Photo: jasonwoodhead23 · CC BY 2.0Health in Fort McMurray trails 86% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 48% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than Alberta’s 53%. Measured from where Fort McMurray’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 9.1 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Fort McMurray is D, #453 of 474 in Alberta and #2,473 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Fort McMurray
A region where lives run shorter
Fort McMurray’s region sits 3.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Fort McMurray is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A heavier load of illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 22% of adults, diabetes for 9.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Fort McMurray grades D 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: #453 of 474 in Alberta and #2,473 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.
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
Last of the 5 regions in Alberta: the highest figure is 83.0, 4.7 years above the lowest.
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 Fort McMurray’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.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.9%)
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
At 41%, self-reported obesity is above Alberta’s 32%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% against 19%).
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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Fort McMurray’s region comes out on the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.7, the expected figure is 78.5 years, and Fort McMurray’s region matches it closely with 78.3. Even beside regions as deprived, it lags: 7 of its 10 closest matches reach further, their median 78.9 years. Judged by income, around $112,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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.
Getting to hospital from Fort McMurray: 9.1 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Fort McMurray’s own, not the region’s.
From Fort McMurray 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.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 49% very good or excellent, against 54%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health trails Alberta: 48% very good or excellent to 52%, with 24% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Fort McMurray is 37th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 61,739 to 107,345 people, median 3.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 66,624 | 1.1 km | 59% |
| 2 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 3 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 35 | Aurora ON A− | 67,385 | 6.7 km | 51% |
| 36 | Mirabel QC A | 68,471 | 8.7 km | 60% |
| 37 | Fort McMurray AB D | 81,611 | 9.1 km | 48% |
| 38 | Simcoe ON D | 75,618 | 11 km | 48% |
| 39 | Bolton ON B+ | 90,201 | 12 km | 49% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
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
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Fort McMurray alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Fort McMurray
How is Fort McMurray’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Fort McMurray has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Fort McMurray?
There is no figure for Fort McMurray alone; its health region’s is 80.9 for women and 76.1 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Fort McMurray?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 21% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Fort McMurray from a hospital?
For everyday care, Fort McMurray’s residents are 5.6 km from a pharmacy on average.
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).