Skip to content
Jobs | Contact | Tip line: 705-673-0123

Reader's Digest ranks Sudbury 33rd in Canada for raising a family

Barrie tops northern (ish) cities on ranking with Thunder Bay coming seventh spots ahead of Nickel City

Editor's note: originally had a headline that highlighted Sudbury's ranking versus other northern cities, instead of highlighting its appearance on the list of the top 42. We apologize for the earlier version of the story and have changed the headline.

Reader's Digest (yes, it's still around) recently ranked the top 42 Canadian cities to raise a family and of the three Northern Ontario cities on the list, Sudbury (not Greater Sudbury) came in at the bottom of the heap, but still among the top 42 cities in Canada.

The long-running magazine scored each city based on 11 categories: transit, median age, infant mortality rates, maternal/paternal leave, daycares, cost of food, mom groups, intimate partner violence, child and youth victims of crime, libraries and park spaces.

As data sources, Reader's Digest used Statistics Canada, the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, city workers, city websites, municipalities and All data dates from 2006 or later, save infant mortality rates for which a three-year average (2005-2007) was used.

Reader's Digest didn't provide a scoresheet, so unfortunately there's no context to the rankings.

Sudbury was ranked 33rd on the list, a full seven spots behind Thunder Bay. The only other Northern Ontario city on the list, Barrie (not technically North but northern-ish), was ranked 24th.

The No. 1 city on the list was Sherbrooke, Que., which boasts some of lowest crime rates against children and partners, and a high rate of access to mom groups and daycares, not to mention Quebec's 18-month maternity leave policy.