Photo: Not specified · Public domainHealth in Saint James trails 86% of Canadian towns
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across New Brunswick, 43% against 44%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Saint James’ is long: 19 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Saint James is D.
What stands out about health in Saint James
Hospital care at a distance
For 0% of homes in Saint James the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 15 km. Getting care ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Saint James’ region sits 2.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.1 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Self-rated health runs low
Even once age is allowed for, 8.4 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (42% as answered). Health survey ↓
Long-term conditions run high
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 31% report high blood pressure and 8.5% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Saint James grades D for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
The region’s four figures and the town’s distance to a hospital are each ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more, then averaged.
How the grade works
Health is graded as a regional score, labelled as such: very good or excellent self-rated health, chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure averaged) and smoking from the Canadian Community Health Survey, each age-standardised so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, and life expectancy at birth, all for the health region. The residents’ average distance to a hospital is the one input measured for the town itself, so towns in one region can still differ.
From Saint James, a hospital is 19 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Saint James’ own, not the region’s.
Saint James is further out than the provincial norm of 11 km in New Brunswick, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The clinic list is thin in New Brunswick: the facilities database holds few clinics there, so the clinic distance overstates the trip.
Hospitals and clinics: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities. Pharmacies: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Straight-line distances from each dissemination area, weighted by its 2021 population.
Life expectancy across the 7 health regions in New Brunswick
Regional life expectancy in New Brunswick, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Among the 7 regions in New Brunswick, from 78.9 to 81.5 years, this one is 4th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Saint James’ own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in New Brunswick: 42% to 43%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
On mental health the region tracks New Brunswick, 50% very good or excellent to 49%; 22% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
In the region, high blood pressure (31%) and diabetes (8.5%)
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Self-reported obesity, 45%, sits within a few points of New Brunswick (42%).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.1 years behind the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Saint James’, lies beneath the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.1, the expected figure is 80.4 years, and Saint James’ region falls below with 79.3. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 80.9 years.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, 2022/2024, by health region. Deprivation: Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (situational vulnerability), averaged over each region’s towns by their residents; income: 2021 Census median household income, averaged the same way. The averages and the line are TownRatings calculations.
Health in the places around Saint James
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint James | 19 km | 43% | 79.3 | D |
| Saint David 9.9 km | 8.0 km | 43% | 79.3 | C− |
| Saint Stephen 9.9 km | 5.2 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
| St. Stephen 15 km | 1.8 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
Every place around Saint James shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. St. Stephen is the closest to care, 1.8 km to Saint James’ 19 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Saint James alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Saint James
How healthy is Saint James?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 21%.
How far is Saint James from a hospital?
For everyday care, Saint James’ residents are 16 km from a pharmacy on average.
What is the life expectancy in Saint James?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Saint James’ health region only: 81.1 years for women and 77.3 for men (2022/2024).
How is Saint James’ Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Saint James: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (13-10-0972) · Statistics Canada, life expectancy 2022/2024 (13-10-0988) · Statistics Canada, health regions 2023 (82-402-X) · Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · pharmacies © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).