Photo: Garth Bishop · CC BY-SA 3.0Around Summerside, 51% of adults call 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. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Summerside’s is long: 5.2 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Summerside a grade of B, #334 of 474 in Alberta and #1,730 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Summerside
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Summerside can reach 4.8 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 1.1 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.
Summerside 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: #334 of 474 in Alberta and #1,730 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 Summerside, a hospital is 5.2 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Summerside, weighted by who lives there.
From Summerside that is further 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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Every town shares its health region’s figures, so this compares 102 regions; the one holding Summerside’s lies near the line.
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 Summerside’s region is close, at 81.2. 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%
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
At 33%, self-reported obesity is near Alberta’s 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health 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
This is the one part of the block measured for Summerside 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
The region’s 51% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Alberta’s 52%, with 24% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Summerside is 32nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (16,296 to 17,248 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.2 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Côte-Saint-Paul QC A | 16,403 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 2 | La Visitation QC A | 17,166 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 3 | Davie Village BC A+ | 16,833 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 30 | Tracadie NB B− | 16,453 | 4.7 km | 49% |
| 31 | Cap-Rouge QC A+ | 17,139 | 5.2 km | 62% |
| 32 | Summerside AB B | 16,760 | 5.2 km | 51% |
| 33 | Elder Mills ON A− | 16,790 | 6.9 km | 51% |
| 34 | Sturgeon Falls ON C− | 16,682 | 7.2 km | 47% |
| 40 | Sooke BC A− | 17,248 | 23 km | 55% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Summerside
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summerside | 5.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| The Orchards At Ellerslie 1.1 km | 6.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Ellerslie 1.4 km | 4.2 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Walker 1.7 km | 4.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Charlesworth 2.5 km | 3.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Anthony Henday South East 3.0 km | 2.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Cavanagh 3.5 km | 4.5 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
Summerside and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t.
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.
- 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.
- 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: Summerside shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Summerside
How far is Summerside from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Summerside is 1.1 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
What is the life expectancy in Summerside?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Summerside’s health region only: 83.6 years for women and 78.8 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Summerside?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
How is Summerside’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Summerside’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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).