Photo: Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0Oakridge scores better for health than 97% of Canadian towns
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across British Columbia, 50% against 50%. Measured from where Oakridge’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 2.0 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Oakridge a grade of A+, #32 of 254 in British Columbia and #141 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Oakridge
Fewer smokers
Smoking is rarer around Oakridge than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 4.4% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
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 6.1%. Conditions and habits ↓
A long-lived region
Oakridge’s region sits 1.8 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 22.8 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Pharmacies on every corner
With 22 pharmacies within 3 km of the average home and the nearest 0.7 km off, Oakridge is well served for prescriptions. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Oakridge 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: #32 of 254 in British Columbia and #141 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (16%) and diabetes (6.1%)
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
Fewer adults report obesity than across British Columbia: 17%, the province 25%.
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.
How the 16 health regions in British Columbia compare on life expectancy
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 4th of the 16.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Oakridge’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
From Oakridge, a hospital is 2.0 km away on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Oakridge’s own, not the region’s.
Residents of Oakridge 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.
The region lives 1.0 years less than its deprivation predicts
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Oakridge’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Life expectancy drops as deprivation climbs across Canada’s 102 health regions (correlation −0.83); a score of 2.0 would suggest 84.3 years, but Oakridge’s region stops at 83.3. The 10 regions closest to it on the index split evenly around it, 5 above and 5 below; their median is 83.5 years. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $82,000, less than in most regions, yet lives here are longer than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 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.
Self-rated health much as in British Columbia: 52% to 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 (46% against 49%), while 27% call most days stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Oakridge is 14th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 13,803 to 14,355 people, median 3.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vieux-Limoilou QC A+ | 14,347 | 0.6 km | 62% |
| 2 | Sillery QC A+ | 13,950 | 0.8 km | 62% |
| 3 | Sandwich ON B+ | 14,110 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 12 | Oakridge ON A | 13,913 | 1.7 km | 50% |
| 13 | Manor Park NS B+ | 14,148 | 1.8 km | 51% |
| 14 | Oakridge BC A+ | 14,071 | 2.0 km | 50% |
| 15 | Matane QC A | 14,180 | 2.3 km | 60% |
| 16 | Wychwood ON A | 13,828 | 2.4 km | 50% |
| 40 | Warman SK B | 14,245 | 18 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Oakridge
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakridge | 2.0 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Marpole 1.8 km | 3.5 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Shaughnessy 2.1 km | 1.0 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Sunset 2.4 km | 1.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| South Cambie 2.4 km | 0.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Kerrisdale 2.4 km | 2.9 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Riley Park 2.6 km | 1.2 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
One health region covers Oakridge and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same.
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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Oakridge alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- 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 Oakridge
How is Oakridge’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Oakridge’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Oakridge?
Women in Oakridge’s region live to 86.5 on average and men to 80.2, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How healthy is Oakridge?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Chronic conditions there average 13% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How far is Oakridge from a hospital?
For everyday care, Oakridge’s residents are 0.7 km from a pharmacy and 1.6 km from a clinic on average.
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).