Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Edmonton’s health region
Lives in the region last 81.2 years on average (2022/2024): 83.6 for women, 78.8 for men. Measured from where Edmonton’s residents live, a hospital is 3.4 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. The region has much the same share of smokers as Alberta, 12% of adults to 11%.
What stands out about health in Edmonton
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Edmonton can reach 9.5 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.
Edmonton isn’t graded for health yet
The inputs, each beside the typical one of Canadian towns: four for the health region, one for the town itself.
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 Edmonton: 3.4 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Edmonton, weighted by who lives there.
For distance to care Edmonton is ordinary: 3.1 km is the typical figure in Alberta, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.9 km, while the average resident is 3.4 km away. 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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Edmonton’s dot is marked, close to the line.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Edmonton’s region is a typical case: 81.2 years at a score of 2.8, where the trend says 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%)
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
On weight the region is ordinary for Alberta: 33% report obesity, the province 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.
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
Among the 5 regions in Alberta, from 78.3 to 83.0 years, this one is 2nd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Edmonton’s 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Alberta: 52% and 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 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.
Health in the places around Edmonton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonton | 3.4 km | 51% | 81.2 | — |
| Garneau 0.7 km | 0.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Queen Alexandra 0.8 km | 1.3 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Strathcona 1.0 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| McKernan 1.5 km | 0.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Downtown 2.0 km | 0.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Allendale 2.1 km | 2.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Edmonton’s; read across for the hospital trip.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Edmonton shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Edmonton
Does Edmonton have a Health grade?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Edmonton’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
What is the life expectancy in Edmonton?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Edmonton’s health region only: 83.6 years for women and 78.8 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Edmonton?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 18% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Edmonton from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Edmonton is 1.0 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
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).