Photo: Gogerr · CC BY-SA 4.049% of adults around St. Catharines rate their health very good or excellent
Lives in the region last 81.2 years on average (2022/2024): 83.6 for women, 78.8 for men. Closer to home, a hospital sits 2.6 km from the average resident of St. Catharines, about the norm of 3.7 km. St. Catharines grades C+ for health, #721 of 866 in Ontario and #2,126 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in St. Catharines
A region that smokes more
Around St. Catharines, 11% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Long-term conditions run high
High blood pressure (25%) and diabetes (11%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
With 17 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.6 km off, St. Catharines is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
St. Catharines 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: #721 of 866 in Ontario and #2,126 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 (25%) 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
On weight the region is ordinary for Ontario: 32% report obesity, the province 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.
Getting to hospital from St. Catharines: 2.6 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of St. Catharines, weighted by who lives there.
St. Catharines is near the provincial norm, 3.3 km for the typical town in Ontario, with 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.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding St. Catharines’ lies near the line.
Canada’s 102 health regions show life expectancy dropping as deprivation climbs (correlation −0.83); a region scored 2.9 would be expected to reach 81.4 years, and St. Catharines’ region is close, at 81.2. It is outlived by 5 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 81.4 years. Lower incomes, longer lives: about $80,000 a household, under most regions’, with a life expectancy above 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.
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
Life expectancy in Ontario runs from 73.7 to 86.3; this region sits 15th of the 34.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for St. Catharines itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 48% 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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across Ontario (50% against 51%), while 20% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
St. Catharines is 2nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (103,888 to 222,031 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 3 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 4 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 40 | Terrebonne QC B+ | 126,872 | 9.7 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around St. Catharines
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Catharines | 2.6 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Thorold 7.3 km | 3.5 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake 11 km | 4.4 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Niagara Falls 14 km | 2.7 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Beamsville 15 km | 7.0 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
| Pelham 16 km | 8.0 km | 49% | 81.2 | C+ |
Around St. Catharines the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Pelham live further from a hospital, at 8.0 km against 2.6 km in St. Catharines.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for St. Catharines itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- 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 St. Catharines
How healthy is St. Catharines?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 19% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in St. Catharines?
Women in St. Catharines’ region live to 83.6 on average and men to 78.8, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is St. Catharines from a hospital?
Residents of St. Catharines have a clinic 1.2 km away on average and a pharmacy 0.6 km away, in straight lines.
How is St. Catharines’ Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for St. Catharines: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with 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).