Photo: Sir-Mister-Horse · CC BY 4.0People in Sundre’s health region live to 79.1 on average, 2.4 years short of the typical Canadian town
Self-rated health is ordinary for Alberta: 52% of the region’s adults say very good or excellent, the province 53%. Closer to home, a hospital is just 0.9 km from the average resident of Sundre, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Health gives Sundre a grade of C+, #393 of 474 in Alberta and #2,102 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sundre
More smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Sundre is well above the typical town’s; 12% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A hospital close by
Measured from where people live, Sundre is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 0.4 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.
Sundre 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: #393 of 474 in Alberta and #2,102 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.
24% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 8.9% diabetes
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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 39%, the province 32%.
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.
From Sundre, a hospital is 0.9 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Sundre’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, Sundre is on the near side. Few clinics are listed in Alberta, so the distance to one reads longer than it is.
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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 0.8 years behind the trend
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Sundre’s dot is marked, under the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.3, the expected figure is 79.9 years, and Sundre’s region falls below with 79.1. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 81.2. Its towns’ household income, about $85,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s 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
Regional life expectancy in Alberta, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 3rd of 5 in Alberta: the regions span 78.3 to 83.0 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Sundre’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.
Self-rated health trails Alberta: 51% 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
The region’s 54% in very good or excellent mental health is within reach of Alberta’s 52%, with 22% reporting stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Sundre is 2nd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,643 to 2,722 people, median 8.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hanna AB B− | 2,665 | 0.5 km | 52% |
| 2 | Sundre AB C+ | 2,683 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 3 | Meadowlark Park AB B+ | 2,671 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 4 | Lee Ridge AB B+ | 2,722 | 1.2 km | 51% |
| 40 | Tumbler Ridge BC D | 2,663 | 75 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Sundre alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
Questions about health in Sundre
What is the life expectancy in Sundre?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 81.7 for women, 76.6 for men around Sundre (2022/2024).
How is Sundre’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Sundre: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Sundre from a hospital?
For everyday care, Sundre’s residents are 1.1 km from a pharmacy on average.
How healthy is Sundre?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. 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).