Photo: TwoWild · CC BY-SA 2.0Health in Roberts Creek beats almost every Canadian town
In the health survey, 59% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than British Columbia’s 50%. For Roberts Creek itself the measure is access, and it lags: 9.9 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives Roberts Creek a grade of A+, #7 of 254 in British Columbia and #49 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Roberts Creek
Fewer smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Roberts Creek is well below the typical town’s; 3.7% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Roberts Creek’s region sits 2.8 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 22.6 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A lighter load of illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 16% of adults, diabetes for 4%. Conditions and habits ↓
Upbeat about their health
Even once age is allowed for, 7.6 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (59% as answered). Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Roberts Creek 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: #7 of 254 in British Columbia and #49 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 16% of adults in the region, diabetes for 4%
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 is close to the province’s level, 23% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 23% 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.
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
Among the 16 regions in British Columbia, from 76.6 to 86.8 years, this one is 3rd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Roberts Creek 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.
59% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more 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
Mental health looks better than in the province too: 55% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 22% find most days quite 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: 1.4 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 Roberts 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 1.7, Roberts Creek’s region’s 84.3 years sit under the line’s 85.7. Set beside its 10 nearest neighbours on the index, it outlives the majority, 6 of 10; their median is 83.5 years.
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.
From Roberts Creek, a hospital is 9.9 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Roberts Creek, weighted by who lives there.
Compared with 4.4 km for the typical town in British Columbia and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Roberts Creek is on the far side.
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.
Further from a hospital than most towns its size: Roberts Creek comes 24th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (3,721 to 3,842 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 5.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City Park SK A− | 3,827 | 0.4 km | 49% |
| 2 | Clareview Town Centre AB B+ | 3,800 | 0.8 km | 51% |
| 3 | Meadowgreen SK A− | 3,782 | 1.0 km | 49% |
| 22 | Ascot Corner QC A | 3,725 | 6.1 km | 57% |
| 23 | Electoral Area C, Nanaimo BC B− | 3,733 | 8.2 km | 47% |
| 24 | Roberts Creek BC A+ | 3,779 | 9.9 km | 59% |
| 25 | Corkery ON A | 3,822 | 10 km | 56% |
| 26 | Saint-Maurice QC A− | 3,804 | 11 km | 61% |
| 40 | Cartier MB C | 3,739 | 30 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Roberts Creek
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roberts Creek | 9.9 km | 59% | 84.3 | A+ |
| Electoral Area E, Sunshine Coast 6.7 km | 17 km | 59% | 84.3 | A+ |
| Gibsons 8.6 km | 19 km | 59% | 84.3 | A+ |
| Electoral Area F, Sunshine Coast 11 km | 20 km | 59% | 84.3 | A+ |
| Sechelt 12 km | 3.0 km | 59% | 84.3 | A+ |
Around Roberts Creek the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of Electoral Area F, Sunshine Coast live further from a hospital, at 20 km against 9.9 km in Roberts Creek.
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.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
- 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.
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Roberts Creek itself is the trip to care.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
Questions about health in Roberts Creek
How healthy is Roberts Creek?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 12% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Roberts Creek?
Women in Roberts Creek’s region live to 86.3 on average and men to 82.3, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Roberts Creek’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Roberts Creek’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Roberts Creek from a hospital?
A clinic is 7.8 km from the average resident of Roberts Creek and a pharmacy 4.7 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).