Live in Erin Woods
A 1981 southeast community hemmed in by the CN railway on two sides, minutes from Forest Lawn's International Avenue and Elliston Park.
Erin Woods was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1961 but sat as undeveloped land for two decades before home-building began in 1981. It is small and dense — just 1.6 km² — bounded by the Canadian National Railway tracks to the north and west, Peigan Trail to the south and 52 Street E to the east. Housing is almost entirely low-rise: at the last count barely half a percent of buildings were condominiums or apartments. This is what living here is actually like.
Annexed in 1961, built in 1981, and hemmed in by rail on two sides
Bordered east by 52 Street E, south by Peigan Trail, and north and west by the Canadian National Railway tracks. Ward 9.
Erin Woods was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1961 but sat as undeveloped land for two decades before home-building began in 1981. That gap shows up in the boundaries: the Canadian National Railway tracks form the north and west edges, Peigan Trail the south edge and 52 Street E the east edge — four hard lines around a community of just 1.6 km².
Housing mix. This is low-rise family housing almost end to end: at the 2012 civic census, about 0.5% of buildings were condominiums or apartments, with 20.5% rental. Median household income was $56,123 in 2000, with 20.4% low income.
Who lives here. 36% of residents were immigrants at the 2021 count, most from Asia, and 31% converse in a non-official language at home — Tagalog, Vietnamese, Spanish, Arabic and Ilocano among them. Homeownership sits at 72%, and population has held roughly steady, easing from 6,901 in 2012 to 6,790 in 2021.
Density and services. At about 4,310 residents per km², Erin Woods is one of the denser low-rise communities in the city. There is no CTrain station inside the boundaries — Franklin Station on the Red Line is the nearest — and the community's own retail is thin, so International Avenue along 17 Avenue SE in neighbouring Forest Lawn carries most of the everyday shopping and dining.
- Homes are around forty-five years old — original roofs, windows, furnaces and electrical panels are at or past design life
- The CN railway runs along the north and west edges — go and listen at different times of day
- Almost no retail inside the boundaries; International Avenue in Forest Lawn carries the everyday shop
- No CTrain station inside the community; Franklin Station is a drive away
- Junior and senior high are both outside the boundaries — confirm the current designation before you buy
- Getting west to the mountains means crossing the entire city — budget well over an hour to Kananaskis
How Erin Woods got here
- 1961The land is annexed by the City of Calgary but stays undeveloped for two decades.
- 1981Erin Woods is established as a residential community, and the Erin Woods Community Association forms to run the hall, ball diamonds, playground and soccer fields still at its centre.
- 1980sBuild-out proceeds as almost entirely low-rise family housing; the East Calgary Twin Arenas open inside the community.
- 2000Statistics Canada records median household income at $56,123, with 20.4% of residents below the low-income threshold.
- 2012City civic census counts 6,901 residents in 2,453 dwellings — a density of about 4,310 per km², among the highest of any low-rise community in Calgary.
- 2010sRedevelopment along the International Avenue corridor on 17 Avenue SE brings a wave of immigrant-owned restaurants and shops to neighbouring Forest Lawn.
- 2021Federal census records population at 6,790, with 36% of residents immigrants, most from Asia, and 72% homeownership.
Elliston Park, and the community's own ball diamonds and fields
There is no river valley here — the open space is what the community built and what sits just beyond it. Elliston Park and its storm-water lake, home of the GlobalFest fireworks, sit three to five minutes northeast. Inside the boundaries, the Erin Woods Community Association runs ball diamonds, soccer fields, a playground and the East Calgary Twin Arenas.
The resident's angle: this is a community-built green space, not a protected river valley — well used, but small relative to the size of the population around it. Elliston Park is the genuine upgrade nearby, with a lake, pathways and one of the southeast's biggest annual events on its doorstep.
22 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 22 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. The numbers here reflect a tightly bounded, close-in community — most everyday needs are within ten minutes, and the long numbers are the airport and the mountains.
Every gym within reach
The community's own twin arenas are the free anchor, with the city-run Bob Bahan Aquatic & Fitness Centre in Forest Lawn a short drive north and the northeast's larger civic facilities within about fifteen minutes.
