Photo: Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Guelph’s health region
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 82.4, women 84.5 and men 80.2 (2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Guelph live 3.3 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Guelph grades B+ for health, #493 of 866 in Ontario and #1,379 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Guelph
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Guelph can reach 10 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.8 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Guelph 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: #493 of 866 in Ontario and #1,379 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.
From Guelph, a hospital is 3.3 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Guelph’s own, not the region’s.
For distance to care Guelph is ordinary: 3.3 km is the typical figure in Ontario, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town.
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
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Guelph’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
Use the deprivation index alone and Guelph’s region, at 2.4, should live about 83.0 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and it reaches 82.4, near enough. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 8 still live longer, with 83.0 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (8.3%)
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
About as many adults report obesity as across Ontario: 31%, the province 30%. More adults drink heavily, 22% to the province’s 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.
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
The region comes 8th of 34 in Ontario, where life expectancy runs from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Guelph’s 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Ontario: 51% and 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 tracks Ontario, 49% very good or excellent to 51%; 23% 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.
Among 40 towns its size, Guelph is 12th nearest 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% |
| 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% |
| 13 | Cambridge ON A | 165,354 | 3.3 km | 53% |
| 14 | Oakville ON A | 243,107 | 3.4 km | 54% |
| 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 Guelph
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guelph | 3.3 km | 51% | 82.4 | B+ |
| Rockwood 5.3 km | 9.5 km | 51% | 82.4 | B |
| Puslinch 9.9 km | 11 km | 51% | 82.4 | B |
| Grand River South 17 km | 2.7 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Grand River North 18 km | 4.3 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Cambridge 18 km | 3.3 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
| Idlewood 18 km | 2.7 km | 53% | 82.8 | A |
Not every neighbour shares the region: Grand River South’s life expectancy is 82.8, this region’s 82.4. Puslinch is the furthest from care, 11 km to Guelph’s 3.3 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Guelph itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Guelph
How is Guelph’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Guelph: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Guelph?
Women in Guelph’s region live to 84.5 on average and men to 80.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Guelph?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
How far is Guelph from a hospital?
A clinic is 1.9 km from the average resident of Guelph and a pharmacy 0.8 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).