Photo: LaserToaster5 · CC BY-SA 4.0Very good or excellent health for 51% of adults in Kirkness’ health region
Across the region, life runs to 81.2 years on average: women 83.6, men 78.8, in 2022/2024. Measured from where Kirkness’ residents live, the nearest hospital is 2.0 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Kirkness grades B+ for health, #237 of 474 in Alberta and #1,495 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Kirkness
Pharmacies close at hand
The average resident of Kirkness can reach 6.1 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.5 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Kirkness 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: #237 of 474 in Alberta and #1,495 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 Kirkness, a hospital is 2.0 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Kirkness, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Kirkness 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. 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; Kirkness’ dot is marked, close to the line.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Kirkness belongs to lives about as long as its score of 2.8 predicts: 81.2 years, the trend 81.4. 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
About as many adults report obesity as across Alberta: 33%, 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
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 Kirkness 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%)
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
Stress touches 24% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 51%, the province 52% (Alberta).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Kirkness comes 14th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (5,192 to 5,368 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waverley Heights MB B+ | 5,252 | 1.1 km | 52% |
| 2 | Oliver BC B+ | 5,262 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 3 | Southdale ON A | 5,277 | 1.2 km | 53% |
| 12 | Crown Point East ON B | 5,215 | 2.0 km | 53% |
| 13 | Aldergrove AB B+ | 5,311 | 2.0 km | 51% |
| 14 | Kirkness AB B+ | 5,279 | 2.0 km | 51% |
| 15 | South West Industrial SK B+ | 5,297 | 2.1 km | 49% |
| 16 | Tweddle Place AB B+ | 5,211 | 2.3 km | 51% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Kirkness
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkness | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Fraser 0.9 km | 2.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Bannerman 1.0 km | 2.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Edmonton Energy And Technology Park 1.1 km | 3.3 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Miller 1.3 km | 0.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Brintnell 1.7 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Clareview Town Centre 1.7 km | 0.8 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Kirkness’; read across for the hospital trip.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Kirkness itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Kirkness
How is Kirkness’ Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Kirkness has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Kirkness from a hospital?
Residents of Kirkness have a pharmacy 1.5 km away on average, in a straight line.
What is the life expectancy in Kirkness?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Kirkness’ health region only: 83.6 years for women and 78.8 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Kirkness?
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).