Lives run shorter around Redwater: 78.3 years, 3.2 below the typical Canadian town’s region
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%, behind the 53% for Alberta. Measured from where Redwater’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 0.9 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Redwater is C−.
What stands out about health in Redwater
More smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Redwater is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Long-term conditions run high
High blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (9.9%) push the region’s chronic-condition figure above the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies far off
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 20 km from the average home in Redwater, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Redwater at 4.4 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
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.
Redwater 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.
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 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 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.
Getting to hospital from Redwater: 0.9 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Redwater’s own, not the region’s.
From Redwater that is nearer than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 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
This is the shortest-lived of the 5 regions in Alberta, 4.7 years behind the first at 83.0.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Redwater’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Redwater’s, follows the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.7, the expected figure is 78.5 years, and Redwater’s region matches it closely with 78.3. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 7 of them above it, a median of 78.9. Households here earn around $112,000, 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.
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 looks weaker than in the province: 48% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 24% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
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. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Redwater’s own.
Questions about health in Redwater
What is the life expectancy in Redwater?
There is no figure for Redwater alone; its health region’s is 80.9 for women and 76.1 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Redwater?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 21%.
How far is Redwater from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 20 km from the average resident of Redwater, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How is Redwater’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Redwater’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
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).