Photo: Mhalifu · CC BY-SA 3.0Peace River’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 3.2 years: life expectancy 78.3
Across the region, 48% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole reaches 53%. Closer to home, a hospital sits 3.6 km from the average resident of Peace River, about the norm of 3.7 km. Peace River grades C− for health, #452 of 474 in Alberta and #2,428 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Peace River
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Peace River is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. 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 ↓
More households under strain
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Peace River’s neighbourhoods average 4.3 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Peace River 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: #452 of 474 in Alberta and #2,428 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%)
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
At 41%, self-reported obesity is above Alberta’s 32%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% against 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.
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
This is the one part of the block measured for Peace River 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Peace River’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Peace River’s region is a typical case: 78.3 years at a score of 3.7, where the trend says 78.5. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and 7 still live longer, with 78.9 years in the middle. Judged by income, around $112,000 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.
Getting to hospital from Peace River: 3.6 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Peace River, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Peace River here: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital and the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. 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.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 49% very good or excellent, against 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
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.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Peace River comes 20th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (7,088 to 7,342 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Currie Barracks AB A+ | 7,342 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 2 | Coronation Park SK B+ | 7,307 | 0.8 km | 49% |
| 3 | Raleigh ON B | 7,113 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 18 | Lymburn AB B | 7,231 | 2.9 km | 51% |
| 19 | Concord ON A | 7,225 | 3.3 km | 51% |
| 20 | Peace River AB C− | 7,220 | 3.6 km | 48% |
| 21 | King Edward MB B+ | 7,190 | 3.7 km | 52% |
| 22 | Whyte Ridge MB B+ | 7,299 | 4.0 km | 52% |
| 40 | Colborne ON C | 7,216 | 24 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Peace River
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peace River | 3.6 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
| Northern Sunrise County 9.7 km | 19 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
| Peace No. 135 11 km | 9.7 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
One health region covers Peace River and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Residents of Northern Sunrise County live further from a hospital, at 19 km against 3.6 km in Peace River.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Peace River itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
Questions about health in Peace River
What is the life expectancy in Peace River?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Peace River’s health region only: 80.9 years for women and 76.1 for men (2022/2024).
How is Peace River’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Peace River has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Peace River?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
How far is Peace River from a hospital?
Residents of Peace River have a pharmacy 1.7 km away on average, in a straight line.
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).