Photo: TravelingOtter from Houston, Texas, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Expect 76.4 years of life in the region around Yellowknife, 5.1 under the typical Canadian town
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across the Northwest Territories, 43% against 43%. Measured from where Yellowknife’s residents live, the nearest hospital is 1.7 km away, under the typical 3.7 km. Health gives Yellowknife a grade of C−, #2,389 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Yellowknife
A region that smokes more
Smoking is commoner around Yellowknife than in the typical Canadian town’s region, and 20% of adults smoke every day. Conditions and habits ↓
Less upbeat about their health
Even once age is allowed for, 8.5 points fewer adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (44% as answered). Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Yellowknife 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: #2,389 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.
High blood pressure for 17% of adults in the region, diabetes for 8.1%
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
Self-reported obesity, 44%, sits within a few points of the Northwest Territories (44%).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (table 13-10-0972), as published, not adjusted for age; obesity from reported height and weight.
Self-rated health much as in the Northwest Territories: 44% to 44%
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 is no outlier: 46% say very good or excellent (the Northwest Territories: 46%) and 23% live with stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
The nearest hospital is 1.7 km from the average home in Yellowknife
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Yellowknife’s own, not the region’s.
That is nearer than 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.
Life expectancy in the region: 76.4 years
Regional life expectancy in the Northwest Territories, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Yellowknife comes 18th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 22,149 to 23,585 people, median 1.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Church-Wellesley ON A | 22,415 | 0.2 km | 50% |
| 2 | Moss Park ON A | 22,701 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 3 | High Park North ON A | 22,162 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 16 | Humber Bay Shores ON A | 22,633 | 1.6 km | 50% |
| 17 | Cranbrook BC B+ | 22,703 | 1.7 km | 57% |
| 18 | Yellowknife NT C− | 22,858 | 1.7 km | 43% |
| 19 | Eglinton East ON A | 22,820 | 1.7 km | 50% |
| 20 | Steeles ON A | 22,943 | 1.7 km | 50% |
| 40 | Saint-Lazare QC A− | 22,895 | 17 km | 55% |
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. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Yellowknife itself is the trip to care.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. 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 Yellowknife
What is the life expectancy in Yellowknife?
There is no figure for Yellowknife alone; its health region’s is 79.4 for women and 73.9 for men in 2022/2024.
How healthy is Yellowknife?
The region does worse than the typical Canadian town on most regional measures, with at least one exception. Chronic conditions there average 17% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
How is Yellowknife’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Yellowknife: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How far is Yellowknife from a hospital?
Residents of Yellowknife have a clinic 303 km away on average and a pharmacy 1.0 km away, in straight lines.
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). 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).