Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0More smokers around Parry Sound: 18% of adults, where the typical Canadian town has 12%
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 47%, behind the 51% for Ontario. For Parry Sound itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.6 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Parry Sound is C, #793 of 866 in Ontario and #2,281 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Parry Sound
Living past what deprivation predicts
Regions scoring 3.7 on the deprivation index typically live 78.2 years; Parry Sound’s region, at 80.0, does better. For its deprivation ↓
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Parry Sound 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 ↓
Self-rated health runs low
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 4.3 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 46%. Health survey ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
With 4.0 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.9 km off, Parry Sound 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.
Parry Sound 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: #793 of 866 in Ontario and #2,281 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.
Longer-lived than its deprivation suggests, by 1.8 years
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Parry Sound’s region is above the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.7, the expected figure is 78.2 years, and Parry Sound’s region does better with 80.0. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (9 of 10, median 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 34 regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This region is 24th 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
The index is context and never graded: it describes Parry Sound’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.
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 46% 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
On mental health the region tracks Ontario, 49% very good or excellent to 51%; 25% 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.
From Parry Sound, a hospital is 1.6 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Parry Sound’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 3.3 km for the typical town in Ontario and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Parry Sound is on the near side.
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.
High blood pressure for 27% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.7%
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 36% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 24% to 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.
Parry Sound is 9th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,437 to 7,760 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% |
| 7 | Lochdale BC A | 7,463 | 1.3 km | 48% |
| 8 | Louiseville QC A | 7,570 | 1.4 km | 61% |
| 9 | Parry Sound ON C | 7,584 | 1.6 km | 47% |
| 10 | Fort Frances ON C | 7,607 | 1.6 km | 44% |
| 11 | Blake-Jones ON A | 7,494 | 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.
Health in the places around Parry Sound
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parry Sound | 1.6 km | 47% | 80.0 | C |
| The Archipelago 5.8 km | 5.6 km | 47% | 80.0 | C− |
| McDougall 12 km | 11 km | 47% | 80.0 | C− |
| McKellar 16 km | 19 km | 47% | 80.0 | D |
| Carling 17 km | 17 km | 47% | 80.0 | D |
| Seguin 18 km | 17 km | 47% | 80.0 | D |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Parry Sound from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of McKellar live further from a hospital, at 19 km against 1.6 km in Parry Sound.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Parry Sound itself is the trip to care.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
Questions about health in Parry Sound
How is Parry Sound’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Parry Sound’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Parry Sound?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 19%.
What is the life expectancy in Parry Sound?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Parry Sound’s health region only: 82.6 years for women and 77.6 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Parry Sound from a hospital?
For everyday care, Parry Sound’s residents are 0.9 km from a pharmacy and 0.9 km from a clinic on average.
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).