Photo: Johny-le-cowboy · CC BY-SA 3.0Few places match Alma for health: it beats 95% of Canadian towns
Across the region, 66% of adults say their health is very good or excellent; Quebec as a whole manages 57%. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Alma live 2.8 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Alma grades A for health, #84 of 503 in Quebec and #277 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Alma
Self-rated health runs high
Even once age is allowed for, 14.7 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (64% as answered). Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Alma grades A 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: #84 of 503 in Quebec and #277 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.
Self-rated health beats Quebec: 64% very good or excellent, against 56%
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
On mental health the region is ahead of Quebec, 72% very good or excellent to 64%; 14% 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.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.4 years
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Alma’s region is above the line.
The line through 102 regions (correlation −0.83) puts a deprivation score of 3.1 at 80.4 years of life; Alma’s region does better, at 81.8. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 9, with 80.6 years in the middle. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $69,000, less than in most regions, yet lives here are longer than in most (across regions, income and life expectancy correlate at just 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (21%) and diabetes (9%)
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
On weight the region is ordinary for Quebec: 30% report obesity, the province 29%. Heavy drinking is commoner too (29% against 22%).
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.
Getting to hospital from Alma: 2.8 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Alma, weighted by who lives there.
Alma is closer in than the provincial norm of 5.3 km in Quebec, 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.
Longest and shortest lives among the 18 regions in Quebec
What Statistics Canada publishes above the town: life expectancy for each health region in Quebec, and the deprivation index for the town’s own areas.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
This region is 9th longest-lived of 18 in Quebec, on a scale from 65.2 to 84.1 years.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
Statistics Canada scores every small area from 1 to 5 on each dimension; Alma’s bars are its residents’ average, shown and not graded.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Among 40 towns its size, Alma is 23rd nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (29,066 to 32,167 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.7 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verdun-Centre QC A | 30,304 | 0.5 km | 54% |
| 2 | Centretown ON A+ | 32,035 | 0.5 km | 56% |
| 3 | Vieux-Lachine - Saint-Pierre QC A | 31,113 | 0.9 km | 54% |
| 21 | Grimsby ON C+ | 31,478 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 22 | Killarney BC A+ | 32,167 | 2.7 km | 50% |
| 23 | Alma QC A | 30,659 | 2.8 km | 66% |
| 24 | Johnston Heights BC A | 30,971 | 2.9 km | 50% |
| 25 | Du Plateau QC B | 29,234 | 4.0 km | 55% |
| 40 | Conception Bay South NL C+ | 29,725 | 17 km | 54% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Alma
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alma | 2.8 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| Saint-Nazaire 6.7 km | 9.2 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| Saint-Bruno 9.2 km | 8.4 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| Saint-Gédéon 9.8 km | 8.5 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| Hébertville-Station 12 km | 11 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
| L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur 15 km | 17 km | 66% | 81.8 | A− |
| Larouche 16 km | 12 km | 66% | 81.8 | A |
Around Alma the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital. Residents of L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur live further from a hospital, at 17 km against 2.8 km in Alma.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Alma’s own.
- 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.
- Deprivation is context. The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (2021) is context, never graded, and the territories have none.
Questions about health in Alma
How healthy is Alma?
Self-rated health, chronic conditions, smoking and life expectancy all come out ahead of the typical Canadian town. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 15% of adults.
How is Alma’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Alma: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in Alma?
Women in Alma’s region live to 83.2 on average and men to 80.4, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How far is Alma from a hospital?
A clinic is 1.3 km from the average resident of Alma and a pharmacy 1.9 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).