Photo: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA · CC BY 2.0Only 7.9% of adults smoke in the health region around Banff Trail, against 12% for the typical Canadian town
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 56% very good or excellent, against 53% in Alberta. Closer to home, a hospital is just 1.9 km from the average resident of Banff Trail, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Banff Trail grades A+ for health.
What stands out about health in Banff Trail
Life expectancy above the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Banff Trail 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 ↓
Upbeat about their health
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
A typical home in Banff Trail has 14 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.6 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Banff Trail 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.
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.
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
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
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Banff Trail’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%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
For 23% of adults most days are quite a bit stressful, and 54% rate their mental health very good or excellent, near Alberta’s 52%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
The nearest hospital is 1.9 km from the average home in Banff Trail
Straight-line distances from each part of Banff Trail, weighted by who lives there.
From Banff Trail that is nearer than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Banff Trail’s region’s dot is close to the line.
More deprivation, shorter lives: that holds across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and Banff Trail’s region fits it, 83.0 years at 2.3 against the line’s 83.2. Even beside regions as deprived, it stands out: 7 of its 10 closest matches fall short, their median 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.
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
Fewer adults report obesity than across Alberta: 27%, the province 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.
Banff Trail is 9th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,106 to 4,242 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claresholm AB A+ | 4,242 | 0.8 km | 56% |
| 2 | La Pocatière QC A | 4,206 | 0.9 km | 60% |
| 3 | Sunalta AB A+ | 4,151 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 7 | Malmo Plains AB B+ | 4,150 | 1.5 km | 51% |
| 8 | Port Hardy BC A− | 4,201 | 1.9 km | 54% |
| 9 | Banff Trail AB A+ | 4,175 | 1.9 km | 56% |
| 10 | Elbow Park AB A+ | 4,120 | 2.2 km | 56% |
| 11 | Forest Heights AB B+ | 4,118 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 40 | Northern Lights County AB D− | 4,115 | 25 km | 48% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Banff Trail
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banff Trail | 1.9 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Capitol Hill 0.9 km | 2.9 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Charleswood 1.5 km | 3.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| University Heights 1.7 km | 1.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| West Hillhurst 2.2 km | 1.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Hillhurst 2.4 km | 2.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Mount Pleasant 2.5 km | 3.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Around Banff Trail the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- 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 Banff Trail’s own.
Questions about health in Banff Trail
How healthy is Banff Trail?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Banff Trail?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Banff Trail’s health region only: 85.0 years for women and 80.9 for men (2022/2024).
How is Banff Trail’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 Banff Trail’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Banff Trail from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.6 km from the average resident of Banff Trail, 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).