Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Very good or excellent health for 49% of adults in Winchester’s health region
Life expectancy in the region is 81.0 years (83.0 for women, 78.9 for men, 2022/2024). For Winchester itself the measure is access, and it lags: 7.0 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Winchester grades C+ for health, #731 of 866 in Ontario and #2,151 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Winchester
Smoking runs high
Around Winchester, 13% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Winchester 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: #731 of 866 in Ontario and #2,151 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 (23%) and diabetes (11%)
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 39% of adults against 30% for Ontario. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 22% 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.
As long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly longer
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Winchester’s region is near the line.
More deprivation, shorter lives: that holds across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and Winchester’s region fits it, 81.0 years at 3.2 against the line’s 80.3. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 81.0 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.
The nearest hospital is 7.0 km from the average home in Winchester
Straight-line distances from each part of Winchester, weighted by who lives there.
Winchester is further out than the provincial norm of 3.3 km in Ontario, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.2 km, while the average resident is 7.0 km away.
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.
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 18th 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
This is the one part of the block measured for Winchester 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.
48% 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 27% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Winchester is 32nd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (12,424 to 12,990 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yonge-Bay Corridor ON A | 12,888 | 0.3 km | 50% |
| 2 | Regent Park ON A | 12,797 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Yonge-Eglinton ON A | 12,424 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 30 | North Saanich BC A | 12,986 | 6.9 km | 55% |
| 31 | New Springbrook ON B+ | 12,804 | 6.9 km | 49% |
| 32 | Winchester ON C+ | 12,706 | 7.0 km | 49% |
| 33 | Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine QC C+ | 12,427 | 7.2 km | 56% |
| 34 | Saint-Hippolyte QC A | 12,550 | 12 km | 60% |
| 40 | Lac Ste. Anne County AB D− | 12,639 | 25 km | 48% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Winchester
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winchester | 7.0 km | 49% | 81.0 | C+ |
| Metcalfe 19 km | 18 km | 56% | 83.7 | A− |
Metcalfe falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 83.7 against 81.0 here. Residents of Metcalfe live further from a hospital, at 18 km against 7.0 km in Winchester.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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.
- 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. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Winchester shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
Questions about health in Winchester
How is Winchester’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Winchester has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Winchester?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 19%.
How far is Winchester from a hospital?
Residents of Winchester have a clinic 15 km away on average and a pharmacy 4.7 km away, in straight lines.
What is the life expectancy in Winchester?
Women in Winchester’s region live to 83.0 on average and men to 78.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
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).