Photo: Don-vip · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Niagara Falls, 49% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Lives in the region last 81.2 years on average (2022/2024): 83.6 for women, 78.8 for men. For Niagara Falls itself the measure is access: 2.7 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Niagara Falls a grade of C+, #722 of 866 in Ontario and #2,130 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Niagara Falls
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Niagara Falls is well above the typical town’s; 11% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
More chronic illness
High blood pressure (25%) and diabetes (11%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
A typical home in Niagara Falls has 6.6 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 1.0 km away. Getting care ↓
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.
Niagara Falls 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: #722 of 866 in Ontario and #2,130 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (25%) and diabetes (11%)
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: 32%, the province 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.
The nearest hospital is 2.7 km from the average home in Niagara Falls
Straight-line distances from each part of Niagara Falls, weighted by who lives there.
That is close to the 3.3 km of the typical town in Ontario (the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km), as Niagara Falls 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
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Niagara Falls’ region’s dot is close to the line.
More deprivation, shorter lives: that holds across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and Niagara Falls’ region fits it, 81.2 years at 2.9 against the line’s 81.4. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (5 of 10, median 81.4 years). Modest pay, about $80,000 a household, and long lives sit side by side here: across regions, income and life expectancy hardly move together (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.
How the 34 health regions in Ontario compare on life expectancy
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Ontario, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This region is 15th longest-lived of 34 in Ontario, on a scale from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Niagara Falls itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 48% 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
Stress touches 20% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 50%, the province 51% (Ontario).
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: Niagara Falls comes 8th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (85,160 to 157,345 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Saint-Jérôme QC A+ | 85,160 | 2.1 km | 60% |
| 6 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 7 | Moncton NB B− | 102,378 | 2.7 km | 43% |
| 8 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 9 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 10 | Peterborough ON C+ | 97,834 | 2.8 km | 47% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Niagara Falls
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Falls | 2.7 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Thorold 9.5 km | 3.5 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| St. Catharines 14 km | 2.6 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake 14 km | 4.4 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Welland 17 km | 2.4 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Pelham 17 km | 8.0 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
Same region, same survey: Niagara Falls’ neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital. Residents of Pelham live further from a hospital, at 8.0 km against 2.7 km in Niagara Falls.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Niagara Falls alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- 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.
Questions about health in Niagara Falls
How is Niagara Falls’ Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Niagara Falls’ distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Niagara Falls?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
What is the life expectancy in Niagara Falls?
Women in Niagara Falls’ region live to 83.6 on average and men to 78.8, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Niagara Falls from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Niagara Falls live: 2.7 km to a clinic, 1.0 km to a pharmacy.
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).