Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0Health in Carstairs beats 90% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Carstairs’ is long: 12 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Carstairs grades A for health, #164 of 474 in Alberta and #628 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Carstairs
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Carstairs is well below the typical town’s; 6.2% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to hospital
For 0% of homes in Carstairs the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 12 km. Getting care ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Carstairs 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 ↓
Self-rated health runs high
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 ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Carstairs 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: #164 of 474 in Alberta and #628 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 (17%) and diabetes (6.7%)
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.
The nearest hospital is 12 km from the average home in Carstairs
Straight-line distances from each part of Carstairs, weighted by who lives there.
From Carstairs that is further 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.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
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 Carstairs’ 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.
Self-rated health beats Alberta: 57% very good or excellent, against 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 close to the province’s: 54% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 23% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Carstairs’ region is near the line.
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 Carstairs’ region matches it closely with 83.0. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 7 of 10; their median is 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.
Carstairs is 32nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,169 to 5,319 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heritage SK B+ | 5,172 | 0.5 km | 49% |
| 2 | Didsbury AB A+ | 5,185 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 3 | Mt. Hope Huron Park ON A | 5,174 | 1.1 km | 53% |
| 30 | Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay BC B | 5,243 | 8.5 km | 57% |
| 31 | Grand Bay-Westfield NB C− | 5,202 | 10 km | 43% |
| 32 | Carstairs AB A | 5,248 | 12 km | 56% |
| 33 | Metchosin BC A | 5,207 | 13 km | 55% |
| 34 | Centre Hastings ON D | 5,170 | 13 km | 45% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Carstairs
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carstairs | 12 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Didsbury 12 km | 1.0 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Crossfield 15 km | 16 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
The neighbours all sit in Carstairs’ health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Didsbury is the closest to care, 1.0 km to Carstairs’ 12 km.
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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Carstairs itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Carstairs
How is Carstairs’ 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 Carstairs’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Carstairs?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
How far is Carstairs from a hospital?
Residents of Carstairs have a pharmacy 1.2 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Carstairs?
Women in Carstairs’ region live to 85.0 on average and men to 80.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
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).