Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Fewer adults feel healthy around St. Stephen: 43% say very good or excellent (52% for the typical Canadian town)
A baby born in the region can expect 79.3 years, 81.1 for a girl and 77.3 for a boy (2022/2024). Measured from where St. Stephen’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.8 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives St. Stephen a grade of C, #28 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,275 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in St. Stephen
A region where lives run shorter
Born around St. Stephen, a child can expect 2.2 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 19.1 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A heavier load of illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 31% of adults, diabetes for 8.5%. 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.
St. Stephen 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: #28 of 60 in New Brunswick and #2,275 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 7 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
Life expectancy in New Brunswick runs from 78.9 to 81.5; this region sits 4th of the 7.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes St. Stephen’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
High blood pressure for 31% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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
Obesity is close to the province’s level, 45% of adults against 42% for New Brunswick.
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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.1 years short of the trend
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); St. Stephen’s region is below the line.
Where residents average 3.1 on the index, regions tend to reach 80.4 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one St. Stephen belongs to trails at 79.3. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 9 of them above it, a median of 80.9.
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.
Getting to hospital from St. Stephen: 1.8 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is St. Stephen’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of St. Stephen are closer than most of the province: the typical town in New Brunswick is 11 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 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.
42% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to New Brunswick (43%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Asked about their mental health, 50% of adults here said very good or excellent; across New Brunswick it was 49%, and 22% reported most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
St. Stephen is 8th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,768 to 4,987 people, median 5.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North End East ON B+ | 4,816 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 2 | Westdale South ON B+ | 4,931 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 3 | Westmount AB B+ | 4,961 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 6 | Central Business District SK A− | 4,987 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 7 | Richmond AB A+ | 4,811 | 0.8 km | 56% |
| 8 | St. Stephen NB C | 4,876 | 1.8 km | 43% |
| 9 | Glenwood AB B+ | 4,842 | 1.8 km | 51% |
| 10 | Bells Corners East ON A+ | 4,963 | 2.1 km | 56% |
| 40 | Saint-Agapit QC B+ | 4,817 | 23 km | 59% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around St. Stephen
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Stephen | 1.8 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
| Saint Stephen 4.8 km | 5.2 km | 43% | 79.3 | C |
| Saint David 7.3 km | 8.0 km | 43% | 79.3 | C− |
| Saint James 15 km | 19 km | 43% | 79.3 | D |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry St. Stephen’s regional figures. Residents of Saint James live further from a hospital, at 19 km against 1.8 km in St. Stephen.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for St. Stephen itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
Questions about health in St. Stephen
How healthy is St. Stephen?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 21%.
What is the life expectancy in St. Stephen?
Women in St. Stephen’s region live to 81.1 on average and men to 77.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is St. Stephen’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so St. Stephen has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is St. Stephen from a hospital?
Residents of St. Stephen have a pharmacy 1.5 km away on average, in a straight line.
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).