Sault one of Canada's unhappiest cities: report

Apparently, we’re a miserable bunch.

A new analysis of 100 major cities and towns across the country found that Sault Ste. Marie is one of the unhappiest places to live — 97th on the list, in fact, ahead of only Windsor, North Bay and London, Ont.

To be clear, this isn’t peer-reviewed, PhD-level stuff. The report was put together by the real-estate listing portal Point2Homes, not Queen’s University. 

But the results are definitely an interesting read — and sure to trigger plenty of debate and discussion around town.

Point2Homes says it analyzed 30 “happiness-related metrics to create our very own happiness index.” Those metrics include things like median after-tax income, commute times, housing values, air quality, poverty rates and even rainfall levels. 

From there, the researchers split the metrics across four “happiness-relevant dimensions”: economy and real estate; location and demographics; health and wellbeing; and community and environment.

“Data shows that, just like in real life, there is no absolute happiness, as none of the largest cities in Canada ranked high in each and every happiness metric that would get them a ‘maximum happiness’ index of 100,” the report says. 

The town of Caledon, Ont. scored the highest, with a happiness index of 67.41. Rounding out the top three were Milton (63.79) and Halton Hills (63.06).

The Sault’s happiness index? 39.01 — 28 points lower than Caledon.

It gets worse. Of all the cities, Sault Ste. Marie placed dead last in the health and wellbeing category, and 98th in location and demographics.

The city’s highest showing was in the community and environment category (33rd out of 100), followed by economy and real estate (44th).

You can read the full report here. 

Want to share your opinion on the findings? We’d be “happy” to hear from you: [email protected]