Photo: Keefer4~commonswiki · CC BY-SA 2.5Few places match Saanich for health: it beats 97% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 55%, ahead of the 50% for British Columbia. For Saanich itself the measure is access: 2.7 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Saanich is A+, #31 of 254 in British Columbia and #136 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Saanich
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Saanich is well below the typical town’s; 3.8% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
Less chronic illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 18% of adults, diabetes for 5.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Life expectancy in the region around Saanich runs 1.2 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.9 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
A typical home in Saanich has 8.0 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 1.1 km away. Getting care ↓
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.
Saanich 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: #31 of 254 in British Columbia and #136 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.
18% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 5.9% diabetes
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
Obesity tracks the province: 25% of adults here, 25% across 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.
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
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 6th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Saanich 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.
From Saanich, a hospital is 2.7 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Saanich, weighted by who lives there.
From Saanich 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.
Behind regions as deprived by 1.3 years of life
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Saanich’s region’s dot is under the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.1, the expected figure is 84.0 years, and Saanich’s region falls below with 82.7. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 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.
More people rate their health highly here than in British Columbia: 54% to 50%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Fewer adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across British Columbia (47% against 49%), while 25% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Saanich is 8th of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (92,124 to 167,654 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Airdrie AB A+ | 92,544 | 2.3 km | 56% |
| 6 | Moncton NB B− | 102,378 | 2.7 km | 43% |
| 7 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 8 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 9 | Peterborough ON C+ | 97,834 | 2.8 km | 47% |
| 10 | Milton ON A | 157,345 | 2.8 km | 54% |
| 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 Saanich
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saanich | 2.7 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Victoria 5.1 km | 1.5 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| New Songhees 1A 5.3 km | 2.2 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Esquimalt 5.5 km | 2.0 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Oak Bay 6.3 km | 1.4 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| View Royal 6.3 km | 1.4 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Colwood 11 km | 6.3 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Saanich from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Colwood live further from a hospital, at 6.3 km against 2.7 km in Saanich.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Saanich’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Saanich
How is Saanich’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Saanich: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Saanich?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Saanich’s health region only: 84.9 years for women and 80.5 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Saanich?
On every regional measure, the region does better than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 14%.
How far is Saanich from a hospital?
Residents of Saanich have a clinic 2.2 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.1 km away, in straight lines.
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).