Live in University Heights
A small 1963 community wedged between the university, McMahon Stadium and two hospitals. Seven in ten households rent, and the location is the point.
University Heights was established in 1963 in the wedge between 16 Avenue, University Drive and Shaganappi Trail: 0.8 km², 2,965 residents in 1,360 private households at the 2021 census, 71% of them renting, with 68% of the occupied dwellings apartments. It exists for its neighbours: the University of Calgary across University Drive, McMahon Stadium, the Alberta Children's Hospital and Foothills Medical Centre, and now University District's main street to the northwest. Twenty-two per cent of employed residents walked to work in 2021, against 4% across Calgary.
Between the campus and the wards
Bounded north by 24 Avenue NW, east by University Drive, south by 16 Avenue NW (the Trans-Canada) and west by Shaganappi Trail. Ward 7, in the City's Northwest sector.
University Heights was established in 1963 in the wedge between campus, stadium and hospitals. At the 2021 census it held 2,965 residents in 1,360 private households, 71% of them renting, on 0.8 km². Sixty-eight per cent of the occupied dwellings are apartments and 56% of the stock dates from 1961 to 1980.
It is pure location: the university across University Drive, McMahon Stadium and Foothills Medical Centre to the south and east, the Alberta Children's Hospital across Shaganappi, Westmount Charter's Mid-High campus inside, and University District's new main street filling the last gap. Twenty-two per cent of employed residents walked to work in 2021, against 4% across Calgary, and only 57% drove against 77%.
The original low-rise streets in the middle are quieter than the statistics suggest. Median household income was $65,500 in 2020 against $98,000 citywide, which is what a student and hospital population looks like on a census form: 14% of residents are non-permanent residents, against 2% across the city.
- 71% of households rent: buy as an investor or beside them, knowingly
- McMahon seats 35,400, and shift changes at two hospitals bracket the day. Game days, shifts and term starts set the parking weather
- 56% of the occupied stock was built between 1961 and 1980, most of it walk-up apartments. Documents and reserve funds are the diligence
- 16 Avenue is the Trans-Canada: the south edge hears it
How University Heights got here
- 1963University Heights is established beside the young campus.
- 1967The University Heights Community Association is registered provincially on November 28.
- 1987University station opens on September 7 across University Drive, on the Red Line.
- 2006The Alberta Children's Hospital's current building opens on September 27, west across Shaganappi Trail.
- 2021Federal census records 2,965 residents in 1,360 private households, 71% of them renting.
Borrowed grounds, real convenience
The campus grounds are the community's park. The community association has no hall at all: what it does have is an outdoor rink and playfields, and it runs soccer, baseball, a Stampede breakfast and community dances out of borrowed venues.
What the map does not show: the community's green space is institutional by ownership and public by habit. It works better than it sounds.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not University Heights
11 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 1–11 of 11 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. Everything on the list is minutes; most of it is walkable.
Every gym within reach
The campus is the answer. Confirm membership terms before you count on anything.
- Public skating at the Oval, an aquatic centre, three gymnasiums and a racquet centre in one membership
- Fitness centres include a six-lane 200 m track; climbing and bouldering run through the Outdoor Centre
- University District's fifty-odd shops and services include gyms, though the developer names none of them
- The campus grounds and the association's outdoor rink are the free option
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| University of Calgary Active Living open | Aquatic centre, three gymnasiums, fitness centres with a six-lane 200 m track, a racquet centre, climbing and bouldering through the Outdoor Centre, and public skating at the Olympic Oval. Public memberships are sold. | 3–5 min |
| University District studios open | Gyms are among the fifty-odd shops and services the new district counts. It names none of them. | 2–4 min |
| Campus grounds and the coulees open | Free option: the campus grounds next door, plus the association's outdoor rink and playfields. | 1–2 min |
The public may buy memberships, with discounts for staff, faculty and alumni. Confirm the current terms, which change between terms.
A public school and a charter
University School runs kindergarten to grade 9 on its own site, not the elementary Wikipedia describes, and publishes no attendance area. Westmount Charter, Alberta's only K to 12 congregated setting for gifted students, runs its Mid-High campus for grades 5 to 12 at 2215 Uxbridge Drive NW inside the community, on city-wide entry.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| University School | Calgary Board of Education | Kindergarten to grade 9 on its own site, not the elementary Wikipedia describes. It publishes no attendance area. |
| Westmount Charter School | Charter | Alberta's only K to 12 congregated setting for gifted students, about 1,200 pupils. Its Mid-High campus, grades 5 to 12, is at 2215 Uxbridge Drive NW inside the community; its elementary campus, K to 4, is at 728 32 Street NW. Admission is city-wide, not neighbourhood catchment. |
| Designated schools | Both boards | The CBE assigns a designated school by home address and program and publishes it only through the address search on its Find a School page. The Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Charter entry is not neighbourhood catchment: Westmount admits from across the city. For the public designation, the CBE assigns a school by home address and program and publishes it only through the address search on its Find a School page. The Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Term rhythms set the community's calendar more than seasons do
- Priority snow routes keep the main roads clear
- The association's outdoor rink carries the season, and the campus facilities are a walk away
- Long dark evenings, but rarely for weeks at a stretch
- Ski traffic west on the Trans-Canada peaks on Friday and Sunday
- Coldest snaps usually break with a chinook
- Noticeably longer light by month end
- Indoor pools at their busiest
- Melt and refreeze on the side streets: ice cleats weather
- Pathways reopen as the snow goes
- First patio afternoons on the warm chinook days
- Street sweeping begins late in the month
- Last hard frosts: planting waits for the May long weekend
- Pathway and park season opens properly
- Garden centres open across the quadrant
- Migratory birds return to the parks
- Long evenings: sunset past 9pm by month end
- Lilacs and crabapples through the older streets
- Field sport seasons start on the community greens
- First genuinely warm stretches
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends and the parks fill
- Evening thunderstorms begin building over the foothills
- Farmers' markets open for the season
- Calgary Stampede: ten days across the city
- Hottest month, with cool nights at this elevation
- Evening thunderstorms roll off the foothills
- Canada Day events in the parks
- Folk Festival on Prince's Island mid-month
- Kananaskis and Banff at their best, straight west
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Smoke from western wildfires is possible
- School year restarts and morning traffic thickens
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Poplar and aspen colour begins
- Evenings shorten fast
- Peak autumn colour through the older tree-lined streets
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on across the quadrant
- Nose Hill's grasses turn gold
- Ski season opens west on the Trans-Canada
- Dark by 5pm
- Freeze sets in for good
- Holiday retail season begins
- Chinook arches over the western skyline on clear days
- Holiday lights through the community streets
- Outdoor rinks open when the freeze holds
- Quiet, short days between the holidays
1 more photograph of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–1 of 1 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near University Heights, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Calgary library.