Live in Martindale

The land was annexed to the city in 1961, but Martindale itself was not established until 1983: a long gap between the paperwork and the neighbourhood. Once building started it moved fast: the 2021 census shows 43% of the community's dwellings were built between 1991 and 2000, with most of the rest going up either side of that decade.

The boundaries are 80 Avenue NE to the north, Falconridge Boulevard to the east, 64 Avenue NE to the south and Métis Trail to the west, all inside Ward 5.

Transit is the defining feature. Martindale has its own CTrain stop, opened on 27 August 2012 on a 2.9 km extension of the Blue Line's northeast leg: side platforms staggered either side of Martindale Boulevard, with no park-and-ride and no bus terminal, built for a residential street rather than a commuter lot. Saddletowne station, the line's terminus, sits one stop out with 141 park-and-ride stalls, fifteen connecting bus routes and the Genesis Centre next door. 13% of working residents take transit, against 9% citywide.

Who lives here. The 2021 census counted 14,540 residents in 3,945 private households, with an average household size of 3.7 people against the city's 2.6, 29% of households at five people or more, and 55% of residents immigrants against 33% citywide. Only 38% speak English most often at home. Median household income was $97,000 in 2020, a thousand dollars under the citywide figure, and Wikipedia puts low income residents at 18.1%.

Worth knowing before you commit

Established 1983, built out by 2000

A CTrain stop of your own, and a housing stock built in one decade

---

• Homes are mostly 25 to 35 years old, from the 1990s build-out. Check original mechanicals and roofs
• 85% of occupied dwellings are single-detached and nothing at all sits above five storeys
• Almost no retail inside the boundaries; Saddletowne Crossing across Falconridge carries the everyday shop
• The community's own station has no park-and-ride and no bus terminal. Driving to the train means Saddletowne's 141 stalls
• Getting west to the mountains means crossing the entire city. Budget about an hour and twenty-five minutes to Kananaskis
• 78% owner households and 22% renter, well above the city's owner share

How Martindale got here

• 1961The land is annexed to the City of Calgary, more than two decades before the community itself is established.
• 1983Martindale is established as a community, reportedly named after one of the developers' children, Martin and Tara. The same naming convention that produced neighbouring Taradale.
• 1988The Martindale Community Association registers on 12 December. It has never had a hall of its own: it runs an outdoor rink, playfields, basketball courts and a teen park instead.
• 1991–2000The decade that built the place: 43% of the occupied dwellings recorded at the 2021 census date from these ten years, and another 24% from 2001 to 2010.
• 2012Martindale and Saddletowne stations both open on 27 August, on a 2.9 km extension of the Blue Line's northeast leg. Martindale has no park-and-ride and no bus terminal; Saddletowne is the terminus, with 141 stalls and 15 connecting bus routes.
• 2016Nelson Mandela High School opens on 6 September at 45 Saddletowne Circle NE, grades 10 to 12, serving Saddle Ridge, Taradale and Martindale.
• 2021The federal census counts 14,540 residents in 3,945 private households, 55% of residents immigrants, and an average household size of 3.7 people against the city's 2.6.

What the map does not show: Chestermere Lake, roughly twenty minutes east on the Trans-Canada, is the genuine recreational payoff of a far-northeast address: a full recreational lake with beaches and boating that most of the city has to drive much further to reach.

Elsewhere in Calgary, not Martindale

Check Chestermere carefully. Its recreation centre is a reasonable drive, but it is outside Calgary: non-resident rates and programme access differ, so confirm the terms before you plan around it.