Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 4.0Taber’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 2.8 years: life expectancy 78.7
On self-rated health the region tracks the province: 52% very good or excellent, 53% for Alberta. For Taber itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.3 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Taber grades B− for health, #378 of 474 in Alberta and #1,951 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Taber
Pharmacies far off
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 47 km from the average home in Taber, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
Deprivation runs high
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, Taber’s neighbourhoods average 4.4 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. The wider area ↓
Hospital care on the doorstep
Measured from where people live, Taber is among the nearest towns to hospital care; its centre is 1.4 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.
Taber grades B− 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: #378 of 474 in Alberta and #1,951 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 Taber, a hospital is 1.3 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Taber’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Taber are closer than most of the province: the typical town in Alberta is 3.1 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. 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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health 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
Ranked 4th 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
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Taber’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.2 years behind the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Taber’s region comes out below the trend.
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 Taber’s region stops at 78.7. Among the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, every one does better; they centre on 81.2 years. A household income of about $83,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; across regions the two barely move together (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.
22% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.3% diabetes
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
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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Alberta: 53% and 54%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Stress touches 22% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 53%, the province 52% (Alberta).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Taber comes 7th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 9,995 to 10,363 people, median 2.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lac-des-Fées QC B+ | 10,075 | 0.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | City Centre ON B+ | 10,269 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 3 | Professors Lake ON A− | 10,335 | 1.0 km | 49% |
| 5 | Maple Leaf ON A | 10,040 | 1.2 km | 50% |
| 6 | West Hillhurst AB A+ | 10,319 | 1.2 km | 56% |
| 7 | Taber AB B− | 10,175 | 1.3 km | 52% |
| 8 | Markham Village ON A | 10,319 | 1.3 km | 51% |
| 9 | Centreville Chicopee ON A | 10,291 | 1.4 km | 53% |
| 40 | Leeds and the Thousand Islands ON C+ | 10,185 | 26 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Taber
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Taber’s regional figures. Taber is the furthest from care, 22 km to Taber’s 1.3 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Taber alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Taber
What is the life expectancy in Taber?
For the health region that includes Taber, women can expect 80.6 years and men 76.8 (2022/2024).
How is Taber’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Taber’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Taber from a hospital?
For everyday care, Taber’s residents are 47 km from a pharmacy on average.
How healthy is Taber?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures trail the typical Canadian town than beat it. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, 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).