Around Bearspaw, 51% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Life expectancy in the region is 81.2 years (83.6 for women, 78.8 for men, 2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Bearspaw is well placed: 1.7 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Bearspaw a grade of B+, #216 of 474 in Alberta and #1,439 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Bearspaw
Pharmacies on every corner
The average resident of Bearspaw can reach 9.6 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.0 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Bearspaw grades B+ 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: #216 of 474 in Alberta and #1,439 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.
Getting to hospital from Bearspaw: 1.7 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Bearspaw, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Bearspaw 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. 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
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Bearspaw’s region’s dot is close to the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.8, the expected figure is 81.4 years, and Bearspaw’s region matches it closely with 81.2. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 4 above, 4 below, a median of 81.2 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.
19% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 7.4% 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
Obesity is close to the province’s level, 33% 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health 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 region is 2nd longest-lived of 5 in Alberta, on a scale from 78.3 to 83.0 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Bearspaw itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in Alberta: 52% to 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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across Alberta (51% against 52%), while 24% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Bearspaw is 12th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,112 to 5,277 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Alexander MB B+ | 5,161 | 0.5 km | 52% |
| 2 | Heritage SK B+ | 5,172 | 0.5 km | 49% |
| 3 | Didsbury AB A+ | 5,185 | 1.0 km | 56% |
| 10 | Antigonish NS C | 5,175 | 1.7 km | 49% |
| 11 | Montréal-Ouest QC A | 5,197 | 1.7 km | 54% |
| 12 | Bearspaw AB B+ | 5,192 | 1.7 km | 51% |
| 13 | Crown Point East ON B | 5,215 | 2.0 km | 53% |
| 14 | Bannerman AB B+ | 5,187 | 2.2 km | 51% |
| 40 | Marystown NL D− | 5,196 | 31 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Bearspaw
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearspaw | 1.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Skyrattler 1.6 km | 1.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Ermineskin 1.7 km | 0.6 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Twin Brooks 2.1 km | 2.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| MacEwan 2.4 km | 3.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Blue Quill 2.4 km | 1.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Cavanagh 2.5 km | 4.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
The neighbours all sit in Bearspaw’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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 Bearspaw’s own.
Questions about health in Bearspaw
How is Bearspaw’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Bearspaw’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Bearspaw from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.0 km from the average resident of Bearspaw, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Bearspaw?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Bearspaw’s health region only: 83.6 years for women and 78.8 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Bearspaw?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
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).