Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Westlock’s region trails the typical Canadian town by 3.2 years: life expectancy 78.3
In the health survey, 48% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, fewer than Alberta’s 53%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Westlock is well placed: 1.3 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Westlock grades C− for health, #445 of 474 in Alberta and #2,380 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Westlock
More smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Westlock is well above the typical town’s; 14% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 22% of adults, diabetes for 9.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
Picking up a prescription in Westlock takes a trip of 36 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
Hospital care on the doorstep
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Westlock; from its centre of population the trip is 1.0 km. 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.
Westlock 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: #445 of 474 in Alberta and #2,380 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (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
More adults report obesity than across Alberta: 41%, the province 32%. At 25%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 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.
From Westlock, a hospital is 1.3 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Westlock’s own, not the region’s.
From Westlock that is nearer than the 3.1 km of the typical town in Alberta, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. 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 close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Westlock’s region is near the line.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Westlock belongs to lives about as long as its score of 3.7 predicts: 78.3 years, the trend 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. Higher incomes, shorter lives: about $112,000 a household, above most regions’, with a life expectancy below most; income and lifespan correlate at only 0.14 across regions.
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.
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
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
The index is context and never graded: it describes Westlock’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.
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
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 48% rate it very good or excellent, against 52% in Alberta, and 24% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Westlock is 7th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 5,271 to 5,465 people, median 4.9 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Meadowlark Park AB B+ | 5,386 | 0.6 km | 51% |
| 2 | Stonewall MB C | 5,443 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Billings Bridge - Heron Park ON A+ | 5,370 | 0.8 km | 56% |
| 5 | Uplands SK B+ | 5,273 | 1.2 km | 49% |
| 6 | Grand Falls / Grand-Sault NB C+ | 5,465 | 1.3 km | 48% |
| 7 | Westlock AB C− | 5,363 | 1.3 km | 48% |
| 8 | Mount Royal SK A− | 5,292 | 1.3 km | 49% |
| 9 | Belvedere AB B+ | 5,337 | 1.7 km | 51% |
| 40 | Deer Lake NL D | 5,319 | 45 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Westlock
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 | 1.3 km | 48% | 78.3 | C− |
| Westlock County 9.5 km | 20 km | 48% | 78.3 | D |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Westlock’s regional figures. Westlock County is the furthest from care, 20 km to Westlock’s 1.3 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- 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 Westlock’s own.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
Questions about health in Westlock
How is Westlock’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Westlock has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Westlock?
Women in Westlock’s region live to 80.9 on average and men to 76.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Westlock?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 21%.
How far is Westlock from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 36 km from the average resident of Westlock, 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).