Photo: rpaterso · CC BY-SA 2.0Few places match Oak Bay for health: it beats 98% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 55% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than British Columbia’s 50%. For Oak Bay itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 1.4 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Oak Bay is A+, #14 of 254 in British Columbia and #62 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Oak Bay
Fewer smokers
Smoking is rarer around Oak Bay than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 3.8% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Less chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are rarer here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 18% report high blood pressure and 5.9% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Oak Bay’s region sits 1.2 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 21.9 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Near a hospital
Few Canadian towns live as close to a hospital as Oak Bay; from its centre of population the trip is 1.2 km. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Oak Bay grades A+ 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: #14 of 254 in British Columbia and #62 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.
High blood pressure for 18% of adults in the region, diabetes for 5.9%
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 25%, self-reported obesity is near British Columbia’s 25%. At 22%, 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.
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
The region comes 6th of 16 in British Columbia, where life expectancy runs from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
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 Oak Bay’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 1.4 km from the average home in Oak Bay
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Oak Bay’s own, not the region’s.
From Oak Bay 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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.3 years behind the trend
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Oak Bay’s region comes out below the trend.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 2.1 would suggest 84.0 years, but Oak Bay’s region stops at 82.7. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 83.5.
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.
Self-rated health beats British Columbia: 54% 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: 47% very good or excellent to 49%, with 25% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Oak Bay comes 12th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 17,988 to 19,305 people, median 2.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downtown Yonge East ON A | 18,251 | 0.3 km | 50% |
| 2 | Kensington-Chinatown ON A | 18,597 | 0.4 km | 50% |
| 3 | Desmarchais-Crawford QC A | 18,505 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 10 | Downsview ON A | 18,055 | 1.3 km | 50% |
| 11 | Midland ON A− | 19,305 | 1.4 km | 54% |
| 12 | Oak Bay BC A+ | 18,626 | 1.4 km | 55% |
| 13 | O'Connor-Parkview ON A | 18,746 | 1.4 km | 50% |
| 14 | Bendale-Glen Andrew ON A | 19,134 | 1.5 km | 50% |
| 40 | Saint-Colomban QC A | 19,080 | 9.1 km | 60% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Oak Bay
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Bay | 1.4 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Victoria 3.2 km | 1.5 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Saanich 6.3 km | 2.7 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Esquimalt 7.0 km | 2.0 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| New Songhees 1A 8.5 km | 2.2 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| View Royal 10 km | 1.4 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Colwood 13 km | 6.3 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
The neighbours all sit in Oak Bay’s health region, which is why their regional columns are identical. Colwood is the furthest from care, 6.3 km to Oak Bay’s 1.4 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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 Oak Bay’s own.
Questions about health in Oak Bay
How is Oak Bay’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Oak Bay’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Oak Bay?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.9 for women, 80.5 for men around Oak Bay (2022/2024).
How healthy is Oak Bay?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s. Chronic conditions there average 14% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Oak Bay from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Oak Bay is 1.3 km from a clinic and 0.7 km from 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).