Ladysmith, British Columbia
Wikimedia Commons via Wikipedia

British Columbia

Ladysmith

OpenStats City Score, ranking history, and local readings for Ladysmith.

How Ladysmith scores

Ladysmith sits at City Score rank #63 with a standing of 53%, from 8 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. The chart below shows how that standing moves year to year.

Latest owned placements: building permit value rank #144 of 172 (2025); indoor radon rank #113 of 117 at 35 Bq/m³ survey mean; residential mill rate rank #125 of 172 (9.10 mill rate). Full tables and method notes live on each study edition; atlas readings for the same slug open from the topic buttons.

#63
City Score rank
53%
City Score

Local readings for Ladysmith

Open each topic for Ladysmith.

See where Ladysmith water comes from

Local sports in Ladysmith

Documented pro, junior, university, and high-school teams tied to Ladysmith.

Hometown notes

Archive

Earlier years: 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023

Ladysmith in brief

Ladysmith sits on Ladysmith Harbour on eastern Vancouver Island, on the unceded territory of the Stz'uminus First Nation. Town pages still lead with a view to the sea, and locals treat Transfer Beach Park as the waterfront living room: amphitheatre shows, spray-park afternoons, and the Marine Walk out past the marina toward the Government Wharf. The park itself grew on former coal-transfer ground, so the shoreline story runs from industry to picnic tables without needing a brochure pitch.

Uphill, 1st Avenue carries the heritage spine. Municipal history notes its 2017 nod as Canada's Great Street, and Ladysmith Heritage Walks stitch artifact stops and old buildings down toward the water. Brown Drive Park keeps neighbourhood play close to home, Forrest Field draws sports traffic, and the new Ladysmith Bike Park joins the Frank Jameson Community Centre and skatepark on the recreation map. Holland Creek trailheads open toward Stocking Lake and Heart Lake when people want shade instead of salt air.

Coal and logging built earlier chapters here; the Chronicle still covers a Cowichan Valley desk that ties Ladysmith to Chemainus and the wider corridor. The Naut'sa Mawt Community Accord language with Stz'uminus keeps working-together talk on the civic calendar, including shared harbour and watershed files. Let's Talk Ladysmith is how council gathers input, while Community Banner Program streets, Arboretum Park greenery near Transfer Beach Boulevard, and CUPE files fill ordinary news weeks. On OpenStats City Score for 2026, Ladysmith sits at rank 6 of 125. Ask for directions and someone will still point you to Transfer Beach first.

Drawn from Town of Ladysmith - Parks, Town of Ladysmith - History & Heritage, Town of Ladysmith, Ladysmith Chronicle.

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 Ladysmith

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

#47
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 41.5

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

#144
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 80748173

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

#63
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 0.535

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

#63
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 83.51

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

#162
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 85

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

#113
Latest · 2025 · of 117
Score 35.4

sports · OpenStats

OpenStats Local Sports Depth

OpenStats

Cities ranked by weighted count of documented local teams (pro, junior, university, high-school hubs). Rank 1 = deepest documented sports footprint among covered seed cities. Not a claim about on-field success. See sports methodology for weights and gaps.

Single edition · 2025

#163
Published · 2025 · of 172
Score 1

Only one published edition places Ladysmith 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

#55
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 0.016591560835723065

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

#125
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 9.100615875044548

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

#4
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 0.351

Worth knowing in Ladysmith

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

Places to see

Transfer Beach Park

Central seaside park with spray park, picnic shelters, and harbour views. Summer evenings often mean amphitheatre music and a walk along the Marine Walk.

1st Avenue

Downtown heritage corridor that locals treat as the town's front street. Heritage Walk maps start here and pull you toward the harbour.

Brown Drive Park

Neighbourhood park with the Kinsmen playground, bike trails, and Storybook Walk. A weekday stop when Transfer Beach feels too busy.

Follow Ladysmith by email

When Ladysmith 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.

No spam. Unsubscribe with one reply.

Related guides

More places in British Columbia

All British Columbia cities