Few places match Dalhousie for health: it beats 96% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 56% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than Alberta’s 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Dalhousie live 2.7 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. The Health grade for Dalhousie is A+, #67 of 474 in Alberta and #202 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Dalhousie
A region that smokes less
Smoking is rarer around Dalhousie than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 6.2% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Dalhousie’s region sits 1.5 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 21.7 years ahead (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 ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 11 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.5 km off, Dalhousie is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Dalhousie 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: #67 of 474 in Alberta and #202 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.
17% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 6.7% diabetes
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.
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
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Dalhousie’s own areas.
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 no outlier: 54% say very good or excellent (Alberta: 52%) and 23% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From Dalhousie, a hospital is 2.7 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Dalhousie’s own, not the region’s.
Dalhousie is near the provincial norm, 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta, with 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Dalhousie’s region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
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 Dalhousie’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.
Dalhousie is 13th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 8,445 to 8,794 people, median 3.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garneau AB B+ | 8,492 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | West Centretown ON A+ | 8,560 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 3 | Iqaluit NU D | 8,612 | 0.8 km | 39% |
| 11 | Trinity Commons ON A− | 8,477 | 2.3 km | 49% |
| 12 | Crestview MB B+ | 8,658 | 2.3 km | 52% |
| 13 | Dalhousie AB A+ | 8,617 | 2.7 km | 56% |
| 14 | St. John's MB B+ | 8,492 | 2.8 km | 52% |
| 15 | Stanley Park ON A | 8,721 | 2.9 km | 53% |
| 40 | Muskoka Lakes ON B | 8,463 | 20 km | 54% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Dalhousie
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalhousie | 2.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Varsity 1.9 km | 3.4 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Brentwood 2.3 km | 2.9 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Ranchlands 2.4 km | 3.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Hawkwood 2.5 km | 3.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Silver Springs 2.5 km | 4.8 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Edgemont 2.6 km | 1.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Around Dalhousie 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
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- 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 Dalhousie’s own.
Questions about health in Dalhousie
How healthy is Dalhousie?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 16% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Dalhousie?
For the health region that includes Dalhousie, women can expect 85.0 years and men 80.9 (2022/2024).
How is Dalhousie’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Dalhousie has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Dalhousie from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.5 km from the average resident of Dalhousie, 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).