La Haute-Côte-Nord Regional County Municipality

La Haute-Côte-Nord (French pronunciation: [la ot kot nɔʁ]) is a regional county municipality in northeastern Quebec, Canada, in the Côte-Nord region. It is located on the Gulf of St. Lawrence where the Saguenay River flows into it. The seat is Les Escoumins. The municipality has a land area of 11,295.82 square kilometres (4,361.34 sq mi) and its population was 10,278 inhabitants as of the 2021 census.^[3] Its largest community is the city of Forestville.

La Haute-Côte-Nord
Regional county municipality
Coordinates: 48°34′N 69°14′W[1]
Country	Canada
Province	Quebec
Region	Côte-Nord
Effective	January 1, 1982
County seat	Les Escoumins
Government [2]
• Type	Prefecture
• Prefect	Micheline Anctil
Area [2][3]
• Total	12,557.5 km2 (4,848.5 sq mi)
• Land	11,295.82 km2 (4,361.34 sq mi)
	Areas include native reserve
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	10,278
• Density	0.9/km2 (2/sq mi)
• Change (2016-21)	5.2%
• Dwellings	5,693
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Area code(s)	418 and 581
Website	www.mrchcn.qc.ca

Except for Sacré-Coeur, which is located along the Saguenay River, all places and municipalities of the RCM are along Quebec Route 138 directly on the shores of the St. Lawrence River. The unorganized territory of Lac-au-Brochet makes up some 83% of the interior part of the RCM.

Subdivisions

There are 9 subdivisions and one native reserve within the RCM:^[2]

Cities & Towns (1) Forestville

Municipalities (6) Colombier Les Bergeronnes Les Escoumins Longue-Rive Portneuf-sur-Mer (formerly Sainte-Anne-de-Portneuf) Sacré-Coeur

Villages (1) Tadoussac

Unorganized Territory (1) Lac-au-Brochet

Native Reserves (1) (not associated with RCM) Essipit

Demographics

	2021	2016
Population	10,278 (-5.2% from 2016)	10,846 (-6.1% from 2011)
Land area	11,295.82 km2 (4,361.34 sq mi)	11,612.68 km2 (4,483.68 sq mi)
Population density	0.9/km2 (2.3/sq mi)	0.9/km2 (2.3/sq mi)
Median age	54.4 (M: 54.4, F: 55.2)	51.6 (M: 51.1, F: 52.0)
Private dwellings	5,693 (total)  5,023 (occupied)	5,708 (total)  4,982 (occupied)
Median household income	$60,400	$51,760

Canada census – La Haute-Côte-Nord RCM community profile

References: 2021^[4] 2016^[5]

Historical census populations – La Haute-Côte-Nord RCM

Year	Pop.	±%
1996	13,439	—
2001	12,894	−4.1%
2006	12,303	−4.6%
2011	11,546	−6.2%
2016	10,846	−6.1%
2021	10,278	−5.2%
Source: Statistics Canada[3][6]

Transportation

Access Routes

Highways and numbered routes that run through the municipality, including external routes that start or finish at the county border:^[7]

Autoroutes None

Principal Highways R-138 R-172

Secondary Highways None

External Routes None

See also

• List of regional county municipalities and equivalent territories in Quebec