Photo: Simon Law from Montréal, QC, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Around Downtown, 51% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Lives in the region last 81.2 years on average (2022/2024): 83.6 for women, 78.8 for men. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Downtown is well placed: 0.9 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Downtown a grade of B+, #185 of 474 in Alberta and #1,312 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Downtown
Hospital care on the doorstep
Measured from where people live, Downtown is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 1.0 km away. Getting care ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
With 27 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.4 km off, Downtown 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.
Downtown 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: #185 of 474 in Alberta and #1,312 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 Downtown: 0.9 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Downtown, weighted by who lives there.
From Downtown that is nearer than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Downtown’s dot is marked, close to the line.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Downtown belongs to lives about as long as its score of 2.8 predicts: 81.2 years, the trend 81.4. The 10 regions closest to it on the index split evenly around it, 4 above and 4 below; their median is 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (7.4%)
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 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
Of the 5 health regions in Alberta, 2nd place goes to this one, between a low of 78.3 and a high of 83.0.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Downtown 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.
52% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Alberta (54%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Neither ahead nor behind Alberta on mental health (51% to 52%), the region has 24% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Downtown is 3rd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (12,605 to 13,160 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yonge-Bay Corridor ON A | 12,888 | 0.3 km | 50% |
| 2 | Regent Park ON A | 12,797 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Downtown AB B+ | 12,880 | 0.9 km | 51% |
| 4 | Lloydminster (Part) SK C | 13,137 | 1.2 km | 46% |
| 5 | Albert Park SK B+ | 12,967 | 1.2 km | 49% |
| 40 | Lac Ste. Anne County AB D− | 12,639 | 25 km | 48% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Downtown
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown | 0.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Central McDougall 1.6 km | 0.6 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Wîhkwêntôwin 1.6 km | 0.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Strathcona 1.8 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Riverdale 1.8 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Queen Mary Park 1.9 km | 1.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Boyle Street 2.1 km | 0.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
Same region, same survey: Downtown’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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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 Downtown’s own.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
Questions about health in Downtown
How is Downtown’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Downtown’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Downtown from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.4 km from the average resident of Downtown, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
What is the life expectancy in Downtown?
There is no figure for Downtown alone; its health region’s is 83.6 for women and 78.8 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Downtown?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
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).