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Powell River, British Columbia
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British Columbia

Powell River

Mill townsite on the northern Sunshine Coast

Powell River in brief

Powell River and Powell Lake took their English names from Israel Wood Powell, B.C.'s early superintendent of Indian Affairs. Pulp mill construction began in 1908, a company townsite followed in 1910, and the first paper roll came off the machines in 1912.

Fjords block a continuous road south to Vancouver, so ferries still define the commute mood. Town millworkers chartered B.C.'s first credit union here in 1939, a practical footnote that locals still enjoy mentioning.

Drawn from Wikipedia.

Permits, tax, radon & more for Powell River

Open the live numbers for Powell River. Each link goes to the original topic page for this city.

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#2
City Score rank
99%
City Score
1
Owned lists in score

City Score over time

The green line averages OpenStats-owned rankings (radon, permit value, mill rates). Grey dots mark every published placement across all studies below.

0%25%50%75%100%201420152017201820212026
OpenStats City ScoreIndividual published rankings

Rankings for Powell River

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.

Composite · OpenStats

OpenStats City Score

OpenStats

Average standing across OpenStats-owned rankings built from public data (currently radon, building permit value, and residential mill rates). Each placement is scored from 0–1 within its edition, then averaged. External livability lists stay on hometown pages as separate published appearances.

Single edition · 2026

#2
Published · 2026 · of 125
Score 0.991

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

Original source · Full edition

Health · OpenStats

OpenStats Highest Indoor Radon

OpenStats

Communities ranked by Health Canada survey mean indoor radon (Bq/m³). Rank 1 is the highest mean.

Single edition · 2026

#116
Published · 2026 · of 117
Score 35.4

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

Original source · Full edition

Livability

Maclean's Best Communities

Maclean's

Successor-style municipal livability ranking published by Maclean's for 2019 and 2021 (no 2020 edition).

Single edition · 2021

#88
Published · 2021 · of 415

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

Original source · Full edition

Worth knowing in Powell River

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

  • Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada.

    Wikipedia

  • Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and the Mainland.

    Wikipedia

  • With two intervening long, steep-sided fjords inhibiting the construction of a contiguous road connection with Vancouver to the south, geographical surroundings explain Powell River's remoteness as a community, despite relative proximity to Vancouver and other populous areas of the BC Coast.

    Wikipedia

  • Powell River developed around a large pulp and paper mill on the Sunshine Coast and was long reachable mainly by ferry or floatplane.

    Wikipedia

Related guides

Indoor radonBuilding permitsMill ratesNatural hazardsBroadbandWater hardnessConstruction PulseStudies

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