Photo: Percy Russell Doherty · Public domainPeople in Fort Frances’ health region live to 73.7 on average, 7.8 years short of the typical Canadian town
In the health survey, 44% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than Ontario’s 51%. Closer to home, a hospital is just 1.6 km from the average resident of Fort Frances, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Health gives Fort Frances a grade of C, #788 of 866 in Ontario and #2,263 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Fort Frances
Fewer years than its deprivation would give
Regions scoring 4.4 on the deprivation index typically live 75.9 years; Fort Frances’ region, at 73.7, falls short. For its deprivation ↓
More smokers
Smoking is commoner around Fort Frances than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 13% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Self-rated health runs low
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 7.2 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 43%. Health survey ↓
Harder circumstances
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.8 out of 5, Fort Frances sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
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.
Fort Frances grades C 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: #788 of 866 in Ontario and #2,263 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 2.2 years of life
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Fort Frances’ lies below the line.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Fort Frances belongs to lives less long than its score of 4.4 predicts: 73.7 years, where the trend gives 75.9. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes last; their median is 78.5 years. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $84,000, more than in most regions, yet lives here are shorter than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 0.14).
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (20%) and diabetes (5.8%)
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 43%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (31% against 17%).
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.
43% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Ontario (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
On mental health the region is behind Ontario, 44% very good or excellent to 51%; 20% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
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
No region of the 34 in Ontario has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 86.3, a gap of 12.6 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Fort Frances’ own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
From Fort Frances, a hospital is 1.6 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Fort Frances’ own, not the region’s.
Residents of Fort Frances are closer than most of the province: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
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.
Fort Frances is 11th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,463 to 7,770 people, median 3.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landsdale ON B+ | 7,681 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | University ON A | 7,595 | 0.6 km | 50% |
| 3 | Ermineskin AB B+ | 7,483 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 9 | Lakeview SK B+ | 7,770 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 10 | Parry Sound ON C | 7,584 | 1.6 km | 47% |
| 11 | Fort Frances ON C | 7,607 | 1.6 km | 44% |
| 12 | Blake-Jones ON A | 7,494 | 1.6 km | 50% |
| 13 | Playter Estates-Danforth ON A | 7,712 | 1.6 km | 50% |
| 40 | Saint-Calixte QC B | 7,627 | 21 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Fort Frances shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- 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.
Questions about health in Fort Frances
What is the life expectancy in Fort Frances?
For the health region that includes Fort Frances, women can expect 75.2 years and men 72.3 (2022/2024).
How is Fort Frances’ Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Fort Frances’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Fort Frances?
Taken together the region leans less healthy than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 16%.
How far is Fort Frances from a hospital?
A clinic is 1.3 km from the average resident of Fort Frances and a pharmacy 1.5 km, as the crow flies.
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).