- Northern Ontario
- 15 points: the maximum
- Eastern Ontario
- 10 points, Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough
- Central Ontario outside the GTA
- 10 points, Waterloo, Guelph, Barrie
- Southwestern Ontario
- 10 points, Hamilton, London, Windsor
- GTA excluding Toronto
- 5 points, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham
- City of Toronto
- 0 points
- Based on
- The work location on your job offer, not where you live
- Physicians
- Your practice address determines the region
- Employer thresholds
- Lower outside the GTA: the advantage compounds
Northern Ontario scores 15 points more. Same job, same wage, same person: the only difference is the work location on the job offer. That is more than an entire education credential is worth on this grid.
Every region and what it scores
| Region | Points | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Ontario | 15 | Greater Sudbury · Thunder Bay · North Bay · Timmins · Sault Ste. Marie · Kenora · Dryden · Elliot Lake · Temiskaming Shores · Parry Sound |
| Eastern Ontario | 10 | Ottawa · Kingston · Peterborough · Cornwall · Belleville · Brockville |
| Central Ontario outside the GTA | 10 | Waterloo · Kitchener · Guelph · Barrie · Orillia · Simcoe County |
| Southwestern Ontario | 10 | Hamilton · London · Windsor · Niagara · Sarnia · Chatham-Kent |
| GTA excluding Toronto | 5 | Mississauga · Brampton · Markham · Vaughan · Oakville · Pickering |
| City of Toronto | 0 | The City of Toronto only |
Regions are defined by census division and district, not by city name, and a few municipalities sit close to a boundary. The cities listed above are illustrative. Confirm your exact work location against Ontario's official regional definitions on ontario.ca before relying on a 15 point assumption.
Why Ontario did this
The province has a distribution problem, not a volume problem. Newcomers concentrate in Toronto while northern and southwest employers cannot fill roles, particularly health care, trades and transport. Scoring work location is the bluntest instrument; 15 points is more than an entire education credential is worth.
There is a deliberate second design: lower employer eligibility thresholds outside the GTA mean a smaller northern employer can support an application a comparable Toronto business could not. The province rewards the applicant and widens the employer pool.
How the regional advantage compounds
- Up to 15 scoring points for the work location on the offer, the largest single-factor swing on the grid.
- Lower employer thresholds outside the GTA, so smaller businesses can qualify to support you.
- Less competition for the role, which often makes an employer more willing to negotiate wage or start date.
- A lower prevailing wage bar for the employer to clear, while your own wage points frequently stay in the same band.
Run both versions of your profile through the comparison tool before deciding, the arithmetic is usually more favourable than people expect. Compare two locations side by side →
Does a lower northern wage cancel the gain?
Almost never, wage is a staircase, not a slope. $42 to $38/hr costs 3 points; Toronto to Sudbury gains 15. You need a drop across three or four wage thresholds to offset; that usually falls below prevailing wage and becomes ineligible anyway.
| Scenario | Wage pts | Region pts | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45/hr in Toronto | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| $38/hr in Ottawa | 12 | 10 | 22 |
| $36/hr in Thunder Bay | 12 | 15 | 27 |
| $31/hr in Sudbury | 10 | 15 | 25 |
Illustrative combinations using the published wage and region tables. The Toronto job pays $9 an hour more and scores 12 points fewer.
The part nobody puts in a guide
Points are not the only consideration. Northern Ontario winters are long, communities are smaller, and some professional and cultural infrastructure in Toronto does not exist in Timmins. For some families that trade is easy; for others it is not. The grid makes the trade explicit and quantified; 15 points is a real number you can weigh against a real preference, instead of a vague sense that moving might help.
Region points FAQ
What applicants ask before considering a move or a different work location.
How many points is Northern Ontario worth in the OINP?
Fifteen: the maximum on the region factor. Eastern Ontario, Southwestern Ontario and Central Ontario outside the GTA each score 10, the GTA excluding Toronto scores 5, and the City of Toronto scores 0.
Which cities count as Northern Ontario for the OINP?
The northern districts, which include Greater Sudbury, Thunder Bay, North Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Kenora, Dryden, Elliot Lake, Temiskaming Shores and Parry Sound, among others. Region is defined by district rather than by city name, so confirm your specific work location against Ontario's official definition.
Does Toronto really score zero region points?
Yes. The City of Toronto scores 0 on the region factor. The identical job with the identical wage scores 15 points more in Thunder Bay. This is the largest single-factor swing available to most applicants.
Is the region based on where I live or where I work?
Where you work, specifically the work location stated on your job offer. For self employed physicians it is the practice address. Living in a northern community while working in Toronto does not earn the points.
Can my employer just put a different address on the job offer?
Only if it is genuine. The work location must be a real business premises where you will actually perform the work. If your employer operates multiple sites and you will genuinely work from the regional one, that is a legitimate choice worth making deliberately. Misstating it is misrepresentation.
Are employer requirements easier outside the GTA?
Yes. Ontario applies lower gross revenue and permanent staffing thresholds to employers located outside the Greater Toronto Area, so the regional advantage compounds, easier for the employer to qualify and worth more points to you.
Do wages in Northern Ontario cancel out the region points?
Rarely, because the wage factor is a staircase rather than a sliding scale. A drop from $42 to $38 an hour costs 3 points while a move from Toronto to Sudbury gains 15. Only a drop that crosses several wage thresholds would offset the region gain.
Which region does Ottawa or Hamilton fall into?
Ottawa is Eastern Ontario and Hamilton is Southwestern Ontario; both score 10. Mississauga, Brampton, Markham and the rest of the GTA outside Toronto score 5.