Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.051% of adults around Smiths Falls rate their health very good or excellent
The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 81.2, with women at 83.3 and men at 79.2. Measured from where Smiths Falls’ residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.4 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Smiths Falls is B, #643 of 866 in Ontario and #1,904 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Smiths Falls
Near a hospital
The hospital is close for almost everyone in Smiths Falls: 1.0 km from its centre of population. Getting care ↓
Deprivation runs high
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Smiths Falls at 4.4 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
A typical home in Smiths Falls has 6.0 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.7 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Smiths Falls grades B 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: #643 of 866 in Ontario and #1,904 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.
Getting to hospital from Smiths Falls: 1.4 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Smiths Falls, weighted by who lives there.
Smiths Falls is closer in than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
Life expectancy across the 34 health 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
This region is 15th 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; Smiths Falls’ 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Smiths Falls’ region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
More deprivation, shorter lives: that holds across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and Smiths Falls’ region fits it, 81.2 years at 2.9 against the line’s 81.3. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (4) and half worse (4), around a median of 81.2.
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (24%) and diabetes (7.6%)
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 38% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 21% 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.
49% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to 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
Mental health looks better than in the province too: 56% rate it very good or excellent, against 51% in Ontario, and 22% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Smiths Falls is 7th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (10,885 to 11,339 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cabbagetown-South St.James Town ON A | 11,205 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 2 | Penetanguishene ON A− | 11,141 | 0.8 km | 54% |
| 3 | Bendale South ON A | 10,885 | 0.9 km | 50% |
| 5 | Hintonburg-Mechanicsville ON A+ | 10,966 | 1.2 km | 56% |
| 6 | Little Saigon BC A+ | 11,086 | 1.3 km | 50% |
| 7 | Smiths Falls ON B | 11,093 | 1.4 km | 51% |
| 8 | Dufferin Grove ON A | 11,276 | 1.5 km | 50% |
| 9 | East London ON A− | 10,972 | 1.5 km | 52% |
| 40 | Yellowhead County AB D− | 10,966 | 27 km | 48% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Smiths Falls
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smiths Falls | 1.4 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Montague 6.9 km | 6.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| Merrickville 12 km | 5.4 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| Drummond/North Elmsley 16 km | 7.3 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| Perth 19 km | 1.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
Only the hospital column is local here: Smiths Falls and its neighbours share one health region’s survey. Residents of Drummond/North Elmsley live further from a hospital, at 7.3 km against 1.4 km in Smiths Falls.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Smiths Falls itself is the trip to care.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- 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.
Questions about health in Smiths Falls
How is Smiths Falls’ 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 Smiths Falls’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Smiths Falls from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Smiths Falls is 1.1 km from a clinic and 0.7 km from a pharmacy.
How healthy is Smiths Falls?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Smiths Falls?
There is no figure for Smiths Falls alone; its health region’s is 83.3 for women and 79.2 for men in 2022/2024.
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).