Photo: Madereugeneandrew · CC BY-SA 4.0People in Blackfalds’ health region live to 79.1 on average, 2.4 years short of the typical Canadian town
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Alberta, 52% against 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Blackfalds’ is long: 9.2 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Blackfalds grades C for health, #418 of 474 in Alberta and #2,247 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Blackfalds
More smokers
Around Blackfalds, 12% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Blackfalds grades C 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: #418 of 474 in Alberta and #2,247 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 (24%) and diabetes (8.9%)
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 39% of adults against 32% for Alberta.
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.
The region lives 0.8 years less than its deprivation predicts
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Blackfalds’ dot is marked, under the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.3, the expected figure is 79.9 years, and Blackfalds’ region falls below with 79.1. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 81.2 years. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $85,000, more than in most regions, yet lives here are shorter than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 0.14).
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.
From Blackfalds, a hospital is 9.2 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Blackfalds’ own, not the region’s.
Blackfalds is further out 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.
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
Life expectancy in Alberta runs from 78.3 to 83.0; this region sits 3rd of the 5.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Blackfalds’ own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Alberta (54%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Neither ahead nor behind Alberta on mental health (54% to 52%), the region has 22% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Blackfalds comes 28th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 12,008 to 12,523 people, median 4.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DT Hospital ON A− | 12,384 | 0.4 km | 49% |
| 2 | Yonge-Eglinton ON A | 12,424 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Woodbine Corridor ON A | 12,283 | 1.0 km | 50% |
| 26 | Cantley QC B | 12,291 | 8.1 km | 55% |
| 27 | Georgian Bluffs ON C+ | 12,061 | 9.1 km | 48% |
| 28 | Blackfalds AB C | 12,258 | 9.2 km | 52% |
| 29 | Rideau Lakes ON B− | 12,148 | 9.3 km | 51% |
| 30 | Chapman Mills ON A | 12,075 | 9.8 km | 56% |
| 40 | Wetaskiwin County No. 10 AB C− | 12,117 | 20 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Blackfalds
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackfalds | 9.2 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Lacombe County 7.3 km | 15 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Lacombe 11 km | 1.8 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Red Deer 13 km | 3.5 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Bentley 19 km | 0.3 km | 52% | 79.1 | B− |
Blackfalds and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Bentley is the closest to care, 0.3 km to Blackfalds’ 9.2 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Blackfalds 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.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
Questions about health in Blackfalds
What is the life expectancy in Blackfalds?
Women in Blackfalds’ region live to 81.7 on average and men to 76.6, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Blackfalds’ Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Blackfalds’ distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Blackfalds from a hospital?
For everyday care, Blackfalds’ residents are 1.8 km from a pharmacy on average.
How healthy is Blackfalds?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
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).