Photo: maclean · Public domainExpect 76.9 years of life in the region around Dawson Creek, 4.6 under the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 43% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Dawson Creek is well placed: 1.7 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Dawson Creek grades C+ for health, #217 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,216 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Dawson Creek
Less upbeat about their health
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 8.9 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 44% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Deprivation runs high
Statistics Canada’s deprivation index places Dawson Creek at 4.2 of 5 for situational vulnerability, close to the top band. The wider area ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Dawson Creek 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: #217 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,216 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.
44% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer 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
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 42% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 25% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
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
Of the 16 health regions in British Columbia, 15th place goes to this one, between a low of 76.6 and a high of 86.8.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Dawson Creek’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.
Behind regions as deprived by 0.8 years of life
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Dawson Creek’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.9, Dawson Creek’s region’s 76.9 years sit under the line’s 77.7. It is outlived by 9 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 78.7 years. Its towns’ household income, about $98,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 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.
High blood pressure for 20% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.4%
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
More adults report obesity than across British Columbia: 35%, the province 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.
Getting to hospital from Dawson Creek: 1.7 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Dawson Creek’s own, not the region’s.
From Dawson Creek 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.
Among 40 towns its size, Dawson Creek is 13th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 13,331 to 13,943 people, median 2.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Queen West ON A | 13,599 | 0.4 km | 50% |
| 2 | Durand ON B+ | 13,338 | 0.7 km | 53% |
| 3 | Vanier QC A+ | 13,494 | 0.8 km | 62% |
| 11 | Terrace BC C− | 13,648 | 1.6 km | 42% |
| 12 | Sandy Hill ON A+ | 13,830 | 1.6 km | 56% |
| 13 | Dawson Creek BC C+ | 13,635 | 1.7 km | 43% |
| 14 | Oakridge ON A | 13,913 | 1.7 km | 50% |
| 15 | The Maples MB B+ | 13,766 | 1.9 km | 52% |
| 40 | Lorette MB C+ | 13,509 | 16 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Dawson Creek
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawson Creek | 1.7 km | 43% | 76.9 | C+ |
| Electoral Area D, Peace River 8.0 km | 19 km | 43% | 76.9 | C− |
Only the hospital column is local here: Dawson Creek and its neighbours share one health region’s survey. Electoral Area D, Peace River is the furthest from care, 19 km to Dawson Creek’s 1.7 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. 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. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- 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. Only the distances on this page belong to Dawson Creek alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Dawson Creek
What is the life expectancy in Dawson Creek?
Women in Dawson Creek’s region live to 79.5 on average and men to 74.4, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Dawson Creek?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out behind the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
How is Dawson Creek’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Dawson Creek: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Dawson Creek from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Dawson Creek live: 1.3 km to a clinic, 1.2 km to a pharmacy.
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).