Rural North Perth

Rural North Perth covers almost all of the municipality: about 47,800 hectares of farmland around Listowel, Atwood and Monkton, in the old townships of Wallace to the north and Elma to the south. Gowanstown and Trowbridge are small villages among the farms, and Kurtzville, Newry, Donegal, Britton and Molesworth are hamlets. The North Perth Trail System, about 22 km in all, has entrances in Gowanstown and Henfryn as well as Listowel and Atwood. The Wallace Community Centre in Kurtzville has an arena and a hall, and the Wallace Optimist Park on Line 87 has a ball diamond, a soccer pitch, a pavilion and a playground.

Wallace and Elma were the two townships around Listowel, with the villages of Gowanstown and Kurtzville in Wallace and Atwood and most of Monkton in Elma. On January 1, 1998, Wallace Township, Elma Township and the Town of Listowel joined to form the Municipality of North Perth. The municipality had 15,538 people in 2021, up 18.3% since 2016.

The 2021 census counted about 6,170 homes in North Perth. Leaving out Listowel, Atwood and Monkton, the countryside, its villages and its hamlets had about 1,400 homes, and about nine in ten of them are single detached houses. About four in ten were built in 1960 or earlier and about one in five between 1961 and 1980. About one in five were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in eight in 2001 or later.

Highway 23 crosses the municipality from north to south through Listowel and Atwood, and Highway 86 runs east from Listowel toward Elmira and Waterloo Region. Perth roads and lines link the farms with Listowel, Atwood, Monkton and Milverton. Stratford City Hall is about 54 km from Listowel by road, and Kitchener City Hall about 57 km. The North Perth Trail System and the G2G Rail Trail cross the countryside.

The Wallace Community Centre at 6670 Perth Line 88 in Kurtzville has an arena and a hall that seats up to 200. Wallace Optimist Park at 6067 Line 87 has a playground, a ball diamond, a soccer pitch and a pavilion. Robert Mathers Park at 120 George Street in Trowbridge has a playground and a ball diamond, and Ward Park in Gowanstown has a playground. The North Perth Trail System has entrances in Gowanstown and Henfryn, and Listowel's arena, pools and library are close by.

• North Perth Westfield Elementary School — JK to Grade 6. The public school for the north, including Gowanstown, Kurtzville and Molesworth, on Binning Street West in Listowel.
• Elma Township Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school and middle school for the south, including Newry, Donegal and Britton, on Line 72 in Atwood.
• Listowel District Secondary School — Grades 7 to 12. The public secondary school for the whole countryside, and the middle school for the north, on Maitland Avenue South in Listowel.
• St. Mary's School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school, on Tremaine Avenue in Listowel, with French immersion from Senior Kindergarten.
• St. Michael Catholic Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school, on Oakdale Avenue in Stratford.
• Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic French immersion school from JK, on Grange Street in Stratford.