Photo: Marlon Richmond · CC BY-SA 4.0Health in Sunset beats 97% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 50% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in British Columbia (50%). What sets Sunset apart within its region is a short trip to hospital, 1.7 km for the average resident (3.7 km typical). The Health grade for Sunset is A+, #27 of 254 in British Columbia and #120 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sunset
Smoking runs low
The age-standardised smoking rate around Sunset is well below the typical town’s; 4.4% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A lighter load of illness
High blood pressure (16%) and diabetes (6.1%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Life expectancy above the norm
Sunset’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
A typical home in Sunset has 24 pharmacies within 3 km, the nearest 0.5 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.
Sunset 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: #27 of 254 in British Columbia and #120 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.
16% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 6.1% diabetes
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 17%, self-reported obesity is below British Columbia’s 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.
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
The region comes 4th of 16 in British Columbia, where life expectancy runs from 76.6 to 86.8 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Sunset’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.
Getting to hospital from Sunset: 1.7 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Sunset’s own, not the region’s.
Sunset is closer in than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 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.
Shorter lives than deprivation would give: 1.0 years behind the trend
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Sunset’s, lies beneath the trend.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.0, Sunset’s region’s 83.3 years sit under the line’s 84.3. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (5) and half worse (5), around a median of 83.5. Modest pay, about $82,000 a household, and long lives sit side by side here: across regions, income and life expectancy hardly move together (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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in British Columbia: 52% 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
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, Sunset is 5th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 34,653 to 39,966 people, median 2.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Pleasant BC A+ | 37,091 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 2 | Côte-Saint-Luc QC A | 37,901 | 1.0 km | 54% |
| 3 | Cecil-P.-Newman QC A | 34,965 | 1.5 km | 54% |
| 4 | Central Erin Mills ON A− | 36,393 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 5 | Sunset BC A+ | 37,186 | 1.7 km | 50% |
| 6 | Stratford ON B | 36,097 | 1.8 km | 45% |
| 7 | Orillia ON A− | 37,735 | 1.8 km | 54% |
| 40 | Panorama Ridge BC A | 36,473 | 6.9 km | 50% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Sunset
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 1.7 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Victoria-Fraserview 2.1 km | 1.4 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Oakridge 2.4 km | 2.0 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Kensington-Cedar Cottage 2.7 km | 1.8 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Marpole 2.8 km | 3.5 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Riley Park 2.8 km | 1.2 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
| Little Saigon 3.3 km | 1.3 km | 50% | 83.3 | A+ |
Same region, same survey: Sunset’s neighbours differ only in how far they are from a hospital.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Sunset itself is the trip to care.
- 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. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- 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. 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 Sunset
How is Sunset’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Sunset’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Sunset?
For the health region that includes Sunset, women can expect 86.5 years and men 80.2 (2022/2024).
How healthy is Sunset?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 13%.
How far is Sunset from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Sunset is 0.9 km from a clinic and 0.5 km from a pharmacy.
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).