Photo: Ken Eckert · CC BY-SA 4.0Life expectancy around Castlegar is 79.5 years, 2.0 less than for the typical Canadian town
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 55%, ahead of the 50% for British Columbia. For Castlegar itself the measure is access, and it lags: 21 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Castlegar is B, #156 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,663 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Castlegar
Far from a hospital
For 0% of homes in Castlegar the nearest hospital is over 30 km off; from the town’s centre of population it is 21 km. Getting care ↓
Less chronic illness
High blood pressure (19%) and diabetes (5.5%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Castlegar grades B 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: #156 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,663 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.
The nearest hospital is 21 km from the average home in Castlegar
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Castlegar’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Castlegar travel further than most of the province: the typical town in British Columbia is 4.4 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
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.
19% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 5.5% diabetes
Long-term conditions and habits as the region’s adults reported them; the tick marks the province.
Conditions and weight · 2023/2024
Habits · 2023/2024
Self-reported obesity, 28%, tops British Columbia (25%). More adults drink heavily, 28% 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.
1.4 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Castlegar’s region’s dot is under the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.0, the expected figure is 80.9 years, and Castlegar’s region falls below with 79.5. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (8 of 10, median 80.3 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.
How the 16 health regions in British Columbia compare on life expectancy
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
Ranked 11th of 16 in British Columbia: the regions span 76.6 to 86.8 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Castlegar’s residents live in, and none of them counts toward Health.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
53% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in British Columbia (50%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
For 22% of adults most days are quite a bit stressful, and 48% rate their mental health very good or excellent, near British Columbia’s 49%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Castlegar is 40th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 9,254 to 9,682 people, median 3.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North London ON A− | 9,584 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 2 | Daniel McIntyre MB B+ | 9,584 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 3 | Rustic ON A | 9,543 | 0.9 km | 50% |
| 38 | Richmond ON A− | 9,526 | 15 km | 56% |
| 39 | Otterburn Park QC A− | 9,460 | 20 km | 55% |
| 40 | Castlegar BC B | 9,465 | 21 km | 55% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Castlegar
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlegar | 21 km | 55% | 79.5 | B |
| Electoral Area J, Central Kootenay 6.1 km | 25 km | 55% | 79.5 | B |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 9.2 km | 8.3 km | 55% | 79.5 | A− |
| Electoral Area I, Central Kootenay 13 km | 25 km | 55% | 79.5 | B |
Castlegar and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Residents of Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary live nearer a hospital, at 8.3 km against 21 km in Castlegar.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Castlegar itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Castlegar
How far is Castlegar from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Castlegar is 34 km from a clinic and 1.8 km from a pharmacy.
How is Castlegar’s 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 Castlegar’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Castlegar?
There is no figure for Castlegar alone; its health region’s is 82.8 for women and 76.5 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Castlegar?
Taken together the region leans healthier than the typical Canadian town, but the picture is mixed. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 14%.
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).