Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Highlands’ health region
Across the region, life runs to 81.2 years on average: women 83.6, men 78.8, in 2022/2024. Closer to home, a hospital is just 1.9 km from the average resident of Highlands, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Highlands grades B+ for health, #231 of 474 in Alberta and #1,476 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Highlands
Pharmacies close at hand
The average resident of Highlands can reach 14 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.6 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.
Highlands 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: #231 of 474 in Alberta and #1,476 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 Highlands: 1.9 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Highlands, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Highlands 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.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Highlands’ region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
Canada’s 102 health regions show life expectancy dropping as deprivation climbs (correlation −0.83); a region scored 2.8 would be expected to reach 81.4 years, and Highlands’ region is close, at 81.2. 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.
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 tracks the province: 33% of adults here, 32% across 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 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
Life expectancy in Alberta runs from 78.3 to 83.0; this region sits 2nd of the 5.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Highlands 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%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
On mental health the region tracks Alberta, 51% very good or excellent to 52%; 24% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Highlands is 6th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,639 to 2,718 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 9.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hanna AB B− | 2,665 | 0.5 km | 52% |
| 2 | Sundre AB C+ | 2,683 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 3 | Meadowlark Park AB B+ | 2,671 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 4 | La Ronge SK | 2,668 | 1.3 km | – |
| 5 | Delton AB B+ | 2,657 | 1.9 km | 51% |
| 6 | Highlands AB B+ | 2,677 | 1.9 km | 51% |
| 7 | North Point Douglas MB B+ | 2,670 | 2.1 km | 52% |
| 8 | Cy Becker AB B+ | 2,683 | 2.1 km | 51% |
| 40 | Tumbler Ridge BC D | 2,663 | 75 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Highlands
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | 1.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Montrose 0.8 km | 1.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Newton 1.3 km | 2.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Virginia Park 1.8 km | 1.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Capilano 1.9 km | 3.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Beacon Heights 2.0 km | 3.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Beverly Heights 2.0 km | 3.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Highlands from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Highlands shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
Questions about health in Highlands
How is Highlands’ Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Highlands’ distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Highlands from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Highlands is 0.6 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
What is the life expectancy in Highlands?
For the health region that includes Highlands, women can expect 83.6 years and men 78.8 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Highlands?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share 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).