Live in Kingsland
A 1957 community pressed against Chinook Centre and Macleod Trail, where apartments are 54% of the occupied stock.
Kingsland was established in 1957 on land annexed the year before: 1.3 km², 4,900 residents in 2,375 private households at the 2021 census, 68% of them renting. The community is pinched between Glenmore Trail and Heritage Drive, with Macleod Trail and Chinook Centre on its own eastern doorstep and Elbow Drive forming the western edge. Apartments are 54% of the occupied stock, 36% in buildings under five storeys and 18% above, which is why the rental share runs so far ahead of the city's 31%.
A 1957 pocket that Chinook Centre grew up around
Bounded by Glenmore Trail to the north, Macleod Trail to the east, Heritage Drive to the south, and Elbow Drive to the west. Ward 11.
Kingsland was established in 1957 on land annexed the year before. At 1.3 km² it is a small footprint by the standards of this site, and the closest of the Macleod Trail communities to Chinook Centre: the mall opened in August 1960 at 6455 Macleod Trail SW, directly across the road from the community's eastern edge.
The two edges. Elbow Drive forms the western boundary and Macleod Trail the eastern one. Heritage station, at 12 Haddon Road SW, sits just southwest of the Heritage Drive corner and is a walk from the southern blocks; Chinook station, at 229 61 Avenue SW, is north of Glenmore Trail and closer to a bus ride than a stroll. Both opened on 25 May 1981.
The housing stock has shifted hard toward density: 54% of occupied dwellings are apartments, 36% in buildings under five storeys and 18% above, against 26% single-detached. 68% of households rent at the 2021 census, against 31% across Calgary. Just over a quarter of the stock predates 1961 and 41% went up between 1961 and 1980, but 155 dwellings arrived between 2016 and 2021, so infill has not stopped.
What it costs. Median household income was $68,000 in 2020, well under the city's $98,000, and 31% of Kingsland households spent 30% or more of their income on shelter against 23% citywide. Kingsland reads as an affordable, rental-heavy address on this strip, not a premium one.
- 68% of households rent and 54% of occupied dwellings are apartments: this is not a single-family-home market
- No publisher this guide opened names a CBE school inside the community; Woodman is the nearest junior high and Henry Wise Wood the listed senior high
- Macleod Trail and Chinook Centre traffic are a constant a block from the eastern edge
- Median income sits well under the city average, and 31% of households spend 30% or more on shelter
- A 1.3 km² footprint leaves almost no room for new single-family infill
How Kingsland got here
- 1956The land is annexed to the City of Calgary.
- 1957Kingsland is established.
- 1960Chinook Centre opens across Macleod Trail on 16 August, and the Kingsland Community Association registers as a provincial society on 18 May.
- 1981The Red Line opens on 25 May, with Heritage station at the community's southeast corner and Chinook station three blocks from the mall to the north.
- 2019The City's last civic census counts 4,687 residents and 2,422 dwellings in Kingsland, 2,191 of them occupied and 707 owner-occupied.
- 2021The federal census records 4,900 residents in 2,375 private households, 68% of them renting, with a median household income of $68,000 for 2020.
A small park, and the reservoir close by
Harnam Singh Hari Park is the community's own green space, and the community association runs an outdoor skating rink, a hockey rink and playing fields alongside its hall at 505 78 Avenue SW. Nothing this guide could open carries the story behind the park's name: the association's history page would not load, and neither Wikipedia nor the Federation of Calgary Communities mentions it. The Glenmore Reservoir, which allows sailing, rowing and canoeing from 1 May to 31 October and no swimming, and Heritage Park are both a short drive west.
What the map does not show: Kingsland's own park space is small; the 16 km pathway around the reservoir does the heavier lifting for anyone who wants real distance underfoot.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Kingsland
13 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 13 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. Chinook Centre, under two kilometres away across Macleod Trail, dominates the near end of this list.
Every gym within reach
Nothing large sits inside Kingsland itself. Southland Leisure Centre and the Trico Centre both run seven to thirteen minutes away, and Chinook Centre's commercial gyms are the closest paid option.
- Wave pool, water slides, weights and cardio, and two ice surfaces, Ed Whalen and Joe Kryzcka
- Trico Centre for Family Wellness, at 11150 Bonaventure Drive SE, is the comparable community-run option
- Chinook Centre's own gyms are the closest paid option, but no publisher this guide could open lists them
- Harnam Singh Hari Park is the free option, on the community's own ground
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Southland Leisure Centre open | Wave pool, water slides, weights and cardio, and the Ed Whalen and Joe Kryzcka ice surfaces, at 2000 Southland Dr. S.W. | 7–11 min |
| Trico Centre for Family Wellness open | Community-run wave pool, ice arena and fitness centre at 11150 Bonaventure Dr. S.E. | 8–12 min |
| Chinook Centre area clubs open | Commercial gyms in and around the mall. The guide could open no publisher listing them, so check what is trading before you count on it. | 1–3 min |
| Harnam Singh Hari Park open | Free option: the community's own park and the Elbow Drive sidewalks. | 1–2 min |
Nothing is inside the community itself. Everything on this list is a short drive, not a walk.
