Peterborough, Ontario
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Peterborough

Peterborough drinking water hardness is 252 mg/L on OpenStats, plus City Score rankings and local readings.

Civic arena · hometown HUD

Peterborough

Census_metropolitan_area129k pop
48XP
#202

#202 of 343

48% City Score XP

RisingSurface
City Score XP

7/8 pillars on the board

48%#202

Decade trail

Peterborough 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.

Peterborough drinking water

Regional estimate from nearest municipal sample

Hardness, pH, and lead from municipal reports on the OpenStats water atlas. This page uses a regional estimate — open the water atlas for method notes.

Hardness
252 mg/L
very hard
pH
8
Lead
0.4 μg/L

Full Peterborough water quality report →City Score rankingsCompare cities · vs Halton Hills · vs EspanolaHardness guide

Watershed to tap · system map

How Peterborough's water works

Source, treatment, and distribution for Peterborough from municipal and provincial water records. Open the animated map for the full watershed-to-tap diagram — no nested topic navigation here.

Local numbers for Peterborough

Permits, tax, internet, radon, hazards, drinking water, and sports rankings where a CHL hometown applies.

Sports

Junior hockey in Peterborough

Full sports page →
Team
Peterborough Petes
League
OHL
Points %
56.9%

65 GP · 74 pts · Compare CHL cities

How Peterborough scores

Rising+21

Peterborough sits at City Score rank #202 with a standing of 48%, 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. Rising 21 places versus 2022 (#223 → #202).

Latest owned placements: indoor radon rank #176 of 327 at 101 Bq/m³ survey mean; residential mill rate rank #22 of 57 (14.93 mill rate). Full tables and method notes live on each study edition; atlas readings for the same slug open from the topic buttons.

Among Canadian cities on the hub, Peterborough carries a City Score standing of 48% (rank #202 of 343) with 7 of 8 pillars observed. That sits 4 points below the Ontario peer average across 123 ranked cities. Within Ontario, Peterborough ranks #86 of 123 on City Score.

The strongest signal in the current chart is police-reported crime severity (standing 75%, rank #76 of 102, 57.3 CSI). The weakest observed pillar is drinking-water hardness (standing 12%, rank #40 of 343). Crime severity uses the Statistics Canada police-service CSI mapped to Peterborough, Ontario (table 35100026), not a regional proxy.

Drinking-water hardness on the water atlas reads 252 mg/L as CaCO₃ for Peterborough. Compare that figure to the hardness pillar on the chart and to the national hardness guide on the hub.

#202
Arena rank (of 343)
48%
City Score
7
Pillars observed
Rising+21
vs 2022
#223 → #202

Arena loadout

Topic XP bars

Arena rank #202 of 343

City Score

7/8 pillars · main XP bar

48%#202
Drinking water

Pillar avg · hardness #40

30%
Building permits

No placement

—
Internet

Rank #198

43%
Radon

Rank #176

54%
Hazards

Rank #147

43%
Property tax

Rank #22

39%

Peterborough pillar standing

Eight equal-weight City Score pillars, 2025 panel year.

TaxPermitsNetRadonWaterHazardsGrowthCrime

Source: OpenStats composite / study editions

City Score standing trend

Standing percentage by panel year (higher is better).

Years: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

Source: OpenStats composite timeseries

Achievements

Rising +21Surface water supply

Hometown notes

City profile

Older hometown notes stay on the desk archive (noindex) — this section shows recent highlights only.

Peterborough in brief

Peterborough orients itself on water before it orients on highways. Little Lake sits in the downtown basin with the Peterborough Marina on the shore, and the Otonabee River carries boaters toward the Trent-Severn Waterway. Just upstream, Lock 21 is the Peterborough Lift Lock, the hydraulic lift locals still point out as the engineering marvel on the route. City marina copy calls the place a gateway to cottage country without needing a tourism slogan to finish the thought. Summer concert series and park picnics share the same lakefront, so downtown and the water feel like one circuit.

North on Water Street, Riverview Park and Zoo is the free-admission City zoo people actually take guests to, CAZA-accredited and paid for in part through water rates. Rogers Cove and Beavermead Beach handle the swim calendar, complete with the occasional bacteria closure notice that names one beach closed while the other stays open. Ashburnham Memorial Park sits near the Museum and Archives and the Lift Lock visitor area. The Art Gallery of Peterborough and Bonnerworth Park skateboard park fill out the recreation map for days that are not about locks or lakes.

Examiner fronts mix city briefs with wider Kawarthas coverage, so Television Road load limits and landfill tire piles land beside regional court stories. On the OpenStats City Score for 2025, Peterborough sits at rank 284 of 343. Rankings aside, the hometown read is Little Lake in the middle, the Lift Lock upstream, and Riverview when someone asks what there is to do with kids.

