Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.056% of adults around Saint-Thomas rate their health very good or excellent
Statistics Canada puts the region’s life expectancy at 82.0, women 83.7 and men 80.3 (2022/2024). Closer to home, a hospital is 6.7 km from the average resident of Saint-Thomas, further than the usual 3.7 km. Saint-Thomas grades A− for health, #380 of 503 in Quebec and #1,114 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Saint-Thomas
More years than its deprivation would give
Saint-Thomas’ region beats what its deprivation score of 3.1 predicts: 82.0 years against 80.3. For its deprivation ↓
Long-term conditions run low
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are rarer here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 21% report high blood pressure and 8.2% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Saint-Thomas grades A− 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: #380 of 503 in Quebec and #1,114 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.
1.7 years above the line for regions this deprived
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Saint-Thomas’ region sits above the trend line through 102 regions.
At 3.1 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 80.3 years, and the region Saint-Thomas belongs to reaches 82.0. Against the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, none lives longer; the middle of the group is 80.9 years. Modest pay, about $81,000 a household, and long lives sit side by side here: across regions, income and life expectancy hardly move together (0.14).
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 (21%) and diabetes (8.2%)
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
More adults report obesity than across Quebec: 33%, the province 29%.
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.
The nearest hospital is 6.7 km from the average home in Saint-Thomas
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Saint-Thomas’ own, not the region’s.
Nothing unusual for Saint-Thomas here: the typical town in Quebec is 5.3 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 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.
How the 18 health regions in Quebec compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Quebec, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 8th of 18 in Quebec: the regions span 65.2 to 84.1 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Saint-Thomas’ residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
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 Quebec: 55% and 56%
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
Neither ahead nor behind Quebec on mental health (64% to 64%), the region has 20% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Saint-Thomas comes 24th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,412 to 3,543 people, median 3.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lynnwood AB B+ | 3,452 | 0.4 km | 51% |
| 2 | Malartic QC B+ | 3,506 | 0.8 km | 57% |
| 3 | Virginia Park AB B+ | 3,431 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 22 | Niakwa Place MB B+ | 3,461 | 4.9 km | 52% |
| 23 | Electoral Area B, North Okanagan BC B | 3,415 | 6.0 km | 52% |
| 24 | Saint-Thomas QC A− | 3,477 | 6.7 km | 56% |
| 25 | Port Hawkesbury NS C− | 3,442 | 10 km | 49% |
| 26 | Wellington NB C+ | 3,458 | 11 km | 43% |
| 40 | Electoral Area F, Columbia-Shuswap BC C− | 3,475 | 29 km | 48% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Saint-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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Thomas | 6.7 km | 56% | 82.0 | A− |
| Joliette 7.2 km | 1.3 km | 56% | 82.0 | A− |
| Saint-Paul 7.3 km | 4.2 km | 56% | 82.0 | A− |
| Notre-Dame-des-Prairies 7.9 km | 2.5 km | 56% | 82.0 | A− |
| Saint-Charles-Borromée 9.8 km | 1.6 km | 56% | 82.0 | A− |
| Sainte-Élisabeth 11 km | 10 km | 56% | 82.0 | B+ |
| Lanoraie 11 km | 14 km | 56% | 82.0 | B+ |
One health region covers Saint-Thomas and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Lanoraie is the furthest from care, 14 km to Saint-Thomas’ 6.7 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Saint-Thomas shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Saint-Thomas
How healthy is Saint-Thomas?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 15% of adults.
How far is Saint-Thomas from a hospital?
A clinic is 1.8 km from the average resident of Saint-Thomas and a pharmacy 1.8 km, as the crow flies.
What is the life expectancy in Saint-Thomas?
Women in Saint-Thomas’ region live to 83.7 on average and men to 80.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Saint-Thomas’ Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Saint-Thomas’ 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).