Photo: William Matheson · CC BY-SA 2.0On health, Houston falls short of 98% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 42%, behind the 50% for British Columbia. Closer to home, a hospital is 54 km from the average resident of Houston, and 100% live more than 30 km away. Houston grades D− for health, #2,578 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Houston
A region where lives run shorter
Houston’s region sits 4.5 years below the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 19.3 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is Houston’s own health question: 100% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 54 km. Getting care ↓
Less upbeat about their health
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 9.8 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 42%. Health survey ↓
Long-term conditions run high
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 22% report high blood pressure and 10% diabetes. 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.
Houston grades D− 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: #2,578 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 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, 14th 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
Higher means more deprived: the bars average the quintiles of the areas Houston’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.
The nearest hospital is 54 km from the average home in Houston
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Houston’s own, not the region’s.
Houston is further out than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 42% very good or excellent, against 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 trails British Columbia: 44% very good or excellent to 49%, with 22% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
In the region, high blood pressure (22%) and diabetes (10%)
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: 45%, the province 25%. At 26%, 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.
Deprivation all but predicts the region’s life expectancy, which falls just short of the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Houston’s, follows the trend.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 3.9 about 77.6 years; Houston’s region’s 77.0 is within a year of it. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean longer-lived: 8 of them above it, a median of 78.7. A household income of about $92,000, high for a region, doesn’t come with longer lives here; across regions the two barely move together (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.
Houston is 40th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 3,065 to 3,162 people, median 7.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blakeley ON B+ | 3,151 | 0.4 km | 53% |
| 2 | Ainslie Wood East ON B | 3,112 | 0.9 km | 53% |
| 3 | La Loche SK | 3,124 | 1.0 km | – |
| 38 | Sudbury, Unorganized, North Part ON D | 3,083 | 40 km | 51% |
| 39 | Clear Hills AB D− | 3,110 | 54 km | 48% |
| 40 | Houston BC D− | 3,114 | 54 km | 42% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Houston shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Houston
What is the life expectancy in Houston?
There is no figure for Houston alone; its health region’s is 79.2 for women and 75.0 for men in 2022/2024.
How far is Houston from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Houston live: 174 km to a clinic, 54 km to a pharmacy.
How healthy is Houston?
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 is Houston’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Houston’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
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).