Senior Homes in Thunder Bay, ON

Senior homes in Thunder Bay: a local guide

Thunder Bay has 48 senior homes and senior-care providers listed on this page, spanning long-term care homes, retirement residences, home care agencies and respite programs. The median starting price across priced listings is $2,510 a month, with independent living and retirement residences starting near $2,307 and memory care closer to $3,601. Forty-one have a Thunder Bay address, so families rarely need to look beyond the city.

Where senior homes are in Thunder Bay

Listings are spread across the city's two historic cores and the corridor between them, which matters more for visiting than for care. Two of the largest care sites are neighbours on Lillie Street North — Hogarth Riverview Manor at 300 and the Sister Margaret Smith Centre at 301. Other addresses cluster along Memorial Avenue, Victoria Avenue East and Bay Street.

• Senior homes near Port Arthur and near Current River — includes Harbour Heights Apartments on Adelaide Street and the Thunder Bay 55 Plus Centre on River Street.
• Senior homes near Fort William and near Westfort — includes Southbridge Lakehead on Vickers Street South and Kingsway Apartments.
• Senior homes near Intercity — the central Memorial Avenue area, convenient for families driving from either end of the city.
• Senior homes near Northwood — quieter residential streets off the main corridors.

What senior homes cost in Thunder Bay

These are starting monthly rates from the listings on this page. They typically cover accommodation, meals and basic services; personal care, medication help and memory-care programming are often extra.

• Independent living and retirement residences — median start $2,307 across 4 independent living and 2 retirement residence listings. The Walford Thunder Bay on Pine Street lists from $2,307 and also offers assisted living and respite stays.
• Assisted living — 4 listings, median start $2,865.
• Nursing homes (long-term care) — 15 listings, median start $2,763; Hogarth Riverview Manor lists from $2,510 and Southbridge Lakehead from $2,358. In licensed long-term care, what you actually pay is the provincial co-payment, not a market rent.
• Memory care — 6 listings, median start $3,601; the city's single adult day program listing starts at the same figure.
• Respite and in-home support — 8 respite listings at a median $2,496 (Wesway on Victoria Avenue East lists from $2,305), 5 home care listings at a median $3,137, and 10 palliative care listings at a median $3,351.

See the cost of senior living in Thunder Bay for the fuller breakdown.

Public long-term care and home care in Thunder Bay

Long-term care placement and publicly funded home care are coordinated by Ontario Health atHome, which covers Thunder Bay through its North West region; you cannot apply directly to a long-term care home. A care coordinator assesses eligibility, helps you shortlist homes and completes most of the application — start by calling 310-2222 (no area code needed). You then sign a choice form naming up to five homes, and homes admit from the regional waitlist as beds open.

Co-payments are set by the province and identical in every Ontario long-term care home. Effective July 1, 2026, the maximum is $70.00 a day ($2,129.17 a month) for a basic room, $84.40 semi-private and $100.01 private; low-income residents in basic rooms can apply to the Long-Term Care Rate Reduction Program. Retirement homes are a separate private system, licensed by the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA), which keeps a public register you can check before signing.

The largest local home is Hogarth Riverview Manor, operated by St. Joseph's Care Group: 544 beds in 17 resident home areas of about 32 residents each. In 2026 the province approved converting 64 temporary transitional beds there into long-term care beds.

Hospitals and getting around

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre on Oliver Road is the acute-care hospital for the city and much of Northwestern Ontario, with 395 acute-care beds, and where most hospital-to-home or hospital-to-long-term-care transitions begin. St. Joseph's Care Group also runs rehabilitation, mental health, addictions and seniors' services at sites including St. Joseph's Hospital on Algoma Street North and the Sister Margaret Smith Centre.

Thunder Bay Transit sells a discounted senior monthly pass ($63.90 as of April 1, 2026) on a reloadable Lift Pass, activated at the Transit Office with proof of eligibility. Residents who cannot use the regular bus because of a disability can apply for Lift+ specialized transit, a door-to-door shared ride with the same hours and fares as conventional transit, normally booked 24 hours ahead. Ontario's seniors public transit tax credit applies to both.

How to choose a senior home in Thunder Bay

• Decide which system you're in. If 24-hour nursing is needed, start the Ontario Health atHome application; if the need is meals, housekeeping and some personal care, you're shopping retirement homes and can move in once a suite is ready.
• Pick for the drive. Crossing the city takes real time in winter — choose somewhere the family will visit weekly, not just the first vacancy.
• Check the RHRA register for any retirement home, and ask long-term care homes for recent inspection results.
• Ask what's extra — second-person fees, medication administration, supplies, hairdressing and transportation to appointments, in writing.
• Try respite first. A short respite stay or adult day program is the most reliable way to test a home before a permanent move.
• Unsure where to start? A free care assessment narrows the list to the care level actually needed.

Sources

• Apply for long-term care – Ontario.ca
• Long-Term Care in Ontario (fact sheet) – Ontario Health atHome
• Paying for long-term care – Ontario.ca
• Ontario Health atHome – Long-Term Care Placement Services (211 Ontario)
• St. Joseph's Care Group – Hogarth Riverview Manor (211 North)
• Expanded Long-Term Care Beds & Community Transitional Care at Hogarth Riverview Manor – St. Joseph's Care Group
• Thunder Bay, Ont., facility to repurpose 64 beds to meet long-term care demands – CBC News
• Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre – Wikipedia