Photo: Kmsiever · Public domainLives run shorter around Lethbridge: 78.7 years, 2.8 below the typical Canadian town’s region
Across the region, 52% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in Alberta (53%). Measured from where Lethbridge’s residents live, a hospital is 3.8 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. Lethbridge grades B− for health, #385 of 474 in Alberta and #2,003 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Lethbridge
Plenty of pharmacies
A typical home in Lethbridge has 4.0 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 1.1 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.
Lethbridge 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: #385 of 474 in Alberta and #2,003 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.
Getting to hospital from Lethbridge: 3.8 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Lethbridge, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Lethbridge travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 1.5 km, while the average resident is 3.8 km away. 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.
The region lives 1.2 years less than its deprivation predicts
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Lethbridge’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 Lethbridge belongs to trails at 78.7. Each of the 10 regions scored most like it does better, with a median of 81.2. 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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 39%, the province 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 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
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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Lethbridge’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.
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
Neither ahead nor behind Alberta on mental health (53% to 52%), the region has 22% of adults stressed most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Lethbridge is 22nd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (85,160 to 157,345 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Saint-Jérôme QC A+ | 85,160 | 2.1 km | 60% |
| 20 | Saguenay QC A | 151,972 | 3.6 km | 66% |
| 21 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 97,845 | 3.6 km | 59% |
| 22 | Lethbridge AB B− | 113,671 | 3.8 km | 52% |
| 23 | Kingston ON B+ | 149,527 | 3.9 km | 53% |
| 24 | Waterloo ON A | 142,450 | 4.1 km | 53% |
| 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.
Health in the places around Lethbridge
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lethbridge | 3.8 km | 52% | 78.7 | B− |
| Coalhurst 8.5 km | 9.8 km | 52% | 78.7 | B− |
| Coaldale 16 km | 1.2 km | 52% | 78.7 | B− |
| Lethbridge County 18 km | 11 km | 52% | 78.7 | C+ |
Every place around Lethbridge shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Lethbridge County is the furthest from care, 11 km to Lethbridge’s 3.8 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- 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.
- 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. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Lethbridge’s own.
Questions about health in Lethbridge
How is Lethbridge’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Lethbridge’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Lethbridge?
For the health region that includes Lethbridge, women can expect 80.6 years and men 76.8 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Lethbridge?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 19%.
How far is Lethbridge from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.1 km from the average resident of Lethbridge, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
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).