Photo: Hero122 · CC BY 3.0Flagstaff County’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.4 years: life expectancy 79.1
Across the region, 52% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in Alberta (53%). For Flagstaff County itself the measure is access, and it lags: 19 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Flagstaff County grades C− for health, #432 of 474 in Alberta and #2,342 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Flagstaff County
A long way to hospital
Residents of Flagstaff County live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (5.3 km from its centre of population), and 15% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Flagstaff County than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 12% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
No pharmacy close by
From the average home in Flagstaff County, a pharmacy is 38 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Flagstaff County grades C− 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: #432 of 474 in Alberta and #2,342 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 Flagstaff County: 19 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Flagstaff County’s own, not the region’s.
From Flagstaff County that is further than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 5.3 km, while the average resident is 19 km away. 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.
24% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.9% 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
Self-reported obesity, 39%, tops 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 0.8 years short of the trend
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Flagstaff County’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.3, Flagstaff County’s region’s 79.1 years sit under the line’s 79.9. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 81.2 years. Its towns’ household income, about $85,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 0.14).
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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Alberta
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 3rd of 5 in Alberta: the regions span 78.3 to 83.0 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Flagstaff County’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in 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
Mental health is no outlier: 54% say very good or excellent (Alberta: 52%) and 22% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Flagstaff County is 34th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,668 to 3,779 people, median 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central ON B | 3,698 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 2 | Eau Claire AB A+ | 3,733 | 1.2 km | 56% |
| 3 | West Kildonan Industrial MB B+ | 3,678 | 1.4 km | 52% |
| 32 | Electoral Area A, Columbia-Shuswap BC B− | 3,672 | 17 km | 57% |
| 33 | Saint-Michel QC A− | 3,672 | 18 km | 55% |
| 34 | Flagstaff County AB C− | 3,724 | 19 km | 52% |
| 35 | Electoral Area A, Fraser-Fort George BC D | 3,764 | 20 km | 39% |
| 36 | Sainte-Claire QC B+ | 3,724 | 20 km | 59% |
| 40 | Cartier MB C | 3,739 | 30 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Flagstaff County 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
Questions about health in Flagstaff County
How far is Flagstaff County from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Flagstaff County is 38 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
What is the life expectancy in Flagstaff County?
For the health region that includes Flagstaff County, women can expect 81.7 years and men 76.6 (2022/2024).
How is Flagstaff County’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 Flagstaff County’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Flagstaff County?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 19% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
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).