Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Around Summerside, 51% of adults call their health very good or excellent
A baby born in the region can expect 81.2 years, 83.3 for a girl and 79.1 for a boy (2022/2024). The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Summerside is well placed: 2.4 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Summerside grades B+ for health, #1 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #1,573 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
Summerside grades B+ 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: #1 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #1,573 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.
Just under the trend for regions as deprived
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Summerside’s region is near the line.
At 2.8 on the index, regions tend to reach 81.6 years (correlation −0.83, 102 regions), and the one Summerside belongs to reaches 81.2. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 5 of them below it, a median of 81.1. Judged by income, around $74,000 a household, the region would look poorly placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one outlives most.
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 (22%) and diabetes (9.3%)
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
Obesity tracks the province: 37% of adults here, 37% across Prince Edward Island.
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 2.4 km from the average home in Summerside
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Summerside’s own, not the region’s.
Summerside is closer in than the provincial norm of 8.5 km on Prince Edward Island, and than the typical Canadian town at 3.7 km.
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: 81.2 years
Regional life expectancy on Prince Edward Island, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
The index is context and never graded: it describes Summerside’s own areas, averaged over residents, on each of its four dimensions.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
50% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Prince Edward Island (50%)
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 reads like the rest of Prince Edward Island: 50% against 50%, and 19% under quite a bit of stress most days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, Summerside is 21st nearest a hospital
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 18,364 to 19,662 people, median 2.3 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kensington-Chinatown ON A | 18,597 | 0.4 km | 50% |
| 2 | Desmarchais-Crawford QC A | 18,505 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 3 | Granville Entertainment District BC A+ | 19,125 | 0.5 km | 50% |
| 19 | Esquimalt BC A+ | 19,512 | 2.0 km | 55% |
| 20 | Vinegar Hill ON A | 19,543 | 2.1 km | 51% |
| 21 | Summerside PE B+ | 19,006 | 2.4 km | 51% |
| 22 | Deux-Montagnes QC A+ | 18,516 | 2.7 km | 60% |
| 23 | Medway ON A− | 18,922 | 2.8 km | 52% |
| 40 | Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC A− | 19,447 | 19 km | 55% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Summerside
The places around, with the distance to a hospital and their regions’ figures. Tap a town for its health page.
| Town | Hospital | Very good health | Life exp. | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summerside | 2.4 km | 51% | 81.2 | B+ |
| Miscouche 6.3 km | 6.9 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Kensington, Part 1 11 km | 8.7 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Kensington 12 km | 11 km | 51% | 81.2 | B |
| Kinkora 14 km | 14 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| Malpeque Bay 15 km | 14 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
| Wellington 18 km | 21 km | 51% | 81.2 | B− |
Around Summerside the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Wellington is the furthest from care, 21 km to Summerside’s 2.4 km.
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.
- 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 Summerside’s own.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Summerside
How is Summerside’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 Summerside’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Summerside?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the less healthy side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 17% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Summerside?
Statistics Canada publishes it for Summerside’s health region only: 83.3 years for women and 79.1 for men (2022/2024).
How far is Summerside from a hospital?
A clinic is 2.2 km from the average resident of Summerside and a pharmacy 1.4 km, as the crow flies.
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).