Photo: Bell and Jeff from Wellington, New Zealand · CC BY 2.0Life expectancy around Vanderhoof is 76.6 years, 4.9 less than for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 39% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; British Columbia as a whole reaches 50%. For Vanderhoof itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 2.4 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Vanderhoof grades C for health, #229 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,339 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Vanderhoof
Less upbeat about their health
Even once age is allowed for, 12.4 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (39% as answered). Health survey ↓
Below the trend for its deprivation
For a deprivation score of 3.7, the trend across regions gives 78.3 years of life; Vanderhoof’s region reaches only 76.6. For its deprivation ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
Picking up a prescription in Vanderhoof takes a trip of 55 km on average to the nearest mapped pharmacy. Getting care ↓
More chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are commoner here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 26% report high blood pressure and 10% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Vanderhoof 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: #229 of 254 in British Columbia and #2,339 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.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in British Columbia: 39% 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
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 40% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 28% find most days quite stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Behind regions as deprived by 1.7 years of life
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Vanderhoof’s region sits below the trend line through 102 regions.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 3.7, Vanderhoof’s region’s 76.6 years sit under the line’s 78.3. Among the 10 regions closest to it on the index, longer lives win out: 9 of the 10, around a median of 78.5 years. Judged by income, around $87,000 a household, the region would look well placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one lives less long than most.
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.
The nearest hospital is 2.4 km from the average home in Vanderhoof
Straight-line distances from each part of Vanderhoof, 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, Vanderhoof 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (26%) and diabetes (10%)
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 41%, self-reported obesity is above British Columbia’s 25%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (22% 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.
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
No region of the 16 in British Columbia has shorter lives than this one; the longest-lived reaches 86.8, a gap of 10.2 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
These four scores average the national quintile of the areas where Vanderhoof’s residents live; they carry no weight in the grade.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Vanderhoof is 11th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,465 to 4,627 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.5 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Country Hills ON A | 4,561 | 0.5 km | 53% |
| 2 | Eastmount ON B+ | 4,496 | 0.6 km | 53% |
| 3 | Centennial MB B+ | 4,483 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 9 | Red Hill ON B | 4,540 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 10 | Rockwood MB B+ | 4,554 | 2.1 km | 52% |
| 11 | Vanderhoof BC C | 4,545 | 2.4 km | 39% |
| 12 | Albion ON B | 4,585 | 2.5 km | 53% |
| 13 | Britannia Youngstown AB B | 4,616 | 2.7 km | 51% |
| 40 | Casselman ON C− | 4,535 | 32 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Vanderhoof
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderhoof | 2.4 km | 39% | 76.6 | C |
| Electoral Area F, Bulkley-Nechako 10 km | 17 km | 39% | 76.6 | D |
Only the hospital column is local here: Vanderhoof and its neighbours share one health region’s survey. Residents of Electoral Area F, Bulkley-Nechako live further from a hospital, at 17 km against 2.4 km in Vanderhoof.
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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Vanderhoof shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- 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.
Questions about health in Vanderhoof
How healthy is Vanderhoof?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 20% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Vanderhoof?
There is no figure for Vanderhoof alone; its health region’s is 79.5 for women and 74.0 for men in 2022/2024.
How is Vanderhoof’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Vanderhoof has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Vanderhoof from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Vanderhoof is 11 km from a clinic and 55 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).