Photo: Wscaswell · CC BY-SA 3.0Health in Brigham beats 93% of Canadian towns
The survey puts the region’s share in very good or excellent health at 57%; Quebec as a whole is at 57%. The town’s own part is the trip to care, and Brigham’s is long: 8.3 km to a hospital on average, against 3.7 km typical. Brigham grades A for health.
What stands out about health in Brigham
Outliving the trend for its deprivation
Regions scoring 3.0 on the deprivation index typically live 81.0 years; Brigham’s region, at 82.9, does better. For its deprivation ↓
A lighter load of illness
For its ages, the region carries less long-term illness than most: high blood pressure for 19% of adults, diabetes for 9.1%. Conditions and habits ↓
A long-lived region
Born around Brigham, a child can expect 1.4 more years than in the typical Canadian town’s region; at 65, another 21.2 (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Upbeat about their health
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 5.4 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 56% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Brigham 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.
Deprivation would predict shorter lives: 1.9 years more here
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; Brigham’s region’s dot is above the line.
At 3.0 on the index, the trend across 102 regions (correlation −0.83) points to 81.0 years, and the region Brigham belongs to reaches 82.9. Its 10 closest matches on deprivation lean shorter-lived: 9 of them below it, a median of 80.4. A household income of about $67,000, modest for a region, comes with longer lives than in most regions; across regions the two barely move together (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 19% of adults in the region, diabetes for 9.1%
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
Obesity tracks the province: 29% of adults here, 29% across Quebec.
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.
Life expectancy across the 18 health 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
Among the 18 regions in Quebec, from 65.2 to 84.1 years, this one is 3rd.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Brigham 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.
About as many rate their health highly here as in Quebec: 56% and 56%
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
Stress touches 20% of adults on most days; mental health is rated very good or excellent by 63%, the province 64% (Quebec).
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Getting to hospital from Brigham: 8.3 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Brigham, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of Brigham travel further than most of the province: the typical town in Quebec is 5.3 km from a hospital, the typical Canadian town 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.
Health in the places around Brigham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brigham | 8.3 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Cowansville 6.2 km | 1.6 km | 57% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Saint-Alphonse-de-Granby 8.3 km | 11 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Dunham 11 km | 6.8 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Bromont 12 km | 11 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Farnham 14 km | 20 km | 57% | 82.9 | A− |
| Ange-Gardien 15 km | 17 km | 57% | 82.9 | A− |
One health region covers Brigham and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Residents of Farnham live further from a hospital, at 20 km against 8.3 km in Brigham.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Who the survey asks. Not everyone is in the survey’s sample: reserves, the Canadian Forces, institutions and two northern Québec regions are left out.
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- Distances are straight lines. They run from where residents live, not along roads, so they understate a drive; each dissemination area counts by its 2021 population.
- What counts as a hospital. The facilities database merges provincial lists of different vintages; its hospitals include some with no emergency department, and a few are placed by postal code.
- Regional figures. Every place in the health region carries the same survey and life-expectancy figures; what is measured for Brigham itself is the trip to care.
Questions about health in Brigham
How is Brigham’s Health Grade worked out?
No letter yet for Brigham: Canada is graded in one run, and Health will then compare its region and its access to care with the typical Canadian town.
How healthy is Brigham?
More of the region’s survey and life-expectancy figures beat the typical Canadian town than trail it. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 14% of adults.
What is the life expectancy in Brigham?
Life expectancy comes by health region: 84.8 for women, 81.0 for men around Brigham (2022/2024).
How far is Brigham from a hospital?
For everyday care, Brigham’s residents are 7.5 km from a pharmacy and 6.7 km from a clinic on average.
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).