Photo: Nathan Schneider, aka Schnits at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Penhold’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.4 years: life expectancy 79.1
In the health survey, 52% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, close to Alberta’s 53%. Closer to home, a hospital is 14 km from the average resident of Penhold, further than the usual 3.7 km. The Health grade for Penhold is C, #423 of 474 in Alberta and #2,287 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Penhold
Far from a hospital
For 0% of homes in Penhold the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 14 km. Getting care ↓
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Penhold than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 12% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Penhold 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: #423 of 474 in Alberta and #2,287 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.
The nearest hospital is 14 km from the average home in Penhold
Straight-line distances from each part of Penhold, weighted by who lives there.
Penhold is further out than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Alberta, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (24%) and diabetes (8.9%)
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
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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 0.8 years behind the trend
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Penhold’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.3, Penhold’s region’s 79.1 years sit under the line’s 79.9. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 81.2 years. Households here earn around $85,000, more than in most regions, but the region still lives less long than most; across regions income barely tracks life expectancy (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.
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
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
This is the one part of the block measured for Penhold 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.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 51% 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
Asked about their mental health, 54% of adults here said very good or excellent; across Alberta it was 52%, and 22% reported most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Penhold comes 28th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,739 to 3,891 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Park SK A− | 3,827 | 0.4 km | 49% |
| 2 | Clareview Town Centre AB B+ | 3,800 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 3 | Cardston AB B | 3,863 | 1.0 km | 52% |
| 26 | Saint-Maurice QC A− | 3,804 | 11 km | 61% |
| 27 | East Hawkesbury ON C+ | 3,787 | 13 km | 49% |
| 28 | Penhold AB C | 3,812 | 14 km | 52% |
| 29 | Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson QC A | 3,842 | 17 km | 60% |
| 30 | Mulmur ON B− | 3,813 | 18 km | 51% |
| 40 | Cartier MB C | 3,739 | 30 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Penhold
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penhold | 14 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Red Deer County 4.5 km | 15 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Innisfail 14 km | 1.0 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Red Deer 16 km | 3.5 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
The neighbours all sit in Penhold’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Innisfail is the closest to care, 1.0 km to Penhold’s 14 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- 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.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Penhold shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
Questions about health in Penhold
What is the life expectancy in Penhold?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Penhold’s health region only: 81.7 years for women and 76.6 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Penhold from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Penhold is 9.3 km from a pharmacy; clinics are too sparsely listed in the province to say.
How is Penhold’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Penhold: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Penhold?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 19% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
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).