Photo: Karl Brooks Heisey died December 7, 1937 · CC BY-SA 4.0Lives run shorter around Red Lake: 73.7 years, 7.8 below the typical Canadian town’s region
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 44%, behind the 51% for Ontario. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Red Lake live 4.0 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Health gives Red Lake a grade of C, #810 of 866 in Ontario and #2,317 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Red Lake
Behind regions as deprived
Deprivation alone, a score of 4.4, would give Red Lake’s region about 75.9 years; it stops at 73.7. For its deprivation ↓
A region that smokes more
Around Red Lake, 13% of adults smoke daily, part of a smoking rate higher than most Canadian towns’ regions. Conditions and habits ↓
Fewer people feeling well
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 7.2 points under the typical Canadian town’s, and 43% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Deprivation runs high
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.2 out of 5, Red Lake sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
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.
Red Lake 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: #810 of 866 in Ontario and #2,317 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.
Behind regions as deprived by 2.2 years of life
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Red Lake’s region is below the line.
Use the deprivation index alone and Red Lake’s region, at 4.4, should live about 75.9 years, the trend through 102 regions (correlation −0.83), but it reaches only 73.7. Against the 10 regions with the nearest deprivation scores, all live longer; the middle of the group is 78.5 years. Its towns’ household income, about $84,000, sits above most regions’ while its life expectancy sits below; across regions it is the deprivation index, not income, that follows lives (income’s correlation: 0.14).
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.
High blood pressure for 20% of adults in the region, diabetes for 5.8%
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: 43%, the province 30%. At 31%, 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.
Self-rated health trails Ontario: 43% very good or excellent, against 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
On mental health the region is behind Ontario, 44% very good or excellent to 51%; 20% describe most days as quite a bit stressful.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
How the 34 health regions in Ontario compare on life expectancy
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Ontario, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This is the shortest-lived of the 34 regions in Ontario, 12.6 years behind the first at 86.3.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Red Lake 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 4.0 km from the average home in Red Lake
Straight-line distances from each part of Red Lake, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Red Lake travel about as far as most of the province: the typical town in Ontario is 3.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 3.7 km. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 0.3 km, while the average resident is 4.0 km away.
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.
Among 40 towns its size, Red Lake is 21st nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (4,210 to 4,361 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 4.0 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Downtown SK B+ | 4,282 | 0.4 km | 49% |
| 2 | Beaupré QC A+ | 4,314 | 0.8 km | 62% |
| 3 | Claresholm AB A+ | 4,242 | 0.8 km | 56% |
| 19 | Winston Heights/Mountview AB A+ | 4,361 | 3.9 km | 56% |
| 20 | Bancroft ON C− | 4,331 | 4.0 km | 45% |
| 21 | Red Lake ON C | 4,285 | 4.0 km | 44% |
| 22 | St. George MB B+ | 4,254 | 4.2 km | 52% |
| 23 | Anderson Walk BC A | 4,210 | 4.5 km | 50% |
| 40 | Eganville ON C− | 4,326 | 32 km | 50% |
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
- Adjusted for age. The grade’s three survey shares are age-standardised to Canada’s adults, so an older region isn’t marked down for age alone, while the survey charts show answers as given.
- What counts as a hospital. A “hospital” here is whatever the provinces listed as one in Statistics Canada’s database, which can mean a site without an emergency department.
- Distances are straight lines. Roads, rivers and ferries aren’t in it: the figure is a straight line from where people live, averaged over residents.
- Who the survey asks. People on reserves and in institutions, full-time military members and the residents of Nunavik and Eeyou Istchee aren’t interviewed by the survey.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Red Lake itself is the trip to care.
- Deprivation is context. Deprivation is shown to set the scene and doesn’t count toward the grade; Statistics Canada left the territories out of the index.
Questions about health in Red Lake
What is the life expectancy in Red Lake?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Red Lake’s health region only: 75.2 years for women and 72.3 for men (2022/2024).
How healthy is Red Lake?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 16%.
How is Red Lake’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 Red Lake’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Red Lake from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Red Lake is 2.4 km from a clinic and 4.0 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).