Photo: Johntwrl · Public domain51% of adults around Forest Heights rate their health very good or excellent
A baby born in the region can expect 81.2 years, 83.6 for a girl and 78.8 for a boy (2022/2024). Closer to home, a hospital is just 2.4 km from the average resident of Forest Heights, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Health gives Forest Heights a grade of B+, #255 of 474 in Alberta and #1,543 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Forest Heights
Pharmacies on every corner
The average resident of Forest Heights can reach 15 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.8 km off. 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.
Forest Heights 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: #255 of 474 in Alberta and #1,543 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.
From Forest Heights, a hospital is 2.4 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Forest Heights, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Forest Heights here: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital and 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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Forest Heights’ region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Forest Heights belongs to lives about as long as its score of 2.8 predicts: 81.2 years, the trend 81.4. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (4) and half worse (4), around a median of 81.2.
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.
High blood pressure for 19% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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.
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
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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Forest Heights’ 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Alberta: 52% and 54%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 51% very good or excellent against 52% for Alberta; stress is a daily matter for 24%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Forest Heights is 12th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,057 to 4,177 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 6.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McCauley AB B+ | 4,060 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | Sunalta AB A+ | 4,151 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 3 | Balfour ON B | 4,171 | 1.0 km | 53% |
| 10 | Elbow Park AB A+ | 4,120 | 2.2 km | 56% |
| 11 | Balwin AB B+ | 4,092 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 12 | Forest Heights AB B+ | 4,118 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 13 | Matt Berry AB B+ | 4,093 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 14 | Killarney AB B+ | 4,165 | 2.6 km | 51% |
| 40 | Mistissini QC | 4,067 | 66 km | – |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Forest Heights
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Heights | 2.4 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Holyrood 1.5 km | 3.3 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Virginia Park 1.6 km | 1.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Capilano 1.6 km | 3.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Riverdale 1.8 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Boyle Street 1.8 km | 0.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Ottewell 1.9 km | 4.1 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Forest Heights’ regional figures.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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 Forest Heights’ own.
Questions about health in Forest Heights
How is Forest Heights’ 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 Forest Heights’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Forest Heights?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.6 for women, 78.8 for men around Forest Heights (2022/2024).
How healthy is Forest Heights?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 18%.
How far is Forest Heights from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.8 km from the average resident of Forest Heights, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
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).