Photo: CPG1100 · CC BY-SA 4.0Life expectancy around Prince George is 76.6 years, 4.9 less than for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 39% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. Measured from where Prince George’s residents live, a hospital is 4.6 km away, near the 3.7 km most towns see. Prince George grades C− for health, #230 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,365 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Prince George
Fewer people feeling well
Adjusted for age, the region’s share in very good or excellent health is 12.4 points below the typical Canadian town’s; as answered, it is 39%. Health survey ↓
Life expectancy under the deprivation trend
Deprivation alone, a score of 3.7, would give Prince George’s region about 78.3 years; it stops at 76.6. For its deprivation ↓
More chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries more long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 26% of adults, diabetes for 10%. 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.
Prince George 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: #230 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,365 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.
39% in the region call their health very good or excellent, fewer than in British Columbia (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
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (40% against 49%), while 28% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.7 years behind the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Prince George’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 3.7 would suggest 78.3 years, but Prince George’s region stops at 76.6. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (9 of 10, median 78.5 years). Judged by income, around $87,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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.
26% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 10% diabetes
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
Obesity runs higher than in the province, at 41% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 22% to 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.
Getting to hospital from Prince George: 4.6 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Prince George, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Prince George travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in British Columbia is 4.4 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 1.0 km, while the average resident is 4.6 km away.
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.
Life expectancy across the 16 health 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
Last of the 16 regions in British Columbia: the highest figure is 86.8, 10.2 years above the lowest.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Prince George itself, and it sets the scene rather than feeding the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Prince George is 27th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (66,480 to 113,671 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 66,624 | 1.1 km | 59% |
| 2 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 3 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 25 | Nanaimo BC B− | 111,845 | 4.2 km | 47% |
| 26 | Georgetown ON A | 68,265 | 4.3 km | 54% |
| 27 | Prince George BC C− | 85,944 | 4.6 km | 39% |
| 28 | Cape Breton NS C− | 106,752 | 4.8 km | 49% |
| 29 | Brossard QC A | 97,597 | 4.8 km | 55% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Prince George
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince George | 4.6 km | 39% | 76.6 | C− |
| Electoral Area D, Fraser-Fort George 14 km | 15 km | 39% | 76.6 | D |
| Electoral Area A, Fraser-Fort George 15 km | 20 km | 39% | 76.6 | D |
| Electoral Area C, Fraser-Fort George 17 km | 19 km | 39% | 76.6 | D |
| Electoral Area F, Fraser-Fort George 18 km | 24 km | 39% | 76.6 | D |
Because the health region stops further out than these places, they all carry Prince George’s regional figures. Residents of Electoral Area F, Fraser-Fort George live further from a hospital, at 24 km against 4.6 km in Prince George.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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. 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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Prince George itself is the trip to care.
- 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. 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.
Questions about health in Prince George
How healthy is Prince George?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. On arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure, the region’s average share is 20%.
What is the life expectancy in Prince George?
Women in Prince George’s region live to 79.5 on average and men to 74.0, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Prince George’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 Prince George’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Prince George from a hospital?
A clinic is 3.8 km from the average resident of Prince George and a pharmacy 1.8 km, as the crow flies.
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).