Photo: https://www.flickr.com/people/sillygwailo/ - sillygwailo / Richard Eriksson · CC BY 2.0Few places match Heights for health: it beats 90% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 48%; British Columbia as a whole is at 50%. Closer to home, a hospital is just 1.9 km from the average resident of Heights, nearer than the usual 3.7 km. Heights grades A for health, #81 of 254 in British Columbia and #635 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Heights
A long-lived region
Heights’ region sits 2.9 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 22.6 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Fewer smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Heights is well below the typical town’s; 5.7% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Pharmacies close at hand
The average resident of Heights can reach 20 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.5 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Heights 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: #81 of 254 in British Columbia and #635 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 16 health regions in British Columbia
Regional life expectancy in British Columbia, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 2nd of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Heights’ 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (7.1%)
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, 19%, trails British Columbia (25%). Fewer adults drink heavily, 16% to the province’s 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 Heights, a hospital is 1.9 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Heights’ own, not the region’s.
From Heights that is nearer than the 4.4 km of the typical town in British Columbia, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
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.
Level with regions as deprived, give or take a few months
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Heights’ region shows close to the trend.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.0, the expected figure is 84.5 years, and Heights’ region matches it closely with 84.4. It outlives 8 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 83.3 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in British Columbia: 49% and 50%
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
About as many adults report very good or excellent mental health as across British Columbia (51% against 49%), while 23% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Heights comes 18th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 21,636 to 22,633 people, median 2.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Church-Wellesley ON A | 22,415 | 0.2 km | 50% |
| 2 | South Parkdale ON A | 21,663 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 3 | High Park North ON A | 22,162 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 16 | Humber Bay Shores ON A | 22,633 | 1.6 km | 50% |
| 17 | Sainte-Lucie QC A | 22,574 | 1.8 km | 54% |
| 18 | Heights BC A | 22,141 | 1.9 km | 48% |
| 19 | Brentwood BC A | 22,170 | 2.0 km | 48% |
| 20 | Rivière-des-Prairies QC A | 21,852 | 2.1 km | 54% |
| 40 | Red Deer County AB C | 22,076 | 15 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Heights
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heights | 1.9 km | 48% | 84.4 | A |
| Brentwood 1.8 km | 2.0 km | 48% | 84.4 | A |
| Holdom 2.4 km | 1.4 km | 48% | 84.4 | A |
| Hastings-Sunrise 2.7 km | 2.5 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Lochdale 3.2 km | 1.3 km | 48% | 84.4 | A |
| Broadview 3.5 km | 0.6 km | 48% | 84.4 | A |
| Burrard Inlet 3 3.6 km | 3.3 km | 59% | 84.3 | A+ |
Hastings-Sunrise falls in another health region, with a life expectancy of 83.3 against 84.4 here.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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 Heights’ own.
- 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.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Heights
How is Heights’ 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 Heights’ homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Heights?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 86.6 for women, 82.1 for men around Heights (2022/2024).
How healthy is Heights?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 15% of adults.
How far is Heights from a hospital?
Residents of Heights have a clinic 1.6 km away on average and a pharmacy 0.5 km away, in straight lines.
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).