Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Lives run shorter around Sault Ste. Marie: 77.9 years, 3.6 below the typical Canadian town’s region
Across the region, 46% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Ontario as a whole reaches 51%. What sets Sault Ste. Marie apart within its region is distance, and at 3.6 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Sault Ste. Marie is C−, #843 of 866 in Ontario and #2,448 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sault Ste. Marie
Smoking runs high
Smoking is commoner around Sault Ste. Marie than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 15% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Fewer people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 5.5 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (45% as answered). Health survey ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 30% report high blood pressure and 9.6% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Sault Ste. Marie can reach 5.5 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.3 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Sault Ste. Marie 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: #843 of 866 in Ontario and #2,448 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.
High blood pressure for 30% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.6%
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
At 43%, self-reported obesity is above Ontario’s 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.
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 45% very good or excellent, against 51%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Ontario (48% against 51%), while 17% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
The nearest hospital is 3.6 km from the average home in Sault Ste. Marie
Straight-line distances from each part of Sault Ste. Marie, 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 Sault Ste. Marie goes. The centre of population is 1.5 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 3.6 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.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Sault Ste. Marie’s region shows close to the trend.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Sault Ste. Marie’s region is a typical case: 77.9 years at a score of 3.8, where the trend says 78.0. Even beside regions as deprived, it lags: 9 of its 10 closest matches reach further, their median 79.2 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
This region is 30th 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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Sault Ste. Marie’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.
Sault Ste. Marie is 22nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (61,739 to 107,345 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 66,624 | 1.1 km | 59% |
| 2 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 3 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 20 | Port Coquitlam BC A | 67,724 | 3.4 km | 48% |
| 21 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu QC A | 100,806 | 3.5 km | 55% |
| 22 | Sault Ste. Marie ON C− | 81,182 | 3.6 km | 46% |
| 23 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 97,845 | 3.6 km | 59% |
| 24 | Fredericton NB C | 74,655 | 4.0 km | 45% |
| 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 Sault Ste. Marie
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sault Ste. Marie | 3.6 km | 46% | 77.9 | C− |
| Garden River 14 14 km | 8.9 km | 46% | 77.9 | D |
| Prince 14 km | 15 km | 46% | 77.9 | D |
Around Sault Ste. Marie the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Prince live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 3.6 km in Sault Ste. Marie.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Sault Ste. Marie’s own.
Questions about health in Sault Ste. Marie
What is the life expectancy in Sault Ste. Marie?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Sault Ste. Marie’s health region only: 80.4 years for women and 75.6 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Sault Ste. Marie?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 20% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Sault Ste. Marie’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Sault Ste. Marie’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Sault Ste. Marie from a hospital?
For everyday care, Sault Ste. Marie’s residents are 1.3 km from a pharmacy and 1.8 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).