Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainSaint Marys’ health region reports 45% in very good or excellent health, behind the typical Canadian town’s 52%
For 2022/2024, the region’s figure is 80.1 years at birth, 81.9 for women and 78.2 for men. Closer to home, a hospital is 15 km from the average resident of Saint Marys, further than the usual 3.7 km. Saint Marys grades C− for health, #43 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,384 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Saint Marys
A long way to hospital
For 0% of homes in Saint Marys the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 16 km. Getting care ↓
More smokers
Smoking is commoner around Saint Marys than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 11% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Saint Marys’ region sits 1.4 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.6 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
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 Marys 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: #43 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,384 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.
From Saint Marys, a hospital is 15 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Saint Marys, weighted by who lives there.
Saint Marys 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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.4%
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
Fewer adults report obesity than across New Brunswick: 39%, 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.
Life expectancy across the 7 health regions in New Brunswick
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
Life expectancy in New Brunswick runs from 78.9 to 81.5; this region sits 3rd of the 7.
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 Marys’ 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.
The region lives 1.0 years less than its deprivation predicts
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Saint Marys’ region is below the line.
Deprivation accounts for much of the spread between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), but not for all of Saint Marys’ region’s: 80.1 years where the line expects 81.1 at 2.9. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 9 of them above it, a median of 81.2.
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: 44% 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
Mental health trails New Brunswick: 45% very good or excellent to 49%, with 26% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Saint Marys is 32nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,610 to 5,795 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meadow Lake SK C | 5,667 | 0.6 km | 46% |
| 2 | Vieux-Québec—Cap-Blanc—Colline parlementaire QC A+ | 5,764 | 0.7 km | 62% |
| 3 | Montcalm MB B+ | 5,676 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 30 | Annapolis County, Subdivision C NS D | 5,694 | 13 km | 44% |
| 31 | Lanoraie QC B+ | 5,694 | 14 km | 56% |
| 32 | Saint Marys NB C− | 5,701 | 15 km | 45% |
| 33 | Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan QC B+ | 5,675 | 16 km | 56% |
| 34 | Seguin ON D | 5,761 | 17 km | 47% |
| 40 | Chertsey QC B | 5,678 | 30 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Saint Marys
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 Marys | 15 km | 45% | 80.1 | C− |
| Devon 30 11 km | 5.8 km | 45% | 80.1 | C |
| Fredericton 13 km | 4.0 km | 45% | 80.1 | C |
| Maugerville 15 km | 9.3 km | 45% | 80.1 | C |
| Douglas 18 km | 16 km | 45% | 80.1 | C− |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Saint Marys’ regional figures. Fredericton is the closest to care, 4.0 km to Saint Marys’ 15 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- 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 Marys’ own.
- 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.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
Questions about health in Saint Marys
How healthy is Saint Marys?
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 18%.
How is Saint Marys’ Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Saint Marys’ own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Saint Marys from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 11 km from the average resident of Saint Marys, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Saint Marys?
Women in Saint Marys’ region live to 81.9 on average and men to 78.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
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).