Ask anyone who lives in Westboro why they chose the neighbourhood and you'll get a short answer: it has everything. Good food, walkable streets, the river, easy transit downtown. That's all true, and it explains why Westboro competes with the Glebe and Old Ottawa South as Ottawa's most sought-after address. But every neighbourhood has trade-offs, and Westboro is no different.
Who Lives Here
Westboro skews toward young professionals and young families. The demographic is broadly affluent, educated, and tends to work downtown or from home. You'll see a lot of strollers at the Parkdale Market on Saturday mornings, and a lot of runners on the river pathway before 8am. It's a neighbourhood that takes its lifestyle seriously — in the best way.
Daily Life on Richmond Road
Richmond Road is the commercial spine of the neighbourhood, and it functions well. Farm Boy is the grocery anchor — a high-quality, well-curated store that handles most daily needs. For anything Farm Boy doesn't carry, there are specialty shops and independent grocers scattered through the neighbourhood. The strip also has pharmacies, banks, services, and the kind of restaurant density that means you can eat out five nights a week without repeating yourself.
Getting Around
The Westboro LRT station on the Confederation Line is the neighbourhood's transit backbone. Downtown Ottawa is about 12 minutes away by train — genuinely fast, no parking required. The station also connects to bus routes that cover broader Ottawa. For cycling, the Ottawa River Pathway and the neighbourhood's bike infrastructure make two-wheeled commuting viable for much of the year. The honest truth is that many Westboro residents own a car but barely use it for day-to-day life.
Schools
Broadview Public School and Devonshire Public School are both well-regarded local options in the public system. The neighbourhood also has reasonable access to the Catholic and French-language school boards. School quality and availability is worth researching independently if that's a priority for your family.
The Trade-Offs
No neighbourhood is perfect. Westboro's popularity shows in its prices — among the highest in Ottawa for both buying and renting. Some of the Scott Street corridor has seen significant condo development, which has increased density and, in some pockets, noise. Richmond Road can feel busy, particularly in summer. The neighbourhood's success has also brought more chains and franchise businesses to what was once a purely independent commercial strip.
The Bottom Line
For the right person — and Westboro has a pretty clear profile of who that is — it's close to the ideal urban Ottawa neighbourhood. The river access, the transit, the food scene, and the walkability form a combination that's genuinely hard to find elsewhere in the city. Just go in with your eyes open on price.