- Bob Bahan Aquatic & Fitness Centre adds a city-run pool and fitness centre six to nine minutes north in Forest Lawn
- Village Square Leisure Centre and Genesis Centre are the northeast's larger civic hubs, twelve to twenty minutes away
- Max Bell Centre adds twin arenas eight to twelve minutes north via Barlow Trail
- Elliston Park's pathways are the free option outdoors
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| East Calgary Twin Arenas open | Twin ice arenas run alongside the community hall, ball diamonds and soccer fields — the community's own recreation anchor. | 1–2 min |
| Elliston Park pathways open | Free option: storm-water lake pathways and open green space northeast of the community. | 3–5 min |
| Bob Bahan Aquatic & Fitness Centre open | City-run pool, weight room and group fitness classes in Forest Lawn. | 6–9 min |
| Max Bell Centre open | Twin arenas and community recreation space north via Barlow Trail. | 8–12 min |
| Village Square Leisure Centre open | Wave pool, arena, fitness space, gymnasium and a library branch under one roof. | 12–17 min |
| Genesis Centre open | The northeast's anchor recreation facility: gymnasiums, fitness centre, indoor courts and community programming. | 14–20 min |
Check current programming. Community-run facilities like the twin arenas rotate ice time between minor hockey, public skating and rentals — confirm the current schedule before you plan around it.
One elementary inside the community, everything else outside it
Erin Woods School serves the community for public elementary, recently expanded to K–6. Catholic elementary students attend St. Damien in neighbouring Dover. Both designated junior and senior high — Ian Bazalgette and Forest Lawn High School on the public side — sit outside the boundaries, meaning a bus or a drive from grade 7 onward for most families.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Erin Woods School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary inside the community, expanded from K–5 to K–6 for the 2024–25 school year. |
| St. Damien School | Calgary Catholic | Catholic elementary in neighbouring Dover, the nearest Calgary Catholic School District option. |
| Ian Bazalgette Junior High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated public junior high for the community. |
| Forest Lawn High School | Calgary Board of Education | Designated public senior high for the community, grades 10–12. |
| Designated Catholic junior and senior high | Calgary Catholic | Sits outside the community boundaries. Confirm the current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy. |
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 junior and senior high designation for a specific address with the board before you buy — southeast designations have shifted before as enrolment has changed across the quadrant.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The East Calgary Twin Arenas carry the organised hockey season inside the community
- Peigan Trail and Deerfoot Trail are priority routes, so plowing holds up even in cold snaps
- Frost settles hardest along the CN rail corridor on the community's north and west edges
- Chinooks reach the far east later and weaker than the rest of the city
- Bob Bahan Aquatic & Fitness Centre's pool is a short drive north in Forest Lawn
- Family Day programming runs at the community hall
- Coldest stretches usually break with a chinook by month end
- Indoor recreation at its busiest at the twin arenas
- Melt and refreeze on the community's older side streets
- Elliston Park's pathways reopen as the snow clears
- Ball diamonds and soccer fields start drying out
- Spring break brings extra traffic to International Avenue
- Last hard frosts — planting waits until the long weekend
- Community association soccer and ball registration opens
- Migratory birds return to Elliston Park's storm-water lake
- Hail season begins — the east side gets more than its share
- Long evenings — sunset past 9pm by month end
- Community league soccer and ball season starts at the diamonds and fields
- International Avenue's patios fill on warm evenings
- Thunderstorm season begins to build
- Peak daylight at the solstice — over 16 hours
- School year ends at Erin Woods School, St. Damien and Ian Bazalgette
- Elliston Park fills with evening walkers and cyclists
- Thunderstorm season is fully under way
- Calgary Stampede — ten days, about a fifteen-minute drive northwest
- GlobalFest fireworks build-up begins at Elliston Park
- International Avenue restaurant patios at their busiest
- Hottest month, with little shade along the rail corridor
- GlobalFest fireworks run at Elliston Park most evenings
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Harvest traffic builds on Deerfoot Trail south of the city
- Community hall bookings pick up for late-summer events
- School year restarts at Erin Woods School, St. Damien, Ian Bazalgette and Forest Lawn High
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- International Avenue's Lunar and cultural festivals draw visitors through the fall
- The twin arenas gear up for the new hockey season
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on ahead of the first real cold snap
- Elliston Park quiets down for the season
- Shorter evenings noticeable by mid-month
- Dark by 5pm
- Indoor recreation season restarts at the twin arenas and Bob Bahan Centre
- International Avenue's holiday retail season begins
- Frost sets in hard along the CN rail edges of the community
- Holiday quiet across the community
- Skating and shinny fill the twin arenas' public sessions
- Marlborough Mall and East Hills carry the holiday retail crowds
- Chinooks, when they come, arrive later and weaker here than elsewhere in the city
36 photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed and served from this app — nothing loads from a third party. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 36 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library — the Fish Creek and Midnapore-specific images used on the far-southeast pages are deliberately excluded, because they are not this community's surroundings. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Erin Woods itself.