Photo: Tudor Costache / TheGiantVermin at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5Simcoe scores below 86% of Canadian towns for health
Across the region, 48% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Ontario as a whole reaches 51%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Simcoe’s is long: 11 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Simcoe grades D for health, #848 of 866 in Ontario and #2,465 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Simcoe
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Simcoe than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 19% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
A region where lives run shorter
Simcoe’s region sits 1.9 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A heavier load of illness
High blood pressure (29%) and diabetes (9.1%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is Simcoe’s own health question: 2% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 4.9 km. 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.
Simcoe grades D 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: #848 of 866 in Ontario and #2,465 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 29% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.1%
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
Self-reported obesity, 45%, tops Ontario (30%). More adults drink heavily, 21% to the province’s 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
The region comes 27th of 34 in Ontario, where life expectancy runs from 73.7 to 86.3 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Simcoe’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Getting to hospital from Simcoe: 11 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Simcoe, weighted by who lives there.
Simcoe is further out than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The centre of population is 4.9 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 11 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.2 years short of the trend
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Simcoe’s region is below the line.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.0, Simcoe’s region’s 79.6 years sit under the line’s 80.8. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 7 still live longer, with 80.3 years in the middle. Higher incomes, shorter lives: about $87,000 a household, above most regions’, with a life expectancy below most; income and lifespan correlate at only 0.14 across regions.
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%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Neither ahead nor behind Ontario on mental health (53% to 51%), the region has 23% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Simcoe is 38th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (56,059 to 100,806 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 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Chomedey QC A | 81,813 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 36 | Stouffville ON A− | 58,010 | 10 km | 51% |
| 37 | Caledonia ON D | 56,059 | 10 km | 48% |
| 38 | Simcoe ON D | 75,618 | 11 km | 48% |
| 39 | Bolton ON B+ | 90,201 | 12 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.
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.
- 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.
- 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 Simcoe 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.
- 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 Simcoe
What is the life expectancy in Simcoe?
Women in Simcoe’s region live to 81.9 on average and men to 77.6, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Simcoe?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
How far is Simcoe from a hospital?
For everyday care, Simcoe’s residents are 5.2 km from a pharmacy and 8.2 km from a clinic on average.
How is Simcoe’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Simcoe’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
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).