Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Very good or excellent health for 49% of adults in St. Thomas’ health region
The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 80.6, with women at 83.0 and men at 78.2. Measured from where St. Thomas’ residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.7 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives St. Thomas a grade of B−, #663 of 866 in Ontario and #1,951 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in St. Thomas
Pharmacies close at hand
With 4.1 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.1 km off, St. Thomas 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. Thomas 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: #663 of 866 in Ontario and #1,951 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.
From St. Thomas, a hospital is 1.7 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of St. Thomas, weighted by who lives there.
St. Thomas 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.
The region lives 0.8 years less than its deprivation predicts
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, St. Thomas’, lies beneath the trend.
The trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a region scored 2.9 about 81.4 years of life. St. Thomas’ region falls short of it, at 80.6. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 8 of 10; their median is 81.4 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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 10% diabetes
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
Self-reported obesity, 38%, tops Ontario (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.
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
Of the 34 health regions in Ontario, 21st place goes to this one, between a low of 73.7 and a high of 86.3.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for St. Thomas 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Ontario: 49% and 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
On mental health the region tracks Ontario, 50% very good or excellent to 51%; 23% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: St. Thomas comes 4th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (42,989 to 56,897 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sault-Saint-Louis QC A | 47,270 | 1.3 km | 54% |
| 2 | Saint-Eustache QC A+ | 47,562 | 1.4 km | 60% |
| 3 | Cornwall ON B− | 54,346 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 4 | St. Thomas ON B− | 49,388 | 1.7 km | 49% |
| 5 | Whalley BC A | 52,642 | 1.8 km | 50% |
| 6 | Port-Maurice QC A | 45,720 | 1.9 km | 54% |
| 40 | Lakeshore ON B− | 45,954 | 20 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around St. Thomas
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. Thomas | 1.7 km | 49% | 80.6 | B− |
| Central Elgin 2.0 km | 6.8 km | 49% | 80.6 | B− |
| Southwold 13 km | 8.4 km | 49% | 80.6 | B− |
| Aylmer 15 km | 16 km | 49% | 80.6 | C+ |
| Malahide 17 km | 18 km | 49% | 80.6 | C+ |
| Lambeth 18 km | 7.1 km | 52% | 81.9 | B+ |
| White Oaks 19 km | 2.5 km | 52% | 81.9 | A− |
Across a regional line, Lambeth has its own figures: life expectancy 81.9, against 80.6 here. Malahide is the furthest from care, 18 km to St. Thomas’ 1.7 km.
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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for St. Thomas 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.
- 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. 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. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
Questions about health in St. Thomas
How is St. Thomas’ Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and St. Thomas’ distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is St. Thomas?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in St. Thomas?
Women in St. Thomas’ region live to 83.0 on average and men to 78.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is St. Thomas from a hospital?
A clinic is 2.2 km from the average resident of St. Thomas and a pharmacy 1.1 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).