Kentville, Nova Scotia
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Nova Scotia · Civic arena

Kentville

Kentville drinking water hardness is 176 mg/L on OpenStats, plus City Score rankings and local readings.

Civic arena · hometown HUD

Kentville

Census_agglomeration27k pop
45XP
#243

#243 of 343

45% City Score XP

DroppingDirectGroundwater
City Score XP

7/8 pillars on the board

45%#243

Decade trail

Kentville packs 7 of eight open-data pillars into its composite standing. Tap a rival below to see how the hometown stacks up head-to-head.

Kentville drinking water

Direct municipal reading

Hardness, pH, and lead from municipal reports on the OpenStats water atlas.

Hardness
176 mg/L
hard
pH
7.9
Lead
0 μg/L

Full Kentville water quality report →City Score rankingsCompare cities · vs Truro · vs HalifaxHardness guide

Watershed to tap · system map

How Kentville's water works

Open full map

Source, treatment, and distribution for Kentville from municipal and provincial water records. Hardness and grade are published readings.

Local numbers for Kentville

Drinking water first, then permits, tax, internet, radon, and hazards for Kentville.

How Kentville scores

Dropping23

Kentville sits at City Score rank #243 with a standing of 45%, from 7 of 8 open-data pillars (tax, construction, connectivity, indoor air, water, seismic hazard, growth, safety). Missing pillars score at median standing so thin coverage cannot inflate the rank. Dropping 23 places versus 2022 (#220 → #243).

Latest owned placements: building permit value rank #155 of 343 (2025); indoor radon rank #11 of 343 at 276 Bq/m³ survey mean; residential mill rate rank #31 of 343 (13.15 mill rate). Full tables and method notes live on each study edition; atlas readings for the same slug open from the topic buttons.

#243
Arena rank (of 343)
45%
City Score
7
Pillars observed
Dropping23
vs 2022
#220 → #243

Arena loadout

Topic XP bars

Arena rank #243 of 343

City Score

7/8 pillars · main XP bar

45%#243
Drinking water

Rank #172

50%
Building permits

Rank #155

55%
Internet

Rank #203

41%
Radon

Rank #11

3%
Hazards

No placement

Property tax

Rank #31

9%

Achievements

Dropping -23Direct municipal readingGroundwater supply

Hometown notes

Archive

Earlier years: 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023

Kentville in brief

Kentville puts itself at the heart of the Annapolis Valley, and the parks system is how that claim feels true on foot. Miner's Marsh, the Ducks Unlimited wetland locals just call Miners Marsh, loops 1.7 kilometres of trail with viewing stands and bird panels. You can reach it from the Harvest Moon Trail at Leverett Avenue or from parking behind the Law Courts on Bridge Street. Oakdene Park covers the other mood: soccer fields, a natural playground, a summer stage, and a duck pond that freezes into a rink when winter finally sticks.

Trail culture here is specific. Shared-use paths carry walkers and bikes under blue municipal signage, and Roots and Routes, the Recreation podcast, digs into places like Ravine Trail with its Eastern Hemlocks and Wabanaki-Acadian forest story. Downtown stays close: Centre Square at 389 Main Street, the Downtown Kentville Business District, and Experience Downtown Kentville links on the town site. Kentville Forward sits in the project spotlight language when council is pushing the next chapter. Errands and trailheads share the same small-town map.

On OpenStats City Score for 2026, Kentville sits at rank 64 of 125. The hometown pitch is Valley wetlands and ravines before any scoreboard. Birders head for the marsh, kids for Oakdene, and Main Street for the ordinary errands that make a county town feel finished. When someone says they are going for a walk in Kentville, they usually mean one of those named trail loops, not a generic green space on a tourist map.

Drawn from Town of Kentville - Parks and Trails, Town of Kentville - Miner's Marsh, Town of Kentville - Oakdene Park, Town of Kentville.

City Score over time

City Score from 2016–2025 across eight open-data pillars. Individual study placements are listed in the panels below.

0%25%50%75%100%2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
OpenStats City Score

Rankings for Kentville

Each study below is its own ranking. Where a study has more than one edition for this city, the chart shows standing across those years only.

Connectivity · OpenStats

OpenStats Broadband Download Speeds

OpenStats

Cities ranked by estimated best advertised download (Mbps). Anchored to the current ISED National Broadband Data vintage, then backcast along a national speed curve with city-specific fiber-arrival and 50/10 availability paths so relative ranks can change over the decade. Not a claim of audited historical hex maps for every year.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#203
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 340.5

Construction · OpenStats

OpenStats Building Permit Value

OpenStats

Cities ranked by calendar-year building permit value. Direct rows sum Statistics Canada Table 34-10-0292-01. Cities without a direct reading use population × provincial per-capita permit intensity (estimated), so every seed city has a year-varying construction signal.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#155
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 521025088

Composite · OpenStats

OpenStats City Score

OpenStats

Dimensional average of OpenStats open-data pillars for each panel year 2016–2025: tax, construction, connectivity, indoor air, water, seismic hazard, population growth, and crime severity. Each series is scored 0–1 within its edition; series in the same pillar are averaged, then all eight pillars are averaged with equal weight. Missing pillars score at median standing (0.5). Growth and CSI use StatCan annual tables; permits, mill rates, and broadband use live rows plus documented year-varying estimates where needed. Radon, water, and PGA may be survey/model vintages carried forward and are flagged when static for more than two years. External commercial livability lists are never inputs.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#243
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 0.451

Safety · OpenStats

OpenStats Crime Severity Index

OpenStats

Communities ranked by Statistics Canada Crime Severity Index (Table 35-10-0026-01). Rank 1 is highest CSI (worse). Values are CMA where a metro match exists, otherwise provincial CSI. Hometown pages label the grain.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#174
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 72.96

Water · OpenStats

OpenStats Drinking Water Hardness

OpenStats

Communities ranked by municipal drinking-water hardness (mg/L as CaCO₃). Hardness changes slowly; the atlas vintage is carried across panel years and flagged when static for more than two years.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#172
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 176

Health · OpenStats

OpenStats Highest Indoor Radon

OpenStats

Communities ranked by Health Canada survey mean indoor radon (Bq/m³). Rank 1 is the highest mean. Decade panel years without a new survey carry the CMA survey vintage forward; they are not annual retests.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#11
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 276

Growth · OpenStats

OpenStats Population Growth

OpenStats

Cities ranked by year-over-year population growth from Statistics Canada annual CSD estimates (Table 17-10-0155-01). Rank 1 is fastest growth. A few places without a clean CSD match use a provincial-path estimate anchored to seed population.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#73
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 0.022087542087542086

Property tax · OpenStats

OpenStats Residential Mill Rates

OpenStats

Municipalities ranked by residential mill rate. Rank 1 is the highest rate. Published municipal years are used when available; gaps are interpolated or follow the provincial median path so the tax pillar moves year to year for every city.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#31
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 13.147204630606065

Worth knowing in Kentville

Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.

Places to see

Miner's Marsh

Protected wetland trail loop popular for birdwatching, with access from the Harvest Moon Trail and Bridge Street. Info panels and viewing stands make it a first stop for visitors who want Valley nature without leaving town.

Oakdene Park

Community hub with soccer fields, a natural playground, community garden, and seasonal rink. Summer concerts on the park stage keep evenings local.

Ravine Trail

Forest trail featured on Roots and Routes for Eastern Hemlocks and local conservation stories. Blue town signage helps newcomers find trail heads across Kentville.

Follow Kentville by email

When Kentville moves in a ranking, posts new permit figures, or lands in a study, get a short note. A few sends a year, only when something changes.

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Related guides

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