Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Few places match Airdrie for health: it beats 96% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. What sets Airdrie apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 2.3 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Airdrie grades A+ for health, #53 of 474 in Alberta and #175 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Airdrie
A region that smokes less
Smoking is rarer around Airdrie than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 6.2% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Airdrie runs 1.5 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 4.8 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 57%. Health survey ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
With 8.1 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.8 km off, Airdrie is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Airdrie grades A+ for health
Each input ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more: the region’s four, the town’s distance to a hospital.
The region’s four figures and the town’s distance to a hospital are each ranked against Canadian towns of 2,500 or more, then averaged. Its place: #53 of 474 in Alberta and #175 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
How the grade works
Health is graded as a regional score, labelled as such: very good or excellent self-rated health, chronic conditions (arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure averaged) and smoking from the Canadian Community Health Survey, each age-standardised so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, and life expectancy at birth, all for the health region. The residents’ average distance to a hospital is the one input measured for the town itself, so towns in one region can still differ.
High blood pressure for 17% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.7%
What the survey finds on conditions, weight and habits for the region, the province as the tick.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Self-reported obesity, 27%, trails Alberta (32%).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight. The anxiety disorder figure is the 2021/2022 estimate: Statistics Canada found the latest too unreliable to publish here.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 regions in Alberta
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Alberta, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
No region of the 5 in Alberta lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 78.3, a gap of 4.7 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Airdrie’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in Alberta (54%)
How adults in the health region answered the survey, not adjusted for age; the tick marks the province.
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health is close to the province’s: 54% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 23% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Airdrie: 2.3 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Airdrie, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Airdrie travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. The clinic list is thin in Alberta: the facilities database holds few clinics there, so the clinic distance overstates the trip.
Hospitals and clinics: Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities. Pharmacies: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Straight-line distances from each dissemination area, weighted by its 2021 population.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Airdrie’s region shows close to the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.3, the expected figure is 83.2 years, and Airdrie’s region matches it closely with 83.0. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 7 of them below it, a median of 82.8.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, 2022/2024, by health region. Deprivation: Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (situational vulnerability), averaged over each region’s towns by their residents; income: 2021 Census median household income, averaged the same way. The averages and the line are TownRatings calculations.
Among 40 towns its size, Airdrie is 6th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (68,714 to 123,521 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Chomedey QC A | 81,813 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 4 | Saint-Jérôme QC A+ | 85,160 | 2.1 km | 60% |
| 5 | Medicine Hat AB B− | 68,714 | 2.1 km | 52% |
| 6 | Airdrie AB A+ | 92,544 | 2.3 km | 56% |
| 7 | Newmarket ON A | 95,763 | 2.5 km | 51% |
| 8 | Granby QC A+ | 72,180 | 2.6 km | 57% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Airdrie
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airdrie | 2.3 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Livingston 11 km | 8.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Carrington 12 km | 7.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Coventry Hills 13 km | 7.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Redstone 13 km | 10 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Country Hills Village 13 km | 6.5 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Evanston 14 km | 5.3 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
Around Airdrie the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Redstone live further from a hospital, at 10 km against 2.3 km in Airdrie.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Airdrie’s own.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Airdrie
How is Airdrie’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Airdrie: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Airdrie?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Airdrie?
For the health region that includes Airdrie, women can expect 85.0 years and men 80.9 (2022/2024).
How far is Airdrie from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.8 km from the average resident of Airdrie, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (13-10-0972) · Statistics Canada, life expectancy 2022/2024 (13-10-0988) · Statistics Canada, health regions 2023 (82-402-X) · Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities · pharmacies © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).