Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.018% of adults smoke in the health region around Algonquin Highlands, against 12% for the typical Canadian town
Across the region, 49% of adults say their health is very good or excellent, much as in Ontario (51%). What sets Algonquin Highlands apart within its region is distance: 22 km to a hospital on average, over 30 km for 39% of residents. The Health grade for Algonquin Highlands is C, #814 of 866 in Ontario and #2,331 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Algonquin Highlands
Hospital care at a distance
Distance is Algonquin Highlands’ own health question: 39% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 18 km. Getting care ↓
A long way to a pharmacy
From the average home in Algonquin Highlands, a pharmacy is 17 km away, a longer trip than most Canadians make for medicine. 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.
Algonquin Highlands 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: #814 of 866 in Ontario and #2,331 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.
The nearest hospital is 22 km from the average home in Algonquin Highlands
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Algonquin Highlands’ own, not the region’s.
From Algonquin Highlands that is further than the 3.3 km of the typical town in Ontario, 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.
Life expectancy close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Algonquin Highlands’ region is near the line.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) gives a score of 2.8 about 81.6 years; Algonquin Highlands’ region’s 81.0 is within a year of it. Most of the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores outlive it (6 of 10, median 81.2 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (28%) and diabetes (8%)
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
More adults report obesity than across Ontario: 40%, the province 30%. At 22%, heavy drinking beats the provincial 17%.
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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 34 regions in Ontario
Regional life expectancy in Ontario, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Ranked 18th of 34 in Ontario: the regions span 73.7 to 86.3 years at birth.
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 Algonquin Highlands’ own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Fewer people rate their health highly here than in Ontario: 47% to 51%
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 wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 49% very good or excellent against 51% for Ontario; stress is a daily matter for 23%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Algonquin Highlands is 36th nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 2,872 to 2,956 people, median 4.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairview AB C− | 2,918 | 0.6 km | 48% |
| 2 | Black Diamond AB A+ | 2,910 | 0.7 km | 56% |
| 3 | McKernan AB B+ | 2,880 | 0.9 km | 51% |
| 34 | Dégelis QC A− | 2,943 | 12 km | 60% |
| 35 | Saint-Basile QC A+ | 2,918 | 14 km | 62% |
| 36 | Algonquin Highlands ON C | 2,915 | 22 km | 49% |
| 37 | Head of St Margarets Bay NS B− | 2,885 | 22 km | 51% |
| 38 | Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon QC B | 2,916 | 29 km | 56% |
| 40 | Parry Sound, Unorganized, Centre Part ON D | 2,877 | 44 km | 47% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Algonquin Highlands
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algonquin Highlands | 22 km | 49% | 81.0 | C |
| Minden Hills 18 km | 6.9 km | 49% | 81.0 | C+ |
Algonquin Highlands and all of these places belong to one health region: the regional figures repeat, the hospital distances don’t. Residents of Minden Hills live nearer a hospital, at 6.9 km against 22 km in Algonquin Highlands.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: Algonquin Highlands 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.
- Who the survey asks. The health survey leaves out people living on reserves, full-time Canadian Forces members, people in institutions, and Nunavik and the Cree lands of James Bay.
Questions about health in Algonquin Highlands
How far is Algonquin Highlands from a hospital?
A clinic is 20 km from the average resident of Algonquin Highlands and a pharmacy 17 km, as the crow flies.
How is Algonquin Highlands’ Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus Algonquin Highlands’ own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Algonquin Highlands?
The region trails the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 17%.
What is the life expectancy in Algonquin Highlands?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 83.0 for women, 79.0 for men around Algonquin Highlands (2022/2024).
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).