Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainLife expectancy around Electoral Area A, Comox Valley 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 54%, ahead of the 50% for British Columbia. What sets Electoral Area A, Comox Valley apart within its region is a longer trip to hospital, 14 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). Health gives Electoral Area A, Comox Valley a grade of B+, #150 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,507 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Electoral Area A, Comox Valley
Far from a hospital
Distance is Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s own health question: 0% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 12 km. Getting care ↓
Below the trend for its deprivation
Regions scoring 2.8 on the deprivation index typically live 81.4 years; Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s region, at 79.5, falls short. For its deprivation ↓
A lighter load of illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 24% of adults, diabetes for 6.6%. 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.
Electoral Area A, Comox Valley 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: #150 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,507 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 14 km from the average home in Electoral Area A, Comox Valley
Straight-line distances from each part of Electoral Area A, Comox Valley, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Electoral Area A, Comox Valley is on the far side.
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.
1.9 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Deprivation accounts for much of the spread between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), but not for all of Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s region’s: 79.5 years where the line expects 81.4 at 2.8. It trails all 10 of its nearest neighbours on the index, whose median is 81.2.
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.
In the region, high blood pressure (24%) and diabetes (6.6%)
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
At 29%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%.
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 16 regions in British Columbia
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in British Columbia, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Among the 16 regions in British Columbia, from 76.6 to 86.8 years, this one is 11th.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in British Columbia: 51% to 50%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (52% against 49%), while 22% 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, Electoral Area A, Comox Valley is 36th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (8,304 to 8,524 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garneau AB B+ | 8,492 | 0.5 km | 51% |
| 2 | Alta Vista ON A+ | 8,387 | 0.9 km | 56% |
| 3 | Valley Gardens MB B+ | 8,329 | 0.9 km | 52% |
| 34 | Bayfield ON B− | 8,327 | 13 km | 45% |
| 35 | Huron-Kinloss ON C | 8,445 | 14 km | 48% |
| 36 | Electoral Area A, Comox Valley BC B+ | 8,415 | 14 km | 54% |
| 37 | Aylmer ON C+ | 8,371 | 16 km | 49% |
| 38 | Stone Mills ON B− | 8,523 | 20 km | 53% |
| 40 | Muskoka Lakes ON B | 8,463 | 20 km | 54% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Electoral Area A, Comox Valley
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area A, Comox Valley | 14 km | 54% | 79.5 | B+ |
| Cumberland 11 km | 8.6 km | 54% | 79.5 | B+ |
| Comox 13 km | 1.8 km | 54% | 79.5 | A− |
| Courtenay 15 km | 2.6 km | 54% | 79.5 | A− |
| Electoral Area B (Lazo North), Comox Valley 17 km | 3.9 km | 54% | 79.5 | A− |
Same region, same survey: Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital. Comox is the closest to care, 1.8 km to Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s 14 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Electoral Area A, Comox Valley alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- 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. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
Questions about health in Electoral Area A, Comox Valley
How is Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Electoral Area A, Comox Valley’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
How far is Electoral Area A, Comox Valley from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Electoral Area A, Comox Valley live: 15 km to a clinic, 8.7 km to a pharmacy.
What is the life expectancy in Electoral Area A, Comox Valley?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 82.3 for women, 76.9 for men around Electoral Area A, Comox Valley (2022/2024).
How healthy is Electoral Area A, Comox Valley?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 15%.
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).