Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0Black Diamond scores better for health than almost every Canadian town
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 56%, ahead of the 53% for Alberta. For Black Diamond itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 0.7 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Black Diamond grades A+ for health, #1 of 474 in Alberta and #61 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Black Diamond
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Black Diamond is well below the typical town’s; 6.2% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Born around Black Diamond, a child can expect 1.5 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.7 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Self-rated health runs high
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 ↓
Near a hospital
Measured from where people live, Black Diamond is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 0.9 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Black Diamond 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: #1 of 474 in Alberta and #61 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (17%) and diabetes (6.7%)
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
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.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the longest-lived of the 5 regions in Alberta, 4.7 years ahead of the last at 78.3.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Black Diamond’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
More people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 57% to 54%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
The region’s 54% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Alberta’s 52%, with 23% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Black Diamond: 0.7 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Black Diamond’s own, not the region’s.
Black Diamond is closer in than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Alberta, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Black Diamond’s region is near the line.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Black Diamond’s region is a typical case: 83.0 years at a score of 2.3, where the trend says 83.2. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, shorter lives win out: 7 of the 10, around a median of 82.8 years.
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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Black Diamond comes 2nd of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,872 to 2,954 people, median 4.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairview AB C− | 2,918 | 0.6 km | 48% |
| 2 | Black Diamond AB A+ | 2,910 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 3 | Westmount SK A− | 2,872 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 4 | McKernan AB B+ | 2,880 | 0.9 km | 51% |
| 40 | Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part ON D | 2,877 | 44 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Black Diamond
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Diamond | 0.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Turner Valley 3.9 km | 3.5 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Foothills County 19 km | 11 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Okotoks 19 km | 1.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Around Black Diamond the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Foothills County live further from a hospital, at 11 km against 0.7 km in Black Diamond.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Black Diamond alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Black Diamond
How healthy is Black Diamond?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Black Diamond?
For the health region that includes Black Diamond, women can expect 85.0 years and men 80.9 (2022/2024).
How is Black Diamond’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Black Diamond’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Black Diamond from a hospital?
For everyday care, Black Diamond’s residents are 0.8 km from a pharmacy on average.
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).