Photo: John Wiley User:Jw4nvc - Santa Barbara, California · CC BY 3.0Life expectancy around Fort Macleod is 78.7 years, 2.8 less than for the typical Canadian town
On self-rated health the region tracks the province: 52% very good or excellent, 53% for Alberta. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Fort Macleod is well placed: 0.9 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Fort Macleod is B, #371 of 474 in Alberta and #1,927 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Fort Macleod
No pharmacy close by
Picking up a prescription in Fort Macleod takes a trip of 36 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Fort Macleod’s neighbourhoods average 4.3 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Near a hospital
Measured from where people live, Fort Macleod is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 0.6 km away. 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.
Fort Macleod 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: #371 of 474 in Alberta and #1,927 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.
The nearest hospital is 0.9 km from the average home in Fort Macleod
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Fort Macleod’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Fort Macleod 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.
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
The region comes 4th of 5 in Alberta, where life expectancy runs from 78.3 to 83.0 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Fort Macleod’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.
1.2 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Fort Macleod’s region shows under the trend.
Where residents average 3.3 on the index, regions tend to reach 79.9 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Fort Macleod belongs to trails at 78.7. Among the 10 regions scored most like it, it comes last; their median is 81.2 years. A household income of about $83,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; across regions the two barely move together (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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.3% 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Alberta: 53% and 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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across Alberta (53% against 52%), while 22% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Fort Macleod is 3rd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,863 to 4,029 people, median 5.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stinson ON B+ | 3,969 | 0.6 km | 53% |
| 2 | Leila North MB B+ | 3,966 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 3 | Fort Macleod AB B | 3,945 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 4 | Parkdale AB B+ | 4,029 | 0.9 km | 51% |
| 5 | Cardston AB B | 3,863 | 1.0 km | 52% |
| 40 | Forty Mile County No. 8 AB C | 3,927 | 29 km | 52% |
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
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Fort Macleod shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
- 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.
Questions about health in Fort Macleod
What is the life expectancy in Fort Macleod?
For the health region that includes Fort Macleod, women can expect 80.6 years and men 76.8 (2022/2024).
How is Fort Macleod’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Fort Macleod’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Fort Macleod from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Fort Macleod is 36 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
How healthy is Fort Macleod?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
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).