Photo: Johntwrl · CC BY-SA 3.051% of adults around Sherbrooke rate their health very good or excellent
For 2022/2024, the region’s figure is 81.2 years at birth, 83.6 for women and 78.8 for men. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Sherbrooke is well placed: 1.7 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Sherbrooke a grade of B+, #216 of 474 in Alberta and #1,439 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sherbrooke
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Sherbrooke’s neighbourhoods average 4.6 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Sherbrooke can reach 18 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.
Sherbrooke 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: #216 of 474 in Alberta and #1,439 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 Sherbrooke: 1.7 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Sherbrooke’s own, not the region’s.
From Sherbrooke that is nearer than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
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
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Sherbrooke’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
About as long-lived as regions this deprived, if slightly less
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Sherbrooke’s region’s dot is close to the line.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Sherbrooke’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.
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
Self-reported obesity, 33%, sits within a few points of Alberta (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.
52% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Alberta (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.
Among 40 towns its size, Sherbrooke is 10th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 6,991 to 7,277 people, median 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raleigh ON B | 7,113 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 2 | Inglewood AB B+ | 7,167 | 1.1 km | 51% |
| 3 | La Sarre QC B | 7,199 | 1.2 km | 57% |
| 8 | Chibougamau QC B− | 7,273 | 1.7 km | 65% |
| 9 | Merritt BC C+ | 7,190 | 1.7 km | 48% |
| 10 | Sherbrooke AB B+ | 7,131 | 1.7 km | 51% |
| 11 | Yarmouth NS C− | 7,129 | 1.8 km | 44% |
| 12 | Vanier South ON A+ | 7,259 | 2.0 km | 56% |
| 40 | Algoma, Unorganized, North Part ON D− | 7,008 | 25 km | 46% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Sherbrooke
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Nothing in the regional columns separates Sherbrooke from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Sherbrooke 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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.
Questions about health in Sherbrooke
How is Sherbrooke’s 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 Sherbrooke’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Sherbrooke from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Sherbrooke is 0.6 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
What is the life expectancy in Sherbrooke?
There is no figure for Sherbrooke alone; its health region’s is 83.6 for women and 78.8 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Sherbrooke?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, 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).