Photo: (WT-shared) Bulliver at wts wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 1.0Around Summerland, 52% of adults call their health very good or excellent
Across the region, life runs to 81.0 years on average: women 84.1, men 78.2, in 2022/2024. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Summerland is well placed: 2.0 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. The Health grade for Summerland is B+, #146 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,358 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Summerland
Below the trend for its deprivation
At 81.0 years, Summerland’s region trails the 82.9 that regions scoring 2.5 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.
Summerland grades B+ 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: #146 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,358 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.
Deprivation predicts more: the region falls 1.9 years short of the trend
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Summerland’s region’s dot is under the line.
The trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a region scored 2.5 about 82.9 years of life. Summerland’s region falls short of it, at 81.0. Even beside regions as deprived, it lags: 9 of its 10 closest matches reach further, their median 82.9 years. Its towns’ household income, about $81,000, sits below most regions’ while its life expectancy sits above; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 0.14).
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.
High blood pressure for 23% of adults in the region, diabetes for 6.9%
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
At 28%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (25% against 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 Summerland: 2.0 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Summerland, 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, Summerland is on the near 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.
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
This region is 7th longest-lived of 16 in British Columbia, on a scale from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Summerland 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in British Columbia: 51% and 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
Stress touches 26% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 48%, the province 49% (British Columbia).
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: Summerland comes 11th of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (12,112 to 12,605 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DT Hospital ON A− | 12,384 | 0.4 km | 49% |
| 2 | Yonge-Eglinton ON A | 12,424 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Woodbine Corridor ON A | 12,283 | 1.0 km | 50% |
| 9 | Dovercourt Village ON A | 12,378 | 1.9 km | 50% |
| 10 | Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts QC A+ | 12,154 | 2.0 km | 60% |
| 11 | Summerland BC B+ | 12,343 | 2.0 km | 52% |
| 12 | Forest Hill North ON A | 12,432 | 2.0 km | 50% |
| 13 | Grenet QC A | 12,580 | 2.1 km | 54% |
| 40 | Wetaskiwin County No. 10 AB C− | 12,117 | 20 km | 52% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Summerland
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summerland | 2.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
| Electoral Area F, Okanagan-Similkameen 6.7 km | 7.2 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Naramata 7.5 km | 7.7 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Penticton 1 15 km | 4.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
| Penticton 15 km | 1.9 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Summerland’s; read across for the hospital trip. Residents of Naramata live further from a hospital, at 7.7 km against 2.0 km in Summerland.
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. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Summerland shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Summerland
How is Summerland’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Summerland’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Summerland?
Women in Summerland’s region live to 84.1 on average and men to 78.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Summerland from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in Summerland live: 1.9 km to a clinic, 1.8 km to a pharmacy.
How healthy is Summerland?
The region does better than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 16% of adults.
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).