Fall River · WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0How Nova Scotia stacks up
Nova Scotia comes 13th of 13 among Canada’s provinces and territories: its best subject is safety, and jobs and income pulls it down furthest.
Each subject puts a figure for the whole province, averaged over all its residents, beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
4th of 13A−75/100 Better than most provinces and territories for safety. Both measures agree: the whole province and its towns do well here.
Violent crime’s part of the index: 91.5 (Canada 95.5), 3rd of 13.
Source: Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, 2023 to 2025, each place given the index of the force or detachment that serves it and averaged over the province’s residents.
Measure: our Safety grade: the Crime Severity Index of each place’s police. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 2,594 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 90 towns in Nova Scotia.
A mixed picture, town by town
Its safest towns are Cape Breton, Argyle and Yarmouth, ranked against all 2,594 graded Canadian towns. At the other end are Amherst, Yarmouth and New Glasgow, in the quarter of town residents living with the most recorded crime.
| Province | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 45% | 9% | |
| Prince Edward Island | 34% | 58% | |
| Quebec | 28% | 2% | |
| Nova Scotia | 13% | 14% | |
| British Columbia | 12% | 62% | |
| New Brunswick | 10% | 55% |
Where crimes are counted
Police record crimes where they happen, and each force’s index covers everyone it serves, so a regional detachment’s figure is shared by every town it polices, and a city centre that draws visitors records crimes against them too. The province figure averages every resident’s index; the town grades rank the places one by one.
Schools
Not gradedNot graded. There isn’t enough published data to grade schools here.
Cost of living
9th of 13C33/100 In the lower half of the provinces and territories on cost of living. Both measures agree, on the weaker side: the province as a whole and its towns.
A year’s rent against household income: 24% (Canada 23%), 12th of 13.
Owners’ median home value, 2021: $270,000 (Canada $585,000), 3rd of 13.
Monthly rent: $1,367 (Canada $1,599), 9th of 13.
Source: Statistics Canada, Census 2021 (owners’ home values, household income); CMHC rents, or the census rent scaled to them; each place’s ratio averaged over the province’s residents.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: home values and rents against household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 2,602 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 90 towns in Nova Scotia.
Health
9th of 13C33/100 Behind most provinces and territories for health. The province’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.4 years (Canada 82.2), 6th of 13.
Smoke, daily or occasionally (age-standardized): 14% (Canada 11%), 9th of 13.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey and life tables by health region, averaged over the province’s residents.
Measure: our Health grade: self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking, life expectancy and distance to a hospital. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 2,605 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 90 towns in Nova Scotia.
Jobs & income
13th of 13D−0/100 Among Canada’s weakest provinces and territories for jobs and income. The province’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
In work, aged 15 to 64: 69% (Canada 72%), 11th of 13.
Unemployment, 2021 census: 12.9% (Canada 10.4%), 11th of 13.
Source: Statistics Canada, Census 2021 (household income, employment, unemployment), averaged over the province’s residents.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: the share in work, household income and the time to work. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 2,611 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 90 towns in Nova Scotia.
Getting about
8th of 13C+42/100 Near the middle for getting about. Both measures agree, on the weaker side: the province as a whole and its towns.
Drive or are driven to work: 87% (Canada 83%).
Source: Statistics Canada, Census 2021, main mode of commuting, averaged over the province’s residents.
Measure: our Walkability grade: everyday places within reach, and walking, cycling and transit to work. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 2,611 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 90 towns in Nova Scotia.
Hazards
9th of 13C33/100 Behind most provinces and territories for hazards. The province’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Building value lost to earthquakes in a typical year, per $1,000: 0.0 (Canada 0.1), 7th of 13.
Source: Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes; Natural Resources Canada, Probabilistic Seismic Risk Model; averaged over the province’s residents.
Measure: our Hazards grade: earthquake loss and radon, with high wildfire as a ceiling. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 2,611 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 90 towns in Nova Scotia.
Growth
10th of 13C25/100 Behind most provinces and territories for growth. The province’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Source: Statistics Canada, population estimates (July 1) against the 2021 census, summed over the province’s places.
Measure: population change from 2016 to 2021 (census). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Canada’s 1,205 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 54 towns in Nova Scotia. Covers 55% of the residents of its graded towns.
How Nova Scotia compares with its neighbours
| Nova Scotia | New Brunswick | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | D− 013th of 13 | C 339th of 13 |
| Safety | A− 753rd official · 13% in top towns | B+ 675th official · 10% in top towns |
| Schools | Not graded | Not graded |
| Cost of living | C 335th official · 45% in top towns | A− 831st official · 70% in top towns |
| Health | C 3310th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1711th official · 0% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | D− 012th official · 15% in top towns | C+ 4213th official · 36% in top towns |
| Getting about | C+ 429th official · 13% in top towns | D− 013th official · 0% in top towns |
| Hazards | C 339th official · 14% in top towns | D− 013th official · 0% in top towns |
| Growth | C 258th official · 1% in top towns | C+ 3810th official · 25% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the province’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for Canada. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is a figure for the whole province: every place with a page, towns, reserves and cities together, each counted by the people living in it, so it speaks for almost everyone in the province. It is ranked against Canada’s other provinces and territories. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the province’s graded places of 2,500+, the share whose place is in Canada’s top quarter on the subject.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the province’s standing among Canada’s 13 provinces and territories: the two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best province, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs and income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, hazards 4 (out of 100), over the subjects a province has. Provinces and territories with fewer than 5 graded towns are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A province figure averages everyone, so it can’t show whether a province is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Schools have no province figure: each province writes its own tests, and only Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta publish results school by school, so only their towns carry a Schools measure. Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have too few graded places for the town measure, so their cards rest on the province figure. First Nations reserves are in no ranking, the town measure included. How grades work
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking Canadian towns against each other only, run #73 of 10 November 2026 · Province figures: each place with a page (every census subdivision of 1,000+, 98% of Canadians) weighted by its people; Statistics Canada, CMHC, Health Canada and Natural Resources Canada data, as each subject’s source line says. 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).