Drawn from City of Peterborough, City of Peterborough Marina, City of Peterborough parks and pavilions, The Peterborough Examiner.

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 Peterborough

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 household-weighted maximum advertised download (Mbps) from ISED National Broadband Data hex ISP rows, with hex-to-city assignment by population-weighted gravity. The headline 2025 score is the dwelling-weighted mean of per-hex technology ceilings (fibre and cable at 1 Gbps, DSL lower). Household-weighted 50/10 availability (%) is stored on atlas rows as avail_5010_pct. Earlier panel years backcast along a national speed curve with city-specific fiber and availability paths.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#198
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 381.8

Sports · OpenStats

OpenStats CHL Points Percentage

OpenStats

Canadian Hockey League (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) member cities ranked by regular-season points percentage. One CHL team maps to each OpenStats hometown slug; standings snapshot is curated from public league tables.

Single edition · 2025

#27
Published · 2025 · of 45
Score 0.569

Only one published edition places Peterborough in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

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). Crime severity uses StatCan police-service CSI only (Tables 35-10-0026-01 and 35-10-0063-01); cities without a police-service match take median standing on the safety pillar. Growth uses StatCan CSD estimates; construction uses verified municipal building-permit value per resident (population field on each city record, 2021 Census vintage); 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

#202
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 0.482

Safety · OpenStats

OpenStats Crime Severity Index

OpenStats

Communities ranked by Statistics Canada Crime Severity Index at police-service grain (Tables 35-10-0026-01 and 35-10-0063-01 for British Columbia). Rank 1 is highest CSI (worse). Cities without a police-service match are not listed; the safety pillar scores at median standing on City Score. Hometown pages name the police service and reference year.

CSI from Peterborough, Ontario (2025, Table 35-10-0026-01).

10 editions · 2016–2025

#76
Latest · 2025 · of 102
Score 57.33

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

#40
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 252

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

#176
Latest · 2025 · of 327
Score 101.1

Sports · OpenStats

OpenStats Local Sports Depth

OpenStats

Hometowns with a mapped junior hockey franchise ranked by local sports depth: league tier (CHL member leagues = 1.0, MHL = 0.65) multiplied by regular-season points percentage. Surfaces cities with both a franchise and a strong standings year; not a City Score pillar input.

Single edition · 2025

#27
Published · 2025 · of 49
Score 0.569

Only one published edition places Peterborough in this study so far. Open the edition for method notes and the full table.

Original source · Full edition

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

#160
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 0.012082841950634143

Property tax · OpenStats

OpenStats Residential Mill Rates

OpenStats

Municipalities ranked by residential mill rate (education levies are shown on property-tax pages but not added here). Rank 1 is the highest rate. Atlas seed and published municipal rows anchor the panel; off-panel tax years (e.g. 2026) carry across 2016–2025; remaining gaps follow provincial paths.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#22
Latest · 2025 · of 57
Score 14.92757281553398

Hazards · OpenStats

OpenStats Seismic Hazard (PGA)

OpenStats

Communities ranked by NRCan peak ground acceleration (higher = stronger shaking hazard). Rank 1 is highest PGA. The seismic model is multi-year; values are carried across the City Score panel and flagged as static until NRCan publishes a new generation.

10 editions · 2016–2025

#147
Latest · 2025 · of 343
Score 0.052

Worth knowing in Peterborough

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

  • The Peterborough Marina sits on downtown Little Lake with Otonabee River access to the Trent-Severn Waterway.

    City of Peterborough

  • Lock 21 upstream of Little Lake is the Peterborough Lift Lock, described on the marina page as the world's highest hydraulic lift lock.

    City of Peterborough

  • Riverview Park and Zoo is City-run, free admission, and listed as Canada's only CAZA-accredited free zoo.

    City of Peterborough

  • Rogers Cove and Beavermead Beach are the named municipal swim spots on City beach advisories.

    City of Peterborough

Places to see

Peterborough Lift Lock

Lock 21 on the Trent-Severn above Little Lake, the hydraulic lift locals treat as the city's signature engineering stop. Marina pages put it a short way upstream from downtown docks.

Riverview Park and Zoo

Free City zoo on more than 50 acres of Water Street waterfront parkland. Splash pad, train ride, and animal exhibits make it the default family outing.

Little Lake

Downtown lake with the municipal marina, nearby beach access, and summer park programming. It is the water body Peterborough orients around before anyone mentions cottage highways.

Rogers Cove

Lakeside park with beach, splash pad, boat launch, and trails. Beach advisories name it specifically when bacteria levels close swimming for a weekend.

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