Photo: Xz1303 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places match Okotoks for health: it beats 97% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 56%, ahead of the 53% for Alberta. What sets Okotoks apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 1.7 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Okotoks a grade of A+, #35 of 474 in Alberta and #138 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Okotoks
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Okotoks is well below the typical town’s; 6.2% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Longer lives in the region
Okotoks’ region sits 1.5 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 21.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 4.8 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 57%. Health survey ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
A typical home in Okotoks has 4.4 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.
Okotoks grades A+ 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: #35 of 474 in Alberta and #138 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.
High blood pressure for 17% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.7%
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 lower than in the province, at 27% 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.
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
Top of the 5 regions in Alberta: the lowest figure is 78.3, 4.7 years below the highest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Okotoks’ own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
More people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 57% 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
Stress touches 23% 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.
From Okotoks, a hospital is 1.7 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Okotoks’ own, not the region’s.
Okotoks is closer in 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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Okotoks’, follows the trend.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Okotoks belongs to lives about as long as its score of 2.3 predicts: 83.0 years, the trend 83.2. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, shorter lives win out: 7 of the 10, around a median of 82.8 years.
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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Okotoks comes 12th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 31,095 to 35,986 people, median 3.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Centretown ON A+ | 32,035 | 0.5 km | 56% |
| 2 | Sainte-Marie QC A | 33,699 | 0.7 km | 54% |
| 3 | Fairview BC A+ | 33,969 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 10 | Victoria-Fraserview BC A+ | 31,095 | 1.4 km | 50% |
| 11 | Cecil-P.-Newman QC A | 34,965 | 1.5 km | 54% |
| 12 | Okotoks AB A+ | 33,482 | 1.7 km | 56% |
| 13 | Grande-Prairie QC A | 34,316 | 1.7 km | 54% |
| 14 | Bois-Francs QC A | 35,858 | 2.3 km | 54% |
| 40 | Parkland County AB B− | 34,286 | 15 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Okotoks
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Okotoks | 1.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Foothills County 5.4 km | 11 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Legacy 15 km | 5.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| Walden 17 km | 4.4 km | 56% | 83.0 | A |
| High River 17 km | 1.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Cranston 18 km | 2.1 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Chaparral 18 km | 2.9 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Okotoks’ regional figures. Foothills County is the furthest from care, 11 km to Okotoks’ 1.7 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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 Okotoks’ own.
Questions about health in Okotoks
How healthy is Okotoks?
The region beats the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
How is Okotoks’ Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Okotoks 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 Okotoks?
Women in Okotoks’ region live to 85.0 on average and men to 80.9, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Okotoks from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.1 km from the average resident of Okotoks, 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).