Photo: The Interior · CC BY-SA 4.0Life expectancy around Salmon Arm is 78.8 years, 2.7 less than for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 48% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Salmon Arm is well placed: 2.4 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Salmon Arm is C+, #210 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,136 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Salmon Arm
Fewer years than its deprivation would give
At 78.8 years, Salmon Arm’s region trails the 80.5 that regions scoring 3.1 on the index typically reach. For its deprivation ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Salmon Arm 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: #210 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,136 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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.7 years behind the trend
102 dots, 102 health regions: no town has its own life expectancy here, and Salmon Arm’s region shows under the trend.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.1, Salmon Arm’s region’s 78.8 years sit under the line’s 80.5. It sits at the foot of the 10 regions closest to it on the index, which centre on 80.9 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (23%) and diabetes (8.2%)
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 runs higher than in the province, at 33% 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.
The nearest hospital is 2.4 km from the average home in Salmon Arm
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Salmon Arm’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Salmon Arm are closer than most of the province: the typical town in British Columbia is 4.4 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km.
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
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
Life expectancy in British Columbia runs from 76.6 to 86.8; this region sits 13th of the 16.
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 Salmon Arm’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.
Self-rated health trails British Columbia: 47% 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
On mental health the region is ahead of British Columbia, 52% very good or excellent to 49%; 23% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Salmon Arm comes 19th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 20,318 to 21,479 people, median 2.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Édouard-Montpetit QC A | 20,601 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 2 | Englemount-Lawrence ON A | 21,455 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Upper Lachine QC A | 21,130 | 0.8 km | 54% |
| 17 | Maisonneuve QC A | 20,651 | 2.0 km | 54% |
| 18 | Oakwood Village ON A | 20,830 | 2.3 km | 50% |
| 19 | Salmon Arm BC C+ | 20,891 | 2.4 km | 48% |
| 20 | East Windsor ON B | 20,876 | 2.4 km | 52% |
| 21 | Corner Brook NL C | 20,549 | 2.5 km | 47% |
| 40 | Bridgenorth ON C | 20,628 | 14 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Salmon Arm
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon Arm | 2.4 km | 48% | 78.8 | C+ |
| Electoral Area F, North Okanagan 13 km | 18 km | 52% | 81.0 | B− |
| Enderby 18 km | 14 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Blind Bay 19 km | 19 km | 48% | 78.8 | C |
Across a regional line, Electoral Area F, North Okanagan has its own figures: life expectancy 81.0, against 78.8 here. Residents of Blind Bay live further from a hospital, at 19 km against 2.4 km in Salmon Arm.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Facility locations come from Statistics Canada’s open database; records without coordinates sit at their postal code, and not every hospital has an emergency room.
- Distances are straight lines. Each small census area is measured as the crow flies to the nearest facility and weighted by its 2021 residents, so real trips run longer.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Salmon Arm shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
Questions about health in Salmon Arm
What is the life expectancy in Salmon Arm?
There is no figure for Salmon Arm alone; its health region’s is 81.8 for women and 76.0 for men in 2022/2024.
How is Salmon Arm’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Salmon Arm has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Salmon Arm?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 18% of adults.
How far is Salmon Arm from a hospital?
Residents of Salmon Arm have a clinic 2.3 km away on average and a pharmacy 2.3 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).