Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.054% of adults around St. John's rate their health very good or excellent
Lives in the region last 80.2 years on average (2022/2024): 82.1 for women, 78.2 for men. For St. John's itself the measure is access: 3.0 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for St. John's is B−, #1 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #1,999 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in St. John's
Fewer years than its deprivation would give
Regions scoring 2.6 on the deprivation index typically live 82.2 years; St. John's’ region, at 80.2, falls short. For its deprivation ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Life expectancy in the region around St. John's runs 1.3 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.4 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 8.5% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 5.5 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.3 km off, St. John's is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
St. John's grades B− 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: #1 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #1,999 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.
Behind regions as deprived by 2.0 years of life
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; St. John's’ region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Deprivation accounts for much of the spread between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), but not for all of St. John's’ region’s: 80.2 years where the line expects 82.2 at 2.6. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (9 of 10, median 81.7 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 regions in Newfoundland and Labrador
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the longest-lived of the 5 regions in Newfoundland and Labrador, 3.1 years ahead of the last at 77.1.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where St. 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.
High blood pressure for 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.5%
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Self-reported obesity, 36%, trails Newfoundland and Labrador (42%).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Getting to hospital from St. John's: 3.0 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of St. John's, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 8.5 km for the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, St. John's is on the near side.
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.
More people rate their health highly here than in Newfoundland and Labrador: 54% to 50%
How adults in the health region answered the survey, not adjusted for age; the tick marks the province.
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Newfoundland and Labrador (49% against 54%), while 21% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: St. John's comes 10th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (95,763 to 174,469 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | Newmarket ON A | 95,763 | 2.5 km | 51% |
| 3 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 8 | Milton ON A | 157,345 | 2.8 km | 54% |
| 9 | Coquitlam BC A | 173,599 | 2.9 km | 48% |
| 10 | St. John's NL B− | 128,693 | 3.0 km | 54% |
| 11 | Brantford ON C+ | 123,521 | 3.1 km | 43% |
| 12 | Ajax ON B | 141,111 | 3.2 km | 50% |
| 40 | Terrebonne QC B+ | 126,872 | 9.7 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around St. John's
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 3.0 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Mount Pearl 6.6 km | 5.3 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove 9.4 km | 7.1 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9.7 km | 8.6 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Paradise 9.8 km | 9.8 km | 54% | 80.2 | C+ |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 10 km | 8.3 km | 54% | 80.2 | B− |
| Torbay 11 km | 9.3 km | 54% | 80.2 | C+ |
One health region covers St. John's and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Residents of Paradise live further from a hospital, at 9.8 km against 3.0 km in St. John's.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to St. John's alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in St. John's
What is the life expectancy in St. John's?
There is no figure for St. John's alone; its health region’s is 82.1 for women and 78.2 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is St. John's?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Chronic conditions there average 19% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is St. John's from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in St. John's live: 61 km to a clinic, 1.3 km to a pharmacy.
How is St. John's’ Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and St. John's’ distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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).