Photo: R. Sieben · CC BY 3.0Few places match Vulcan for health: it beats almost every Canadian town
Across the region, 56% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Alberta as a whole manages 53%. Measured from where Vulcan’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 0.7 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Vulcan grades A+ for health.
What stands out about health in Vulcan
Smoking runs low
Around Vulcan, only 6.2% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate lower than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
A long-lived region
Life expectancy in the region around Vulcan runs 1.5 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Upbeat about their health
Even once age is allowed for, 4.8 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (57% as answered). 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 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.
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (17%) and diabetes (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
Self-reported obesity, 27%, trails Alberta (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.
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
No region of the 5 in Alberta lives longer than this one; the shortest-lived reaches 78.3, a gap of 4.7 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Vulcan’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
57% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in Alberta (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 is close to the province’s: 54% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 23% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Vulcan’s region is near the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.3, the expected figure is 83.2 years, and Vulcan’s region matches it closely with 83.0. 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.
Getting to hospital from Vulcan: 0.7 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Vulcan’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Vulcan 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. 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.
Health in the places around Vulcan
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 | 0.7 km | 56% | 83.0 | A+ |
| Vulcan County 6.2 km | 23 km | 56% | 83.0 | A− |
Every place around Vulcan shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Vulcan County live further from a hospital, at 23 km against 0.7 km in Vulcan.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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 Vulcan’s own.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- 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. 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.
Questions about health in Vulcan
How is Vulcan’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Vulcan: 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 Vulcan?
The region beats the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 16%.
What is the life expectancy in Vulcan?
There is no figure for Vulcan alone; its health region’s is 85.0 for women and 80.9 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Vulcan from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 0.6 km from the average resident of Vulcan, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
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).