Photo: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY 2.0Whistler scores better for health than 91% of Canadian towns
In the health survey, 59% of adults in the region rate their health very good or excellent, more than British Columbia’s 50%. Measured from where Whistler’s residents live, a hospital is 48 km away on average and 100% of them are over 30 km out. Health gives Whistler a grade of A, #64 of 254 in British Columbia and #533 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Whistler
Fewer smokers
Around Whistler, only 3.7% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate lower than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Far from a hospital
Residents of Whistler live much further from a hospital than in the typical Canadian town (48 km from its centre of population), and 100% are more than 30 km away. Getting care ↓
Longer lives in the region
Born around Whistler, a child can expect 2.8 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 22.6 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
A lighter load of illness
High blood pressure (16%) and diabetes (4%) keep the region’s chronic-condition figure below the typical Canadian town’s. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Whistler 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: #64 of 254 in British Columbia and #533 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 (4%)
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
Self-reported obesity, 23%, sits within a few points of British Columbia (25%). Heavy drinking is commoner too (23% 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.
The nearest hospital is 48 km from the average home in Whistler
Straight-line distances from each part of Whistler, weighted by who lives there.
From Whistler that is further than the 4.4 km of the typical town in British Columbia, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town.
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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 16 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
This region is 3rd longest-lived of 16 in British Columbia, on a scale from 76.6 to 86.8 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 Whistler’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.
1.4 fewer years of life than regions as deprived
Each dot is a health region, not a town, its figures shared by every town in it; Whistler’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 1.7 would suggest 85.7 years, but Whistler’s region stops at 84.3. It outlives 6 of the 10 regions nearest it on the index, whose median is 83.5 years.
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 beats British Columbia: 59% very good or excellent, against 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 beats British Columbia as well: 55% very good or excellent to 49%, with 22% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Whistler is 40th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (14,824 to 15,359 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saint-Louis QC A | 14,824 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 2 | Carleton Place ON B | 14,837 | 1.0 km | 51% |
| 3 | Lairet QC A+ | 15,251 | 1.2 km | 62% |
| 38 | Sainte-Adèle QC A | 15,216 | 16 km | 60% |
| 39 | Limoges ON C | 15,122 | 27 km | 49% |
| 40 | Whistler BC A | 15,090 | 48 km | 59% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Whistler alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
- 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.
- 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. 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. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
Questions about health in Whistler
How far is Whistler from a hospital?
A clinic is 2.9 km from the average resident of Whistler and a pharmacy 2.8 km, as the crow flies.
How healthy is Whistler?
The region beats the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 12% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Whistler?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Whistler’s health region only: 86.3 years for women and 82.3 for men (2022/2024).
How is Whistler’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Whistler’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
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).