Photo: Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0North Bay’s health region counts 18% of adults who smoke, above the typical Canadian town’s 12%
Across the region, 47% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Ontario as a whole reaches 51%. What sets North Bay apart within its region is distance, and at 2.8 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). Health gives North Bay a grade of C, #811 of 866 in Ontario and #2,321 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in North Bay
Longer lives than its deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 3.7 on the deprivation index typically live 78.2 years; North Bay’s region, at 80.0, does better. For its deprivation ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around North Bay runs 1.5 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 20.2 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Less upbeat about their health
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 4.3 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 46% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
With 4.5 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.5 km off, North Bay is well served for prescriptions. 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.
North Bay 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: #811 of 866 in Ontario and #2,321 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.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.8 years
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for North Bay’s region, above the line, stands for every town in it.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet North Bay’s region beats it: 80.0 years against the 78.2 the trend gives a score of 3.7. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, shorter lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 78.2 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.
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
Among the 34 regions in Ontario, from 73.7 to 86.3 years, this one is 24th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; North Bay’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
46% 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
Mental health is no outlier: 49% say very good or excellent (Ontario: 51%) and 25% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From North Bay, a hospital is 2.8 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of North Bay, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for North Bay here: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital and 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.
27% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.7% diabetes
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%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (24% 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.
Among 40 towns its size, North Bay is 13th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (49,527 to 75,618 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 66,624 | 1.1 km | 59% |
| 2 | Cornwall ON B− | 54,346 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 3 | Whalley BC A | 52,642 | 1.8 km | 50% |
| 11 | St. Albert AB B+ | 74,621 | 2.6 km | 51% |
| 12 | Grande Prairie AB C− | 71,160 | 2.7 km | 48% |
| 13 | North Bay ON C | 62,062 | 2.8 km | 47% |
| 14 | Vernon BC B+ | 49,527 | 3.0 km | 52% |
| 15 | Pointe-aux-Trembles QC A | 49,869 | 3.0 km | 54% |
| 40 | Keswick ON B+ | 53,630 | 17 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around North Bay
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Bay | 2.8 km | 47% | 80.0 | C |
| Callander 14 km | 15 km | 47% | 80.0 | C− |
| East Ferris 15 km | 15 km | 47% | 80.0 | C− |
North Bay and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Residents of Callander live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 2.8 km in North Bay.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for North Bay itself is the trip to care.
- 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. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- 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.
Questions about health in North Bay
How is North Bay’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for North Bay: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is North Bay?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
What is the life expectancy in North Bay?
There is no figure for North Bay alone; its health region’s is 82.6 for women and 77.6 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is North Bay from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in North Bay is 1.6 km from a clinic and 1.5 km from 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).