Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Very good or excellent health for just 43% of adults around Saint John; the typical Canadian town: 52%
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 79.3, women 81.1 and men 77.3 (2022/2024). What sets Saint John apart within its region is distance, and at 3.4 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Saint John is C, #34 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,315 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Saint John
Life expectancy below the norm
Saint John’s region sits 2.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.1 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More chronic illness
High blood pressure (31%) and diabetes (8.5%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
The average resident of Saint John can reach 4.7 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.5 km off. Getting care ↓
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 John grades C 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. Its place: #34 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,315 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
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.
How the 7 health regions in New Brunswick compare on life expectancy
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in New Brunswick, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
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
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Saint John’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
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
On weight the region is ordinary for New Brunswick: 45% report obesity, the province 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.
The nearest hospital is 3.4 km from the average home in Saint John
Straight-line distances from each part of Saint John, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 11 km for the typical town in New Brunswick and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Saint John is on the near side. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.5 km, while the average resident is 3.4 km away. 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.1 years short of the trend
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Saint John’s dot is marked, under the line.
Where residents average 3.1 on the index, regions tend to reach 80.4 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Saint John belongs to trails at 79.3. It is outlived by 9 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose 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.
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
Neither ahead nor behind New Brunswick on mental health (50% to 49%), the region has 22% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Saint John is 18th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (59,664 to 105,925 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 66,624 | 1.1 km | 59% |
| 2 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 3 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 16 | North Bay ON C | 62,062 | 2.8 km | 47% |
| 17 | Belleville ON C− | 62,914 | 3.1 km | 45% |
| 18 | Saint John NB C | 79,371 | 3.4 km | 43% |
| 19 | Drummondville QC A | 85,560 | 3.4 km | 61% |
| 20 | Sarnia ON C+ | 80,539 | 3.4 km | 49% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Saint John
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 John | 3.4 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
| Grand Bay-Westfield 12 km | 10 km | 43% | 79.3 | C− |
| Rothesay 13 km | 13 km | 43% | 79.3 | C− |
| Westfield 15 km | 14 km | 43% | 79.3 | C− |
| Quispamsis 17 km | 17 km | 43% | 79.3 | D |
| Simonds 18 km | 21 km | 43% | 79.3 | D |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Saint John from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Simonds live further from a hospital, at 21 km against 3.4 km in Saint John.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- 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.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Saint John’s own.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
Questions about health in Saint John
How is Saint John’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Saint John’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Saint John?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 21%.
What is the life expectancy in Saint John?
Women in Saint John’s region live to 81.1 on average and men to 77.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Saint John from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.5 km from the average resident of Saint John, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
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).