Photo: Dwayne Reilander · CC BY-SA 4.0Calgary’s health region counts just 7.9% of adults who smoke, below the typical Canadian town’s 12%
In the health survey, 56% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than Alberta’s 53%. Measured from where Calgary’s residents live, a hospital is 3.7 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 83.0, with women at 85.0 and men at 80.9.
What stands out about health in Calgary
Longer lives in the region
Calgary’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 ↓
More people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 4.8 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 57% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
A typical home in Calgary has 9.2 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.8 km away. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
No Health grade for Calgary yet
The inputs, each beside the typical one of Canadian towns: four for the health region, one for the town itself.
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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Calgary’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across Alberta (54% against 52%), while 23% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
From Calgary, a hospital is 3.7 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Calgary, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Calgary here: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.3 km, while the average resident is 3.7 km away. 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Calgary’s lies near the line.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.3 about 83.2 years; Calgary’s region’s 83.0 is within a year of it. 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.
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
Obesity runs lower than in the province, at 27% 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.
Health in the places around Calgary
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary | 3.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | — |
| Beltline 0.7 km | 0.8 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Mission 0.9 km | 1.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Downtown Commercial Core 1.1 km | 1.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Eau Claire 1.3 km | 1.2 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Downtown East Village 1.3 km | 1.5 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Lower Mount Royal 1.5 km | 1.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
The neighbours all sit in Calgary’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Calgary shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
Questions about health in Calgary
How healthy is Calgary?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Calgary?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 85.0 for women, 80.9 for men around Calgary (2022/2024).
Does Calgary have a Health grade?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Calgary’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Calgary from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Calgary is 0.8 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).