Photo: Kitchener-Waterloo Record · Public domainFew places match Cambridge for health: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 53% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than Ontario’s 51%. Closer to home, a hospital sits 3.3 km from the average resident of Cambridge, about the norm of 3.7 km. Health gives Cambridge a grade of A, #167 of 866 in Ontario and #652 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Cambridge
A long-lived region
Life expectancy in the region around Cambridge runs 1.3 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.2 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
With 5.2 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.1 km off, Cambridge is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Cambridge grades A 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: #167 of 866 in Ontario and #652 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
Among the 34 regions in Ontario, from 73.7 to 86.3 years, this one is 6th.
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 Cambridge’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.
The nearest hospital is 3.3 km from the average home in Cambridge
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Cambridge’s own, not the region’s.
For distance to care Cambridge is ordinary: 3.3 km is the typical figure in Ontario, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 1.2 km, while the average resident is 3.3 km away.
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 about where the region’s deprivation puts it, a shade above
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Cambridge’s region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Cambridge’s region is a typical case: 82.8 years at a score of 2.6, where the trend says 82.5. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 7, with 82.5 years in the middle.
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.
High blood pressure for 17% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8%
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 33%, 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.
Self-rated health beats Ontario: 55% very good or excellent, against 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
Asked about their mental health, 52% of adults here said very good or excellent; across Ontario it was 51%, and 23% reported most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Cambridge is 13th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 105,925 to 243,107 people, median 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 2 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 3 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 11 | Thunder Bay ON C− | 117,671 | 3.2 km | 49% |
| 12 | Guelph ON B+ | 160,760 | 3.3 km | 51% |
| 13 | Cambridge ON A | 165,354 | 3.3 km | 53% |
| 14 | Oakville ON A | 243,107 | 3.4 km | 54% |
| 15 | Trois-Rivières QC A | 149,934 | 3.5 km | 61% |
| 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 Cambridge
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | 3.3 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Pioneer Tower West 7.7 km | 2.7 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Doon South 9.6 km | 4.4 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Pioneer Park 10 km | 3.0 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Centreville Chicopee 11 km | 1.4 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Grand River South 11 km | 2.7 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Idlewood 12 km | 2.7 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
The neighbours all sit in Cambridge’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical.
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 Cambridge’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
Questions about health in Cambridge
How is Cambridge’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Cambridge has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Cambridge?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.9 for women, 80.7 for men around Cambridge (2022/2024).
How healthy is Cambridge?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
How far is Cambridge from a hospital?
Residents of Cambridge have a clinic 1.6 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.1 km away, in straight lines.
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).