Photo: Valentin8107 · CC BY-SA 4.0Very good or excellent health for 52% of adults in Vernon’s health region
Lives in the region last 81.0 years on average (2022/2024): 84.1 for women, 78.2 for men. Closer to home, a hospital sits 3.0 km from the average resident of Vernon, about the norm of 3.7 km. The Health grade for Vernon is B+, #149 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,457 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Vernon
Fewer years than its deprivation would give
At 81.0 years, Vernon’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.
Vernon 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: #149 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,457 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: 1.9 years behind the trend
These are health regions, 102 of them, not towns: the survey and life expectancy are published that way, so the dot for Vernon’s region, below the line, stands for every town in it.
Shorter lives come with deeper deprivation across the 102 regions (correlation −0.83). Even allowing for its score of 2.5, Vernon’s region’s 81.0 years sit under the line’s 82.9. 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%
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 28% of adults against 25% for British Columbia. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 25% 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.
Getting to hospital from Vernon: 3.0 km on average
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Vernon’s own, not the region’s.
Vernon is closer in than the provincial norm of 4.4 km in British Columbia, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The centre of population is 1.0 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 3.0 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.
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 7th 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 Vernon’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.
Self-rated health much as in British Columbia: 51% to 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 tracks British Columbia, 48% very good or excellent to 49%; 26% 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.
Closer to a hospital than most towns its size: Vernon comes 12th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 42,989 to 56,897 people, median 4.1 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sault-Saint-Louis QC A | 47,270 | 1.3 km | 54% |
| 2 | Saint-Eustache QC A+ | 47,562 | 1.4 km | 60% |
| 3 | Cornwall ON B− | 54,346 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 10 | Anjou QC A | 43,243 | 2.6 km | 54% |
| 11 | Churchill Meadows ON A− | 48,872 | 2.9 km | 49% |
| 12 | Vernon BC B+ | 49,527 | 3.0 km | 52% |
| 13 | Pointe-aux-Trembles QC A | 49,869 | 3.0 km | 54% |
| 14 | Charlottetown PE B | 48,118 | 3.3 km | 51% |
| 40 | Lakeshore ON B− | 45,954 | 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 Vernon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon | 3.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B+ |
| Electoral Area C, North Okanagan 5.2 km | 7.5 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Electoral Area B, North Okanagan 5.6 km | 6.0 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Coldstream 5.7 km | 5.1 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Okanagan (Part) 1 9.1 km | 11 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
| Spallumcheen 17 km | 5.5 km | 52% | 81.0 | B |
The table’s survey and life-expectancy columns are one region’s, Vernon’s; read across for the hospital trip. Residents of Okanagan (Part) 1 live further from a hospital, at 11 km against 3.0 km in Vernon.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Vernon shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- 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. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
Questions about health in Vernon
What is the life expectancy in Vernon?
For the health region that includes Vernon, women can expect 84.1 years and men 78.2 (2022/2024).
How is Vernon’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Vernon’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Vernon from a hospital?
For everyday care, Vernon’s residents are 2.3 km from a pharmacy and 2.6 km from a clinic on average.
How healthy is Vernon?
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).