On health, High Prairie falls short of 97% 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%. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of High Prairie live 41 km from a hospital on average, and 100% of them more than 30 km. Health gives High Prairie a grade of D−, #471 of 474 in Alberta and #2,572 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in High Prairie
A region where lives run shorter
Life expectancy in the region around High Prairie runs 3.2 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of High Prairie live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (41 km from its centre of population), and 100% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around High Prairie is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A heavier load of 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 ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
High Prairie 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: #471 of 474 in Alberta and #2,572 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
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
No region of the 5 in Alberta has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 83.0, a gap of 4.7 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for High Prairie 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.
The nearest hospital is 41 km from the average home in High Prairie
Straight-line distances from each part of High Prairie, weighted by who lives there.
High Prairie is further out than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Alberta, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.9% diabetes
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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 41%, the province 32%. At 25%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; High Prairie’s region sits on the trend line through 102 regions.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region High Prairie belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.7 predicts: 78.3 years, the trend 78.5. It is outlived by 7 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 78.9 years. 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.
49% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Alberta (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.
Among 40 towns its size, High Prairie is 40th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,561 to 2,655 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 7.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosetown SK B+ | 2,600 | 0.4 km | 54% |
| 2 | City Commercial Core ON A | 2,581 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 3 | Berwick NS C− | 2,631 | 0.9 km | 44% |
| 38 | Chase BC C− | 2,591 | 32 km | 48% |
| 39 | Saint-Damien QC B | 2,569 | 34 km | 56% |
| 40 | High Prairie AB D− | 2,607 | 41 km | 48% |
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. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: High Prairie shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
Questions about health in High Prairie
How far is High Prairie from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in High Prairie is 0.6 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
How is High Prairie’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus High Prairie’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in High Prairie?
For the health region that includes High Prairie, women can expect 80.9 years and men 76.1 (2022/2024).
How healthy is High Prairie?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
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).