Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainA hospital trip from Amherst means 39 km on average, in a straight line
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 60%, ahead of the 57% for Quebec. For everyday care, the nearest pharmacy is 18 km away on average (0.0 within 3 km). The Health grade for Amherst is A−.
What stands out about health in Amherst
Upbeat about their health
Even once age is allowed for, 8.0 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (58% as answered). Health survey ↓
Pharmacies far off
The nearest pharmacy on OpenStreetMap is 18 km from the average home in Amherst, so prescriptions mean a drive. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
With a situational-vulnerability score of 4.0 out of 5, Amherst sits in the index’s harder-pressed areas. The wider area ↓
Less chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are rarer here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 19% report high blood pressure and 8.1% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Amherst 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.
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.
58% in the region call their health very good or excellent, close to Quebec (56%)
The survey’s answers for the region as given, each beside the province’s (the tick).
Share of adults, as answered · 2023/2024
Mental wellbeing sits at the provincial level, 66% very good or excellent against 64% for Quebec; stress is a daily matter for 20%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
High blood pressure for 19% 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
At 29%, self-reported obesity is near Quebec’s 29%.
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.
Pharmacies around Amherst: 0.0 within 3 km, the nearest 18 km away
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Amherst’s own, not the region’s.
Compared with 5.3 km for the typical town in Quebec and 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town, Amherst is on the far side.
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.
How the 18 health regions in Quebec compare on life expectancy
Regional life expectancy in Quebec, then the town’s place on the national deprivation index.
Life expectancy at birth by health region · 2022/2024
Life expectancy in Quebec runs from 65.2 to 84.1; this region sits 7th of the 18.
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 Amherst’s own areas.
Life expectancy: Statistics Canada table 13-10-0988, three-year estimate 2022/2024, by health region.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.0 years
Regions, not towns, with every town in a region sharing its dot: of the 102, the marked one, Amherst’s, lies over the trend.
Ranked from least to most deprived on Statistics Canada’s index, regions see lives shorten along the way (correlation −0.83, 102 regions). Scored 2.9, Amherst’s region would be expected to reach 81.2 years; it reaches 82.2. No region among the 10 scored most like it does better; they centre on 80.9 years. Modest pay, about $81,000 a household, and long lives sit side by side here: across regions, income and life expectancy hardly move together (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.
Health in the places around Amherst
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | 39 km | 60% | 82.2 | A− |
| Brébeuf 11 km | 30 km | 60% | 82.2 | A− |
| La Conception 12 km | 32 km | 60% | 82.2 | A− |
| Mont-Tremblant 19 km | 25 km | 60% | 82.2 | A− |
Around Amherst the health region doesn’t change, so the only column that moves is the distance to a hospital.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Amherst 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.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
Questions about health in Amherst
How far is Amherst from a hospital?
Residents of Amherst have a clinic 5.6 km away on average and a pharmacy 18 km away, in straight lines.
How healthy is Amherst?
All four of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 13% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Amherst?
For the health region that includes Amherst, women can expect 83.7 years and men 80.8 (2022/2024).
How is Amherst’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Amherst: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
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).