Photo: GTD Aquitaine · Public domainVery good or excellent health for 47% of adults in Peterborough’s health region
People in the region live to 80.5 on average: 82.8 for women and 78.1 for men in 2022/2024. Closer to home, a hospital sits 2.8 km from the average resident of Peterborough, about the norm of 3.7 km. Peterborough grades C+ for health, #749 of 866 in Ontario and #2,190 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Peterborough
More smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Peterborough is well above the typical town’s; 10% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy below the norm
Born around Peterborough, a child can expect 1.0 fewer years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 20.6 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
A typical home in Peterborough has 15 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.8 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Peterborough 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: #749 of 866 in Ontario and #2,190 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 (24%) 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
At 40%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 30%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (23% 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 34 regions in Ontario
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 22nd.
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; Peterborough’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.
The nearest hospital is 2.8 km from the average home in Peterborough
Straight-line distances from each part of Peterborough, 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 Peterborough 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.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Peterborough’s region is near the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.9, the expected figure is 81.1 years, and Peterborough’s region matches it closely with 80.5. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 6 still live longer, with 81.2 years in the middle. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $80,000, less than in most regions, yet lives here are longer 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.
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
Neither ahead nor behind Ontario on mental health (49% to 51%), the region has 27% of adults stressed most days.
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: Peterborough comes 11th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (74,621 to 126,872 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.7 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 | Chomedey QC A | 81,813 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 9 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 10 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 11 | Peterborough ON C+ | 97,834 | 2.8 km | 47% |
| 12 | Brantford ON C+ | 123,521 | 3.1 km | 43% |
| 13 | Thunder Bay ON C− | 117,671 | 3.2 km | 49% |
| 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 Peterborough
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peterborough | 2.8 km | 47% | 80.5 | C+ |
| Otonabee-South Monaghan 11 km | 13 km | 47% | 80.5 | C |
| Bridgenorth 12 km | 14 km | 47% | 80.5 | C |
| Millbrook 16 km | 15 km | 47% | 80.5 | C |
| Douro-Dummer 18 km | 20 km | 47% | 80.5 | C− |
One health region covers Peterborough and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Residents of Douro-Dummer live further from a hospital, at 20 km against 2.8 km in Peterborough.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Peterborough alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
Questions about health in Peterborough
How is Peterborough’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Peterborough: 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 Peterborough?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 19% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Peterborough?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.8 for women, 78.1 for men around Peterborough (2022/2024).
How far is Peterborough from a hospital?
A clinic is 1.5 km from the average resident of Peterborough 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).