Photo: Waynercook · Public domainLives run shorter around Red Deer: 79.1 years, 2.4 below the typical Canadian town’s region
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Alberta, 52% against 53%. For Red Deer itself the measure is access: 3.5 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Red Deer is C+, #411 of 474 in Alberta and #2,182 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Red Deer
A region that smokes more
Around Red Deer, 12% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
A typical home in Red Deer has 7.4 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.9 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.
Red Deer 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: #411 of 474 in Alberta and #2,182 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 24% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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.
The nearest hospital is 3.5 km from the average home in Red Deer
Straight-line distances from each part of Red Deer, weighted by who lives there.
Nothing unusual for Red Deer 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.
Behind regions as deprived by 0.8 years of life
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Red Deer’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
The trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a region scored 3.3 about 79.9 years of life. Red Deer’s region falls short of it, at 79.1. 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.
How the 5 health regions in Alberta compare on life expectancy
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
This region is 3rd longest-lived of 5 in Alberta, on a scale from 78.3 to 83.0 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Red Deer’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
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%)
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 wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 54% very good or excellent against 52% for Alberta; stress is a daily matter for 22%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Red Deer is 19th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (85,160 to 157,345 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Saint-Jérôme QC A+ | 85,160 | 2.1 km | 60% |
| 17 | Trois-Rivières QC A | 149,934 | 3.5 km | 61% |
| 18 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu QC A | 100,806 | 3.5 km | 55% |
| 19 | Red Deer AB C+ | 115,409 | 3.5 km | 52% |
| 20 | Saguenay QC A | 151,972 | 3.6 km | 66% |
| 21 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 97,845 | 3.6 km | 59% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Red Deer
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Deer | 3.5 km | 52% | 79.1 | C+ |
| Red Deer County 12 km | 15 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Blackfalds 13 km | 9.2 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
| Penhold 16 km | 14 km | 52% | 79.1 | C |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Red Deer’s regional figures. Residents of Red Deer County live further from a hospital, at 15 km against 3.5 km in Red Deer.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Red Deer itself is the trip to care.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
Questions about health in Red Deer
How is Red Deer’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Red Deer 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 Red Deer?
There is no figure for Red Deer alone; its health region’s is 81.7 for women and 76.6 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Red Deer from a hospital?
Residents of Red Deer have a pharmacy 0.9 km away on average, in a straight line.
How healthy is Red Deer?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 19%.
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).