Photo: MBBrdn · CC0People in Brandon’s health region live to 78.8 on average, 2.7 years short of the typical Canadian town
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Manitoba, 51% against 51%. For Brandon itself the measure is access, and it scores well: 2.5 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. The Health grade for Brandon is C+, #153 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,126 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Brandon
More smokers
Around Brandon, 10% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
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.
Brandon 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: #153 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,126 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.
24% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 7.9% 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 40%, self-reported obesity is above Manitoba’s 36%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (24% against 21%).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Brandon’s, follows the trend.
Deprivation explains most of the gap between regions (correlation −0.83 over 102), and Brandon’s region is a typical case: 78.8 years at a score of 3.5, where the trend says 79.0. Half the 10 regions scored most like it do better (5) and half worse (5), around a median of 78.9.
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 2.5 km from the average home in Brandon
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Brandon’s own, not the region’s.
Brandon is near the provincial norm, 3.1 km for the typical town in Manitoba, with the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km. The clinic list is thin in Manitoba: the facilities database holds few clinics there, so the clinic distance overstates the trip.
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.
Life expectancy across the 5 health regions in Manitoba
Regional life expectancy in Manitoba, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Manitoba runs from 68.5 to 80.7; this region sits 3rd of the 5.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Context only: each bar is the residents’ average quintile on one dimension of Statistics Canada’s index, for Brandon’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Self-rated health much as in Manitoba: 51% to 52%
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
More adults here report very good or excellent mental health than across Manitoba (54% against 52%), while 20% 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, Brandon is 10th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 48,457 to 72,180 people, median 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Vancouver BC A+ | 66,624 | 1.1 km | 59% |
| 2 | Cornwall ON B− | 54,346 | 1.5 km | 49% |
| 3 | St. Thomas ON B− | 49,388 | 1.7 km | 49% |
| 8 | Welland ON C+ | 66,480 | 2.4 km | 49% |
| 9 | Châteauguay QC A | 53,508 | 2.5 km | 55% |
| 10 | Brandon MB C+ | 59,444 | 2.5 km | 51% |
| 11 | Granby QC A+ | 72,180 | 2.6 km | 57% |
| 12 | Grande Prairie AB C− | 71,160 | 2.7 km | 48% |
| 40 | Keswick ON B+ | 53,630 | 17 km | 51% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Brandon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | 2.5 km | 51% | 78.8 | C+ |
| Whitehead 15 km | 18 km | 51% | 78.8 | C |
| Elton 15 km | 16 km | 51% | 78.8 | C |
| Cornwallis 18 km | 15 km | 51% | 78.8 | C |
Every place around Brandon shares its health region, so their survey figures match; only the distance to care differs. Residents of Whitehead live further from a hospital, at 18 km against 2.5 km in Brandon.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Regional figures. The survey figures and life expectancy are published for the health region, so every town in it shares them and only the distances are Brandon’s own.
- 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.
Questions about health in Brandon
What is the life expectancy in Brandon?
Women in Brandon’s region live to 81.2 on average and men to 76.6, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Brandon’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Brandon has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Brandon from a hospital?
A pharmacy is 1.3 km from the average resident of Brandon, as the crow flies; clinic lists here are too thin to measure.
How healthy is Brandon?
On every regional measure, the region does worse than the typical Canadian town. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 18%.
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).