Photo: Grant Berg · CC BY-SA 3.0Health in Sexsmith trails 95% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 48% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole reaches 53%. Measured from where Sexsmith’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 20 km away, beyond the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Sexsmith a grade of D, #463 of 474 in Alberta and #2,551 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sexsmith
Shorter lives in the region
Sexsmith’s region sits 3.2 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A region that smokes more
The age-standardised smoking rate around Sexsmith is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Hospital care at a distance
Residents of Sexsmith live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (20 km from its centre of population), and 0% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
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 ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Sexsmith grades D 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: #463 of 474 in Alberta and #2,551 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.
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
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
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Sexsmith’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.
High blood pressure for 22% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.9%
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
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 Sexsmith: 20 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Sexsmith, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Sexsmith 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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Sexsmith’s region, on the line, stands for every town in it.
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 Sexsmith’s region matches it closely with 78.3. It is outlived by 7 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 78.9 years. Judged by income, around $112,000 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Alberta: 49% to 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 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.
Sexsmith is 29th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (2,511 to 2,613 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 8.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosetown SK B+ | 2,600 | 0.4 km | 54% |
| 2 | City Commercial Core ON A | 2,581 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 3 | Elmwood AB B+ | 2,522 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 27 | Saint-Polycarpe QC A− | 2,549 | 15 km | 55% |
| 28 | Cap-Chat QC C+ | 2,519 | 16 km | 56% |
| 29 | Sexsmith AB D | 2,561 | 20 km | 48% |
| 30 | Salisbury NB C | 2,585 | 20 km | 43% |
| 31 | Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce QC B+ | 2,575 | 20 km | 59% |
| 40 | North Frontenac ON B− | 2,515 | 47 km | 53% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Sexsmith
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sexsmith | 20 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
| Grande Prairie County No. 1 16 km | 14 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Sexsmith’s; read across for the hospital trip.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Sexsmith alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
Questions about health in Sexsmith
What is the life expectancy in Sexsmith?
For the health region that includes Sexsmith, women can expect 80.9 years and men 76.1 (2022/2024).
How far is Sexsmith from a hospital?
For everyday care, Sexsmith’s residents are 0.7 km from a pharmacy on average.
How is Sexsmith’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Sexsmith: 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 Sexsmith?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. Chronic conditions there average 21% 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).