Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5Life expectancy around Drayton Valley is 79.1 years, 2.4 less than for the typical Canadian town
Self-rated health is ordinary for Alberta: 52% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 53%. Measured from where Drayton Valley’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.1 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Drayton Valley grades C+ for health, #396 of 474 in Alberta and #2,113 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Drayton Valley
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Drayton Valley is well above the typical town’s; 12% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A hospital close by
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Drayton Valley; from its centre of population the trip is 0.8 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Drayton Valley grades C+ 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: #396 of 474 in Alberta and #2,113 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 24% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.9%
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
Self-reported obesity, 39%, tops 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 1.1 km from the average home in Drayton Valley
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Drayton Valley’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Drayton Valley are closer than most of the province: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. 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.
The region lives 0.8 years less than its deprivation predicts
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Drayton Valley’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Set against 102 regions on the deprivation index (correlation −0.83), the region Drayton Valley belongs to lives less long than its score of 3.3 predicts: 79.1 years, where the trend gives 79.9. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 9 still live longer, with 81.2 years in the middle. A household income of about $85,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; across regions the two barely move together (correlation 0.14).
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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Alberta
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 3rd of 5 in Alberta: the regions span 78.3 to 83.0 years at birth.
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 Drayton Valley’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 51% 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
The region’s 54% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Alberta’s 52%, with 22% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Drayton Valley is 5th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 7,920 to 8,168 people, median 4.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Broadview BC A | 8,008 | 0.6 km | 48% |
| 2 | Wolseley MB B+ | 8,127 | 1.0 km | 52% |
| 3 | Queen Mary Park AB B+ | 7,958 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 4 | Shaughnessy BC A+ | 8,034 | 1.0 km | 50% |
| 5 | Drayton Valley AB C+ | 8,047 | 1.1 km | 52% |
| 6 | Killarney/Glengarry AB A+ | 7,935 | 1.1 km | 56% |
| 7 | Rocky Mountain House AB C+ | 8,144 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 40 | Clare NS D− | 8,020 | 38 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Drayton Valley
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drayton Valley | 1.1 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Brazeau County 2.0 km | 11 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
Around Drayton Valley the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Brazeau County is the furthest from care, 11 km to Drayton Valley’s 1.1 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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 Drayton Valley’s own.
- 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.
Questions about health in Drayton Valley
What is the life expectancy in Drayton Valley?
For the health region that includes Drayton Valley, women can expect 81.7 years and men 76.6 (2022/2024).
How is Drayton Valley’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Drayton Valley has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Drayton Valley from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.8 km from the average resident of Drayton Valley, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How healthy is Drayton Valley?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 19% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
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).