One Catholic school inside, everything else designates out
St. Augustine Elementary & Junior High is the only school inside Kingsland, and it is the school both Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities name for the community. There is no CBE school in Kingsland: neither publisher names one. Woodman School, in neighbouring Haysboro, is the nearest public junior high and runs grades 7 to 9, and Henry Wise Wood High School, at 910 75 Avenue SW, lists Kingsland among the sixteen southwest communities it serves for grades 10 to 12.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| St. Augustine Elementary & Junior High | Calgary Catholic School District | The Catholic school Wikipedia and the Federation of Calgary Communities both place in Kingsland. The district's own site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from the board. |
| Woodman School | Calgary Board of Education | The nearest CBE junior high, in neighbouring Haysboro, running grades 7 to 9. The board publishes no attendance area on the school's page, so confirm the designation for a specific address. |
| Henry Wise Wood High School | Calgary Board of Education | Grades 10 to 12 at 910 75 Avenue SW, founded in 1961, with 1,862 students in 2025-26. Its own article lists Kingsland among the sixteen southwest communities it serves. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the current designation for a specific address before you buy: Woodman's own page publishes no attendance area, and the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from that board.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Chinook Centre's parking decks are the warmest walk in the community on a −25 morning
- Priority routes on Glenmore Trail and Macleod Trail get plowed before Kingsland's own side streets
- The open platforms at Heritage and Chinook stations are the coldest wait on the Red Line
- Rockyview's ambulance traffic stays steady through the deep freeze, audible from the community's eastern blocks
- A chinook can clear Macleod Trail's snowbanks by Chinook Centre in an afternoon
- Condo boards post their spring AGM notices through Kingsland's low-rise buildings
- The coldest week of the year often lands here rather than in January
- Southland's indoor pool, a short drive south, is at its busiest of the year
- Meltwater pools in Chinook Centre's lower parking deck before the storm drains catch up
- St. Augustine's playground reopens as the ice on the Elbow Drive sidewalks finally breaks
- Meltwater sits on the flat ground of the community's park before it drains
- Cleats are the right footwear on the Heritage station platform ramp
- Garden centres open along Macleod Trail
- Harnam Singh Hari Park's south-facing slope greens up first
- Last hard frosts pass and Kingsland's condo balconies fill with planters
- Elbow Drive's boulevard trees leaf out along the community's western edge
- Lease turnover season starts early in Kingsland's high-rental blocks, ahead of the July 1 rush
- Chinook Centre's outdoor patios open along the Macleod Trail frontage
- Long evenings turn Harnam Singh Hari Park into the after-work green space
- Field sport season starts on the schoolyards shared with Haysboro
- School lets out and Chinook Centre's food court fills with teenagers all summer
- Peak daylight at the solstice, over sixteen hours
- Evening thunderstorms build over the foothills, visible west down Glenmore Trail
- Southland's outdoor deck opens for the season, a short drive south
- Stampede parade traffic backs up Macleod Trail past Chinook Centre for a morning
- July 1 is the single busiest moving day in Kingsland's rental blocks
- Hottest month, with cool nights typical at this elevation
- Heritage Park's Gasoline Alley draws weekend crowds a short drive south
- Back-to-school traffic starts building in the Chinook Centre lot before the long weekend
- Banff and Kananaskis are straight west, out past Glenmore Trail onto Sarcee and Stoney Trail
- Quietest weeks in the community before school returns
- Wildfire smoke from the west can settle over Macleod Trail on windless days
- School year restarts and the Chinook and Heritage platforms crowd with students again
- First frost usually arrives late in the month
- St. Augustine's morning drop-off line backs onto the community's side streets
- Macleod Trail's rush-hour queue past Chinook Centre lengthens with the school run
- Peak colour runs through Harnam Singh Hari Park and the older bungalow streets
- First snow is normal, and normally melts within a day on Macleod Trail
- Snow tires go on before the first real snowfall sticks
- Chinook Centre's holiday displays go up early along the mall's interior
- Dark by 5pm, and the Heritage and Chinook platforms feel it first
- Freeze sets in for good on Harnam Singh Hari Park's open ground
- Holiday retail traffic builds around Chinook Centre through the month
- Ski season opens west, reachable via Glenmore and Sarcee Trail
- A chinook arch over the western skyline is visible straight down Glenmore Trail
- Chinook Centre's holiday crowds peak in the two weeks before Christmas
- Outdoor rinks open in the community's parks once the freeze holds
- Quiet, short days in Kingsland's low-rise blocks between the holidays
30 more photographs of Calgary and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Calgary photo library, not photographs of Kingsland itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 30 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Kingsland itself.