Photo: Michal Klajban · CC BY-SA 4.0For health, Victoria is ahead of 98% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 55%, ahead of the 50% for British Columbia. Measured from where Victoria’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.5 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. The Health grade for Victoria is A+, #20 of 254 in British Columbia and #71 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Victoria
Fewer smokers
The age-standardised smoking rate around Victoria is well below the typical town’s; 3.8% of adults are daily smokers. Conditions and habits ↓
A lighter load of illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 18% of adults, diabetes for 5.9%. Conditions and habits ↓
A long-lived region
Life expectancy in the region around Victoria runs 1.2 years ahead of the typical Canadian town’s, and at 65 people can expect 21.9 more years (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A hospital close by
The hospital is close for almost everyone in Victoria: 1.7 km from its centre of population. 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.
Victoria 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: #20 of 254 in British Columbia and #71 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 (18%) and diabetes (5.9%)
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
At 25%, self-reported obesity is near British Columbia’s 25%. At 22%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 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.
How the 16 health regions in British Columbia compare on life expectancy
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
Of the 16 health regions in British Columbia, 6th place goes to this one, between a low of 76.6 and a high of 86.8.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Victoria 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.
The nearest hospital is 1.5 km from the average home in Victoria
Straight-line distances from each part of Victoria, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Victoria 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.
1.3 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Victoria’s region is below the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 2.1, the expected figure is 84.0 years, and Victoria’s region falls below with 82.7. The 10 regions scored most like it mostly do better (9 of 10), with a median of 83.5.
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.
54% in the region call their health very good or excellent, more than in British Columbia (50%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental health looks weaker than in the province: 47% rate it very good or excellent, against 49% in British Columbia, and 25% find most days quite 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: Victoria comes 1st of 40
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (79,371 to 142,450 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.6 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victoria BC A+ | 103,888 | 1.5 km | 55% |
| 2 | New Westminster BC A | 92,124 | 1.8 km | 48% |
| 3 | Chomedey QC A | 81,813 | 1.8 km | 53% |
| 40 | Lindsay ON C | 85,351 | 13 km | 49% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Victoria
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | 1.5 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Oak Bay 3.2 km | 1.4 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Esquimalt 3.9 km | 2.0 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Saanich 5.1 km | 2.7 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| New Songhees 1A 5.5 km | 2.2 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| View Royal 7.5 km | 1.4 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
| Colwood 10 km | 6.3 km | 55% | 82.7 | A+ |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Victoria from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Colwood is the furthest from care, 6.3 km to Victoria’s 1.5 km.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Victoria shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- Who the survey asks. The survey’s frame skips reserves and other Indigenous settlements, institutions, the Forces and two Québec regions, so their figures come from elsewhere or not at all.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about health in Victoria
How is Victoria’s Health Grade worked out?
Not yet: Health will weigh the region’s survey and life expectancy and Victoria’s distance to a hospital against the typical Canadian town once Canada’s grading run happens.
What is the life expectancy in Victoria?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.9 for women, 80.5 for men around Victoria (2022/2024).
How healthy is Victoria?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 14%.
How far is Victoria from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Victoria is 0.7 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).