Photo: The Town of Ajax · CC BY 3.0Very good or excellent health for 50% of adults in Ajax’s health region
People in the region live to 82.6 on average: 84.7 for women and 80.5 for men in 2022/2024. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Ajax live 3.2 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Health gives Ajax a grade of B, #518 of 866 in Ontario and #1,575 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Ajax
A long-lived region
Born around Ajax, a child can expect 1.1 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.0 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 23% of adults, diabetes for 10%. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
The average resident of Ajax can reach 7.6 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.9 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Ajax 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: #518 of 866 in Ontario and #1,575 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.
How the 34 health regions in Ontario compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Ontario runs from 73.7 to 86.3; this region sits 7th of the 34.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Ajax’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 10%
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 36%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%.
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.
Getting to hospital from Ajax: 3.2 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Ajax’s own, not the region’s.
That is close to the 3.3 km of the typical town in Ontario (the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km), as Ajax goes.
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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Ajax’s region comes out on the trend.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Ajax’s region is a typical case: 82.6 years at a score of 2.5, where the trend says 82.8. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 82.7 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.
Self-rated health much as in Ontario: 50% to 51%
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
Mental wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 52% very good or excellent against 51% for Ontario; stress is a daily matter for 24%.
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: Ajax comes 10th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 100,806 to 197,737 people, median 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 3 | Moncton NB B− | 102,378 | 2.7 km | 43% |
| 8 | St. John's NL B− | 128,693 | 3.0 km | 54% |
| 9 | Brantford ON C+ | 123,521 | 3.1 km | 43% |
| 10 | Ajax ON B | 141,111 | 3.2 km | 50% |
| 11 | Thunder Bay ON C− | 117,671 | 3.2 km | 49% |
| 12 | Guelph ON B+ | 160,760 | 3.3 km | 51% |
| 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 Ajax
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajax | 3.2 km | 50% | 82.6 | B |
| Pickering 6.6 km | 6.1 km | 50% | 82.6 | B |
| Whitby 8.5 km | 5.1 km | 50% | 82.6 | B |
| West Rouge 12 km | 4.8 km | 50% | 84.7 | A− |
| Centennial Scarborough 13 km | 4.6 km | 50% | 84.7 | A− |
| Highland Creek 14 km | 2.8 km | 50% | 84.7 | A |
| Oshawa 15 km | 2.9 km | 50% | 82.6 | B+ |
West Rouge falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 84.7 against 82.6 here.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Ajax itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Ajax
What is the life expectancy in Ajax?
There is no figure for Ajax alone; its health region’s is 84.7 for women and 80.5 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Ajax?
The region does better than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Chronic conditions there average 19% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Ajax’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Ajax has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Ajax from a hospital?
For everyday care, Ajax’s residents are 0.9 km from a pharmacy and 3.2 km from a clinic on average.
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).