Provincial city score averages: territories lead on thin samples, nova scotia lowest at 45.0%

City Score standing averages eight open-data pillars with equal weight across every hometown in the 2025 composite corpus. Rolling those standings up by province shows where clusters of cities land together, and where a single slug or a thin sample moves the provincial mean. The table below lists each province and territory with its average 2025 standing and the count of cities that entered the composite for that jurisdiction.

Why territories sit at the top of this table

The Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon each contribute one city to the composite in the current edition. A provincial average with n=1 equals that city’s standing exactly. Yellowknife at 57.8% pulls the Northwest Territories to the top of the list. Iqaluit at 54.6% does the same for Nunavut. Whitehorse at 54.3% ties Yukon with New Brunswick on the percentage line even though the Atlantic province averages sixteen municipalities. Readers should treat territory rows as single-city snapshots, not as evidence that northern capitals outscore every peer on every pillar.

Small samples also hide variance. One strong safety pillar or one weak radon row can move a one-city average by several points. When OpenStats adds a second hometown in a territory, the provincial mean will blend two composites and the rank order among provinces can shift without any city changing its own chart.

Ontario’s breadth versus its middle average

Ontario carries the largest share of the corpus at 123 cities, more than a third of the 343-city board. Its provincial average standing is 51.1%, close to the national middle of the composite scale. That pattern fits a wide province where Golden Horseshoe leaders and smaller northern communities share the same rollup. Hamilton ranks #1 nationally at 73.6% standing, while other Ontario slugs sit far lower on the same edition. The provincial mean therefore describes dispersion, not a single Ontario story.

New Brunswick averages 54.3% across sixteen cities, above Ontario despite fewer total places. Several Atlantic hometowns post strong growth or tax pillars relative to peers, which lifts the mean when many pillars are observed. Quebec and British Columbia both average 49.6% with different city counts (34 and 58), which shows similar means can come from different coverage depth.

Nova Scotia at the bottom among full provinces

Nova Scotia averages 45.0% standing across nine composite cities, the lowest among provinces with more than one hometown in the table. Nine cities is enough to make the average meaningful within the province, yet still small enough that one outlier can drag the mean. Readers comparing Halifax to Sydney on individual pillars will see spreads that the provincial average smooths out.

Saskatchewan at 47.3% and Newfoundland and Labrador at 48.0% sit just above Nova Scotia on this rollup. Alberta at 49.8% and Manitoba at 48.5% occupy the same mid-forties to high-forties band as several western and central provinces. Prince Edward Island at 51.8% across five cities resembles Ontario’s middle on the percentage line with a much smaller denominator.

Alberta, BC, and Quebec near the national middle

Alberta averages 49.8% across fifty-one composite cities. British Columbia and Quebec both average 49.6% with fifty-eight and thirty-four cities respectively. Those three provinces sit within 0.2 points of each other on the rollup while hosting different mixes of mountain, coastal, and francophone communities. Saskatchewan at 47.3% and Manitoba at 48.5% trail slightly on the same scale. Newfoundland and Labrador at 48.0% across fifteen cities sits between Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

Provincial means move when a single large city changes pillar editions. A refreshed crime mapping or permit study can shift Edmonton or Montreal without moving every neighbour in the province. Treat each average as a descriptive statistic for the current composite snapshot, then return to city pages for actionable detail.

How to use provincial averages

Provincial averages help editors and researchers spot where to drill into hometown charts. City-level standing remains the authoritative rank for any hometown slug. Open the City Score 2025 study for the full table, then filter mentally by province using the counts above. Compare Ottawa and Toronto inside Ontario, or Calgary and Edmonton inside Alberta, when a provincial mean alone feels too coarse.

Territory rows as single-city snapshots

The Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon each contribute one city to the composite in the current edition. A provincial average with n equals one equals that city’s standing exactly. Yellowknife at 57.8% pulls the Northwest Territories to the top of the list. Iqaluit at 54.6% does the same for Nunavut. Whitehorse at 54.3% ties Yukon with New Brunswick on the percentage line even though the Atlantic province averages sixteen municipalities. Readers should treat territory rows as single-city snapshots rather than as proof that northern capitals outscore every peer on every pillar.

Small samples also hide variance. One strong safety pillar or one weak radon row can move a one-city average by several points. When OpenStats adds a second hometown in a territory, the provincial mean will blend two composites and the rank order among provinces can shift without any city changing its own chart.

Ontario dispersion behind a middle average

Ontario carries the largest share of the corpus at 123 cities, more than a third of the 343-city board. Its provincial average standing is 51.1%, close to the national middle of the composite scale. That pattern fits a wide province where Golden Horseshoe leaders and smaller northern communities share the same rollup. Hamilton ranks number one nationally at 73.6% standing, while other Ontario slugs sit far lower on the same edition. The provincial mean therefore describes dispersion, not a single Ontario story.

New Brunswick averages 54.3% across sixteen cities, above Ontario despite fewer total places. Several Atlantic hometowns post strong growth or tax pillars relative to peers, which lifts the mean when many pillars are observed. Quebec and British Columbia both average 49.6% with different city counts, which shows similar means can come from different coverage depth.

Nova Scotia and the mid-forties band

Nova Scotia averages 45.0% standing across nine composite cities, the lowest among provinces with more than one hometown in the table. Nine cities is enough to make the average meaningful within the province, yet still small enough that one outlier can drag the mean. Saskatchewan at 47.3% and Newfoundland and Labrador at 48.0% sit just above Nova Scotia on this rollup. Alberta at 49.8% and Manitoba at 48.5% occupy the same mid-forties to high-forties band as several western and central provinces. Prince Edward Island at 51.8% across five cities resembles Ontario’s middle on the percentage line with a much smaller denominator.

Provincial means move when a single large city changes pillar editions. A refreshed crime mapping or permit study can shift Edmonton or Montreal without moving every neighbour in the province. Treat each average as a descriptive statistic for the current composite snapshot, then return to city pages for actionable detail. Open the City Score 2025 study for the full table, then filter mentally by province using the counts in the lead table. Compare Ottawa and Toronto inside Ontario, or Calgary and Edmonton inside Alberta, when a provincial mean alone feels too coarse for local readers.