Photo: Jd.101 · CC BY-SA 3.052% of adults around Kelowna rate their health very good or excellent
For 2022/2024, the region’s figure is 81.0 years at birth, 84.1 for women and 78.2 for men. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Kelowna’s is long: 5.6 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Health gives Kelowna a grade of B, #153 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,643 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Kelowna
Life expectancy short of what deprivation predicts
Set against regions as deprived (2.5), Kelowna’s region loses years: 81.0 where the trend says 82.9. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Kelowna 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: #153 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,643 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.
1.9 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Kelowna’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Deprivation accounts for much of the spread between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), but not for all of Kelowna’s region’s: 81.0 years where the line expects 82.9 at 2.5. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 82.9. Modest pay, about $81,000 a household, and long lives sit side by side here: across regions, income and life expectancy hardly move together (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 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.9%
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
At 28%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% against 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 Kelowna, a hospital is 5.6 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Kelowna, weighted by who lives there.
Against 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Kelowna sits near the middle.
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.
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
This region is 7th longest-lived of 16 in British Columbia, on a scale from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
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; Kelowna’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%
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
Mental health is no outlier: 48% say very good or excellent (British Columbia: 49%) and 26% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Kelowna is 34th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (105,925 to 243,107 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 2 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 3 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 32 | Delta BC A | 124,670 | 5.2 km | 50% |
| 33 | Kamloops BC C+ | 108,793 | 5.5 km | 48% |
| 34 | Kelowna BC B | 167,654 | 5.6 km | 52% |
| 35 | Langley BC A | 163,885 | 5.9 km | 50% |
| 36 | Pickering ON B | 118,378 | 6.1 km | 50% |
| 40 | Terrebonne QC B+ | 126,872 | 9.7 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Kelowna
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelowna | 5.6 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Tsinstikeptum 10 6.9 km | 3.4 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
| Central Okanagan 9.0 km | 16 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
| West Kelowna 12 km | 8.5 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Tsinstikeptum 9 12 km | 9.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Duck Lake 7 15 km | 17 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
Around Kelowna the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Duck Lake 7 live further from a hospital, at 17 km against 5.6 km in Kelowna.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- 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 Kelowna’s own.
Questions about health in Kelowna
How is Kelowna’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 Kelowna’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Kelowna?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.1 for women, 78.2 for men around Kelowna (2022/2024).
How far is Kelowna from a hospital?
A clinic is 2.9 km from the average resident of Kelowna and a pharmacy 2.0 km, as the crow flies.
How healthy is Kelowna?
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 16% of adults.
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).