Photo: Own work · CC BY-SA 3.051% of adults around McKernan rate their health very good or excellent
The region’s 2022/2024 life expectancy is 81.2, with women at 83.6 and men at 78.8. What sets McKernan apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 0.9 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). McKernan grades B+ for health.
What stands out about health in McKernan
A hospital close by
The hospital is close for almost everyone in McKernan: 1.1 km from its centre of population. Getting care ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 18 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.5 km off, McKernan is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
McKernan 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.
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 McKernan: 0.9 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of McKernan, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, McKernan is on the near side. 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
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); McKernan’s region is near the line.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and McKernan’s region is a typical case: 81.2 years at a score of 2.8, where the trend says 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.
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
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.
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
This region is 2nd longest-lived of 5 in Alberta, on a scale from 78.3 to 83.0 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where McKernan’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.
Self-rated health much as in Alberta: 52% to 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
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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: McKernan comes 3rd of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,845 to 2,918 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Diamond AB A+ | 2,910 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 2 | Westmount SK A− | 2,872 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 3 | McKernan AB B+ | 2,880 | 0.9 km | 51% |
| 4 | Minnedosa MB B− | 2,859 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 5 | Moosomin SK C− | 2,906 | 1.1 km | 49% |
| 40 | Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part ON D | 2,877 | 44 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around McKernan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKernan | 0.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Queen Alexandra 0.8 km | 1.3 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Belgravia 1.1 km | 1.1 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Garneau 1.1 km | 0.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Allendale 1.3 km | 2.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Malmo Plains 2.3 km | 1.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Strathcona 2.3 km | 2.0 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
Around McKernan the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital.
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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: McKernan shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
Questions about health in McKernan
How is McKernan’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and McKernan’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is McKernan from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in McKernan is 0.5 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
What is the life expectancy in McKernan?
Women in McKernan’s region live to 83.6 on average and men to 78.8, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is McKernan?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. 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).