, with the number expected to rise to 86,000 by the year 2006.  Annual income per District household was markedly higher than the City at $66,927.  Park land makes up a full 20 per cent of the District; with such features as Grouse Mountain, Lynn Canyon and Mount Seymour Provincial Park, the area is very much amenable to a wide range of outdoor activities.

The District is young, with the lowest concentration of seniors on the North Shore: only 9 per cent are aged 65 and over.  A full 27 percent of the population is under the age of 18.  Folks are well educated here too, with 60 per cent having some credits at post secondary institutions and 22 per cent possessing university degrees.  There is a high level of home ownership here: 78 per cent of all homes are owned by the people who live there.  As well, 70 per cent of all homes are either single story or detached.