Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Grimshaw’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 3.2 years: life expectancy 78.3
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%, behind the 53% for Alberta. Measured from where Grimshaw’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.3 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Grimshaw grades C− for health, #445 of 474 in Alberta and #2,380 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Grimshaw
More smokers
Smoking is commoner around Grimshaw than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 14% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
More chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 9.9% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Harder circumstances
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Grimshaw at 4.6 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Hospital care on the doorstep
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Grimshaw; from its centre of population the trip is 0.9 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Grimshaw 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: #445 of 474 in Alberta and #2,380 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.
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
Self-reported obesity, 41%, tops Alberta (32%). More adults drink heavily, 25% to the province’s 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.
From Grimshaw, a hospital is 1.3 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Grimshaw, weighted by who lives there.
From Grimshaw that is nearer than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
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
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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Grimshaw’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Grimshaw’s region’s dot is close to the line.
Use the deprivation index alone and Grimshaw’s region, at 3.7, should live about 78.5 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and it reaches 78.3, near enough. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 7 of them above it, a median of 78.9. Its towns’ household income, about $112,000, 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 49% to 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 is behind Alberta, 48% 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, Grimshaw is 4th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,759 to 2,838 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuujjuaq QC | 2,766 | 0.7 km | – |
| 2 | Kameyosek AB B+ | 2,761 | 0.7 km | 51% |
| 3 | Forestville QC B+ | 2,835 | 0.9 km | 61% |
| 4 | Grimshaw AB C− | 2,799 | 1.3 km | 48% |
| 5 | Downtown West End AB A+ | 2,796 | 1.3 km | 56% |
| 6 | Westcliffe East ON B | 2,832 | 1.5 km | 53% |
| 40 | Atikokan ON D | 2,796 | 72 km | 44% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Grimshaw
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grimshaw | 1.3 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
| Peace No. 135 9.5 km | 9.7 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
Around Grimshaw the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Peace No. 135 is the furthest from care, 9.7 km to Grimshaw’s 1.3 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Grimshaw shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
Questions about health in Grimshaw
What is the life expectancy in Grimshaw?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Grimshaw’s health region only: 80.9 years for women and 76.1 for men (2022/2024).
How is Grimshaw’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Grimshaw has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Grimshaw?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 21% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Grimshaw from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Grimshaw is 9.1 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
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).