Photo: Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand · CC0Vulcan County’s health region counts just 7.9% of adults who smoke, below the typical Canadian town’s 12%
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 56% very good or excellent, against 53% in Alberta. What sets Vulcan County apart within its region is distance: 23 km to a hospital on average, over 30 km for 42% of residents. The Health grade for Vulcan County is A−, #170 of 474 in Alberta and #1,023 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Vulcan County
Hospital care at a distance
For 42% of homes in Vulcan County the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 5.7 km. Getting care ↓
No pharmacy close by
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 27 km from the average home in Vulcan County, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
A long-lived region
Vulcan County’s region sits 1.5 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 21.7 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Self-rated health runs high
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 4.8 points above the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 57%. Health survey ↓
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.
Vulcan County grades A− 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: #170 of 474 in Alberta and #1,023 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.
Getting to hospital from Vulcan County: 23 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Vulcan County, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Vulcan County 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 centre of population is 5.7 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 23 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 5 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
Top of the 5 regions in Alberta: the lowest figure is 78.3, 4.7 years below the highest.
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; Vulcan County’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.
Self-rated health beats Alberta: 57% 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
Stress touches 23% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 54%, the province 52% (Alberta).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Vulcan County’s, follows the trend.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Vulcan County belongs to lives about as long as its score of 2.3 predicts: 83.0 years, the trend 83.2. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores fall short of it (7 of 10, median 82.8 years).
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.
High blood pressure for 17% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.7%
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 lower than in the province, at 27% 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.
Vulcan County is 37th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,388 to 4,546 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastmount ON B+ | 4,496 | 0.6 km | 53% |
| 2 | Golden BC B+ | 4,433 | 0.7 km | 57% |
| 3 | Centennial MB B+ | 4,483 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 35 | Saint-Anselme QC B+ | 4,534 | 19 km | 59% |
| 36 | Geraldton ON D | 4,398 | 21 km | 49% |
| 37 | Vulcan County AB A− | 4,465 | 23 km | 56% |
| 38 | Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola BC C− | 4,540 | 28 km | 48% |
| 39 | Sparwood BC B− | 4,486 | 28 km | 57% |
| 40 | Casselman ON C− | 4,535 | 32 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Vulcan County
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vulcan County | 23 km | 56% | 83.0 | A− |
| Vulcan 6.2 km | 0.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
Vulcan County and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Residents of Vulcan live nearer a hospital, at 0.7 km against 23 km in Vulcan County.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Vulcan County itself is the trip to care.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Vulcan County
How far is Vulcan County from a hospital?
Residents of Vulcan County have a pharmacy 27 km away on average, in a straight line.
How is Vulcan County’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Vulcan County’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How healthy is Vulcan County?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 16%.
What is the life expectancy in Vulcan County?
There is no figure for Vulcan County alone; its health region’s is 85.0 for women and 80.9 for men in 2022/2024.
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).