Photo: Madereugeneandrew · CC BY-SA 4.0For health, Kingston sits behind 89% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 44% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than Nova Scotia’s 48%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Kingston’s is long: 12 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Kingston a grade of D, #68 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,501 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Kingston
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Kingston is well above the typical town’s; 16% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Self-rated health runs low
Even once age is allowed for, 7.4 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (42% as answered). Health survey ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Kingston live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (7.7 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Outliving the trend for its deprivation
For a deprivation score of 3.9, the trend across regions gives 77.8 years of life; Kingston’s region reaches 80.0. For its deprivation ↓
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.
Kingston 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. Its place: #68 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #2,501 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.
27% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 13% diabetes
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
At 40%, self-reported obesity is near Nova Scotia’s 39%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
2.2 more years of life than regions as deprived
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Kingston’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
Across Canada’s 102 health regions, life expectancy falls as deprivation rises (correlation −0.83). For a region whose residents average 3.9 on the index, the line expects 77.8 years; Kingston’s region reaches 80.0. It tops the 10 regions closest to it on the index, which centre on 78.3 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.
42% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Nova Scotia (47%)
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
For 21% of adults most days are quite a bit stressful, and 47% rate their mental health very good or excellent, near Nova Scotia’s 48%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From Kingston, a hospital is 12 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Kingston, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Kingston here: the typical town in Nova Scotia is 9.2 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. The clinic list is thin in Nova Scotia: 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 4 regions in Nova Scotia
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Nova Scotia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Among the 4 regions in Nova Scotia, from 78.8 to 81.4 years, this one is 2nd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Kingston itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Kingston comes 36th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (23,484 to 25,745 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sault-au-Récollet QC A | 25,464 | 0.7 km | 54% |
| 2 | Cartierville QC A | 24,617 | 0.8 km | 54% |
| 3 | Wellington Place ON A | 25,729 | 0.8 km | 50% |
| 34 | Springwater ON B+ | 24,144 | 11 km | 54% |
| 35 | Oro-Medonte ON B+ | 24,681 | 12 km | 54% |
| 36 | Kingston NS D | 24,574 | 12 km | 44% |
| 37 | L'Assomption QC B+ | 25,126 | 14 km | 56% |
| 38 | Beloeil QC A− | 25,240 | 19 km | 55% |
| 40 | Essex ON B− | 23,872 | 22 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Kingston
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | 12 km | 44% | 80.0 | D |
| Berwick 8.0 km | 0.9 km | 44% | 80.0 | C− |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision C 16 km | 13 km | 44% | 80.0 | D |
Every place around Kingston shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Berwick is the closest to care, 0.9 km to Kingston’s 12 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Kingston’s own.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
Questions about health in Kingston
How healthy is Kingston?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 20%.
How is Kingston’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Kingston has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Kingston from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 4.0 km from the average resident of Kingston, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Kingston?
There is no figure for Kingston alone; its health region’s is 82.5 for women and 77.6 for men in 2022/2024.
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).