Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Westlock County scores below 95% of Canadian towns for health
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%, behind the 53% for Alberta. For Westlock County itself the measure is access, and it lags: 20 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Westlock County a grade of D, #464 of 474 in Alberta and #2,553 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Westlock County
Shorter lives in the region
Life expectancy in the region around Westlock County runs 3.2 years behind the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 19.7 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Smoking runs high
The age-standardised smoking rate around Westlock County is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to hospital
Residents of Westlock County live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (9.9 km from its centre of population), and 12% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
A heavier load of illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 9.9% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Westlock County 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: #464 of 474 in Alberta and #2,553 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
Last of the 5 regions in Alberta: the highest figure is 83.0, 4.7 years above the lowest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Westlock County itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
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%
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 higher than in the province, at 41% of adults against 32% for Alberta. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 25% to 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.
The nearest hospital is 20 km from the average home in Westlock County
Straight-line distances from each part of Westlock County, weighted by who lives there.
Westlock County is further out than the provincial norm of 3.1 km in Alberta, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
One dot per health region, 102 in all, since life expectancy and the index are published for regions; Westlock County’s dot is marked, close to the line.
More deprivation, shorter lives: that holds across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83), and Westlock County’s region fits it, 78.3 years at 3.7 against the line’s 78.5. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 7 of the 10, around a median of 78.9 years. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $112,000, more than in most regions, yet lives here are shorter than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 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.
49% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer 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
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Alberta (48% against 52%), while 24% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Westlock County is 39th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (7,391 to 7,733 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landsdale ON B+ | 7,681 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | University ON A | 7,595 | 0.6 km | 50% |
| 3 | Ermineskin AB B+ | 7,483 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 37 | Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon QC B+ | 7,551 | 16 km | 59% |
| 38 | Digby NS D | 7,528 | 18 km | 44% |
| 39 | Westlock County AB D | 7,556 | 20 km | 48% |
| 40 | Saint-Calixte QC B | 7,627 | 21 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Westlock 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westlock County | 20 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
| Westlock 9.5 km | 1.3 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
Only the hospital column is local here: Westlock County and its neighbours share one health region’s survey. Westlock is the closest to care, 1.3 km to Westlock County’s 20 km.
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.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Westlock County itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Westlock County
What is the life expectancy in Westlock County?
Women in Westlock County’s region live to 80.9 on average and men to 76.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Westlock County from a hospital?
Residents of Westlock County have a pharmacy 35 km away on average, in a straight line.
How is Westlock County’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Westlock County has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Westlock County?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 21% of adults.
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).