Photo: Sjvachon · CC BY-SA 4.0Health in Sainte-Marie beats 88% of Canadian towns
On self-rated health the region tracks the province: 59% very good or excellent, 57% for Quebec. What sets Sainte-Marie apart within its region is distance, and at 2.8 km to a hospital it is ordinary (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Sainte-Marie is A, #269 of 503 in Quebec and #792 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sainte-Marie
Upbeat about their health
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 7.2 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 57%. Health survey ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Born around Sainte-Marie, a child can expect 1.3 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.0 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Sainte-Marie 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: #269 of 503 in Quebec and #792 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.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Quebec (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
On mental health the region is ahead of Quebec, 69% very good or excellent to 64%; 18% 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.
Life expectancy across the 18 health regions in Quebec
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Quebec, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
The region comes 5th of 18 in Quebec, where life expectancy runs from 65.2 to 84.1 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Sainte-Marie’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 0.8 years
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Sainte-Marie’s region shows above the trend.
Deprivation explains much of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102 of them), yet Sainte-Marie’s region beats it: 82.8 years against the 82.0 the trend gives a score of 2.7. It outlives 9 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 81.4 years. Its towns’ household income, about $75,000, sits below most regions’ while its life expectancy sits above; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 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 (9.2%)
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
About as many adults report obesity as across Quebec: 31%, the province 29%. More adults drink heavily, 26% to the province’s 22%.
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 2.8 km from the average home in Sainte-Marie
Straight-line distances from each part of Sainte-Marie, weighted by who lives there.
Sainte-Marie is closer in than the provincial norm of 5.3 km in Quebec, 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.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Sainte-Marie comes 23rd of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (13,574 to 14,180 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Queen West ON A | 13,599 | 0.4 km | 50% |
| 2 | Sillery QC A+ | 13,950 | 0.8 km | 62% |
| 3 | E-F-K-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 13,596 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 21 | Wychwood ON A | 13,828 | 2.4 km | 50% |
| 22 | Dolbeau-Mistassini QC A+ | 13,581 | 2.7 km | 66% |
| 23 | Sainte-Marie QC A | 13,873 | 2.8 km | 59% |
| 24 | Humewood-Cedarvale ON A | 13,978 | 2.9 km | 50% |
| 25 | Kerrisdale BC A+ | 14,105 | 2.9 km | 50% |
| 40 | Saint-Amable QC A− | 14,119 | 17 km | 55% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Sainte-Marie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Marie | 2.8 km | 59% | 82.8 | A |
| Saint-Elzéar 6.0 km | 6.9 km | 59% | 82.8 | A− |
| Scott 7.4 km | 5.2 km | 59% | 82.8 | A− |
| Saint-Bernard 11 km | 8.3 km | 59% | 82.8 | A− |
| Sainte-Marguerite 11 km | 9.8 km | 59% | 82.8 | A− |
| Vallée-Jonction 11 km | 14 km | 59% | 82.8 | A− |
| Sainte-Hénédine 14 km | 11 km | 59% | 82.8 | A− |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Sainte-Marie’s; read across for the hospital trip. Vallée-Jonction is the furthest from care, 14 km to Sainte-Marie’s 2.8 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Sainte-Marie itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Sainte-Marie
How healthy is Sainte-Marie?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 15% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Sainte-Marie’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Sainte-Marie’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
What is the life expectancy in Sainte-Marie?
For the health region that includes Sainte-Marie, women can expect 84.4 years and men 81.3 (2022/2024).
How far is Sainte-Marie from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Sainte-Marie live: 1.6 km to a clinic, 1.3 km to a pharmacy.
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).