Photo: The Heliotype Co. Ltd.: Publisher · Public domainLacombe’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.4 years: life expectancy 79.1
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Alberta, 52% against 53%. What sets Lacombe apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 1.8 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Lacombe a grade of C+, #406 of 474 in Alberta and #2,154 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Lacombe
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Lacombe is well above the typical town’s; 12% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 4.0 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 1.0 km off, Lacombe is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Lacombe 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: #406 of 474 in Alberta and #2,154 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 (24%) and diabetes (8.9%)
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 39% of adults against 32% for Alberta.
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 Lacombe, a hospital is 1.8 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Lacombe’s own, not the region’s.
From Lacombe that is nearer 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.
0.8 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Lacombe’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Where residents average 3.3 on the index, regions tend to reach 79.9 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions); the one Lacombe belongs to trails at 79.1. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it trails the majority, 9 of 10; their median is 81.2 years. Judged by income, around $85,000 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.
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
Life expectancy in Alberta runs from 78.3 to 83.0; this region sits 3rd of the 5.
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 Lacombe’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.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 51% 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
Stress touches 22% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 54%, the province 52% (Alberta).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Lacombe comes 14th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 14,477 to 14,961 people, median 2.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maizerets QC A+ | 14,571 | 0.5 km | 62% |
| 2 | Saint-Louis QC A | 14,824 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 3 | Roncesvalles ON A | 14,725 | 0.8 km | 50% |
| 12 | Rivière-Gatineau QC B+ | 14,875 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 13 | Portage la Prairie MB B | 14,738 | 1.6 km | 51% |
| 14 | Lacombe AB C+ | 14,733 | 1.8 km | 52% |
| 15 | Pont-Viau QC A | 14,608 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 16 | Briar Hill-Belgravia ON A | 14,590 | 1.8 km | 50% |
| 40 | Gravenhurst ON B | 14,576 | 16 km | 54% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Lacombe
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lacombe | 1.8 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Lacombe County 4.2 km | 15 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Blackfalds 11 km | 9.2 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
The neighbours all sit in Lacombe’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Residents of Lacombe County live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 1.8 km in Lacombe.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Lacombe’s own.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Lacombe
How is Lacombe’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Lacombe’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Lacombe?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Lacombe’s health region only: 81.7 years for women and 76.6 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Lacombe from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.0 km from the average resident of Lacombe, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How healthy is Lacombe?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 19% 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).