For health, Elbow Park is ahead of 96% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. For Elbow Park itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 2.2 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Elbow Park is A+, #44 of 474 in Alberta and #162 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Elbow Park
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Elbow Park is well below the typical town’s; 6.2% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Born around Elbow Park, 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 ↓
More people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 4.8 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (57% as answered). Health survey ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
With 17 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.9 km off, Elbow Park is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
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.
Elbow Park 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: #44 of 474 in Alberta and #162 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%
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
At 27%, self-reported obesity is below Alberta’s 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
Top of the 5 regions in Alberta: the lowest figure is 78.3, 4.7 years below the highest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Elbow Park’s 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.
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
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 Elbow Park, a hospital is 2.2 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Elbow Park’s own, not the region’s.
That is close to the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta (the typical Canadian town: 3.7 km), as Elbow Park goes. Few clinics are listed in Alberta, so the distance to one reads longer than it is.
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
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Elbow Park’s region shows close to the trend.
At 2.3 on the index, regions tend to reach 83.2 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Elbow Park belongs to reaches 83.0. 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.
Elbow Park is 10th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 4,060 to 4,180 people, median 6.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McCauley AB B+ | 4,060 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | Sunalta AB A+ | 4,151 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 3 | Balfour ON B | 4,171 | 1.0 km | 53% |
| 8 | Malmo Plains AB B+ | 4,150 | 1.5 km | 51% |
| 9 | Banff Trail AB A+ | 4,175 | 1.9 km | 56% |
| 10 | Elbow Park AB A+ | 4,120 | 2.2 km | 56% |
| 11 | Balwin AB B+ | 4,092 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 12 | Forest Heights AB B+ | 4,118 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 40 | Mistissini QC | 4,067 | 66 km | – |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Elbow Park
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elbow Park | 2.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Upper Mount Royal 1.2 km | 1.5 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Erlton 1.4 km | 1.8 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Mission 1.5 km | 1.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Altadore 1.8 km | 2.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Lower Mount Royal 1.8 km | 1.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| South Calgary 1.8 km | 1.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Same region, same survey: Elbow Park’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Elbow Park shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
Questions about health in Elbow Park
How is Elbow Park’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Elbow Park’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Elbow Park?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
What is the life expectancy in Elbow Park?
Women in Elbow Park’s region live to 85.0 on average and men to 80.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Elbow Park from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Elbow Park is 0.9 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
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).