Powell River, British Columbia
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British Columbia

Powell River

OpenStats City Score, ranking history, and local readings for Powell River.

Dropping12

City Score #100 (2022) → #112 (2025)

How Powell River scores

Dropping12

Powell River sits at City Score rank #112 with a standing of 46%, 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. Dropping 12 places versus 2022 (#100 → #112).

Latest owned placements: building permit value rank #105 of 172 (2025); indoor radon rank #116 of 117 at 35 Bq/m³ survey mean; residential mill rate rank #65 of 172 (11.95 mill rate). Full tables and method notes live on each study edition; atlas readings for the same slug open from the topic buttons.

#112
City Score rank
46%
City Score
Dropping12
vs 2022
#100 → #112

Local readings for Powell River

Open each topic for Powell River.

See where Powell River water comes from

Local sports in Powell River

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

Hometown notes

Archive

Earlier years: 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023

Powell River in brief

Powell River introduces itself as part of the qathet region more often than as a lone city limit. Westview holds the ferry terminal and Marine Avenue commercial strip. Historic Townsite District keeps a separate older street grid on the tourism map, a reminder that this coast has more than one downtown memory. Powell Lake sits inland as the big freshwater neighbour, while the Sunshine Coast Trail pulls hikers into the same north-coast conversation as Lund and Texada Island when weekend plans stretch past city hall.

August belongs to Blackberry Festival. Marine Avenue closes for the street party, then the night drifts toward Willingdon Beach for music and fireworks talk that the Peak covers like civic weather. City bulletins braid that festival calendar with Community Forest grant updates and aquatic centre roof work, the kind of housekeeping that still feels local. qathet365 treats weekend plans as a regional feed, and the Powell River Regals keep hockey road trips tied to ferry timing and rink gossip.

Ferry schedules shape grocery runs as much as holiday plans. Community Forest money shows up when clubs need a grant form revised to match council policy. On OpenStats City Score for 2026, Powell River ranks 2 of 125, a data note that sits beside blackberry season and Westview sailings rather than replacing them. Locals still orient by qathet first, then ask which sailing you caught and whether Townsite or Westview is the stop for coffee. Peak sports and ferry fare stories keep the same coast-wide beat, and that regional habit sticks in ordinary conversation.

Drawn from City of Powell River, Powell River Peak, Sunshine Coast Tourism - Powell River, qathet 365.

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 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.

sports · OpenStats

OpenStats BCHL Points Percentage

OpenStats

Cities with a British Columbia Hockey League club in the OpenStats seed list ranked by regular-season points percentage. Rank 1 = highest points %. Source: Wikipedia BCHL season standings. Clubs in towns outside the seed list are omitted.

Single edition · 2025

#16
Published · 2025 · of 16
Score 0.222

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

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

#53
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

#105
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 147508017

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

#112
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 0.46

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

#66
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

#114
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 134

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

#116
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

#108
Published · 2025 · of 172
Score 3

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

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

#127
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 0.005448674828467644

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

#65
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 11.952849378509724

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

#27
Latest · 2025 · of 172
Score 0.182

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.

  • City newsletters flag Blackberry Festival beside Community Forest grant updates and aquatic centre roof funding.

    City of Powell River

  • Blackberry Festival street party shuts Marine Avenue, with Willingdon Beach hosting follow-on jam and fireworks programming.

    Powell River Peak

Places to see

Marine Avenue

Westview's main commercial street and the Blackberry Festival party corridor. When it closes for August night markets, the whole qathet calendar tilts toward downtown.

Willingdon Beach

Waterfront gathering place for Blackberry Jam sets and festival fireworks. It is the soft landing after Marine Avenue crowds.

Historic Townsite District

Named tourism district kept distinct from the Westview ferry core. Worth a separate stroll if you want the older street rhythm.

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