Photo: jasonwoodhead23 · CC BY 2.0Lives run shorter around Ponoka: 79.1 years, 2.4 below the typical Canadian town’s region
In the health survey, 52% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, close to Alberta’s 53%. For Ponoka itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.2 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Ponoka a grade of C+, #397 of 474 in Alberta and #2,121 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Ponoka
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Ponoka is well above the typical town’s; 12% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A hospital close by
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Ponoka; from its centre of population the trip is 1.0 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Ponoka 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: #397 of 474 in Alberta and #2,121 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.
Getting to hospital from Ponoka: 1.2 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Ponoka’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 3.1 km for the typical town in Alberta and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Ponoka is on the near side. 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.
The region lives 0.8 years less than its deprivation predicts
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Ponoka’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Use the deprivation index alone and Ponoka’s region, at 3.3, should live about 79.9 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), but it reaches only 79.1. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 9 of them above it, a median of 81.2. 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
Among the 5 regions in Alberta, from 78.3 to 83.0 years, this one is 3rd.
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 Ponoka’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.
51% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in Alberta (54%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health is close to the province’s: 54% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 22% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Ponoka is 4th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 8,087 to 8,329 people, median 4.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | G-Section (bramalea) ON A− | 8,224 | 0.9 km | 49% |
| 2 | Valley Gardens MB B+ | 8,329 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 3 | Wolseley MB B+ | 8,127 | 1.0 km | 52% |
| 4 | Ponoka AB C+ | 8,212 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 5 | Rocky Mountain House AB C+ | 8,144 | 1.2 km | 52% |
| 6 | St. Marys ON B | 8,203 | 1.4 km | 45% |
| 40 | Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est NB C | 8,138 | 32 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Ponoka
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ponoka | 1.2 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Samson 137 17 km | 18 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
Around Ponoka the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Samson 137 live further from a hospital, at 18 km against 1.2 km in Ponoka.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Ponoka itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Standardising for age lets a retirement region and a young one be set side by side; the charts keep the raw answers, the grade the standardised ones.
Questions about health in Ponoka
What is the life expectancy in Ponoka?
Women in Ponoka’s region live to 81.7 on average and men to 76.6, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Ponoka from a hospital?
Residents of Ponoka have a pharmacy 0.9 km away on average, in a straight line.
How is Ponoka’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Ponoka has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Ponoka?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. 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).