Photo: Ribbet32 · CC BY-SA 4.0Life expectancy around Red Deer County is 79.1 years, 2.4 less than for the typical Canadian town
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Alberta, 52% against 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Red Deer County’s is long: 15 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Red Deer County grades C for health, #426 of 474 in Alberta and #2,301 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Red Deer County
Hospital care at a distance
For 14% of homes in Red Deer County the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 10 km. Getting care ↓
Smoking runs high
Around Red Deer County, 12% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Red Deer County 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: #426 of 474 in Alberta and #2,301 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.
From Red Deer County, a hospital is 15 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Red Deer County, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Red Deer County travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital, 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.
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.
Behind regions as deprived by 0.8 years of life
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Red Deer County’s region is below the line.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 3.3 would suggest 79.9 years, but Red Deer County’s region stops at 79.1. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with 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
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
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
This is the one part of the block measured for Red Deer County 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 51% to 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
Stress touches 22% 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.
Red Deer County is 39th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (21,578 to 22,574 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Church-Wellesley ON A | 22,415 | 0.2 km | 50% |
| 2 | South Parkdale ON A | 21,663 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 3 | High Park North ON A | 22,162 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 37 | Binbrook ON B− | 22,497 | 9.4 km | 53% |
| 38 | Middlesex Centre ON B+ | 21,689 | 9.6 km | 52% |
| 39 | Red Deer County AB C | 22,076 | 15 km | 52% |
| 40 | South Frontenac ON B− | 21,599 | 22 km | 53% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Red Deer County
Nearby places: distance to a hospital and each one’s regional figures. Tap a town for its health page.
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Red Deer County’s; read across for the hospital trip. Innisfail is the closest to care, 1.0 km to Red Deer County’s 15 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Red Deer County alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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 Red Deer County
What is the life expectancy in Red Deer County?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Red Deer County’s health region only: 81.7 years for women and 76.6 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Red Deer County from a hospital?
For everyday care, Red Deer County’s residents are 11 km from a pharmacy on average.
How is Red Deer County’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Red Deer County’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Red Deer County?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 19% of adults.
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).