Photo: Bouchecl · CC BY-SA 3.0Very good or excellent health for 61% of adults around La Tuque; the typical Canadian town: 52%
Lives in the region last 81.6 years on average (2022/2024): 83.3 for women, 79.9 for men. For La Tuque itself the measure is access, and it lags: 9.8 km to the nearest hospital, where 3.7 km is typical. Health gives La Tuque a grade of A−, #353 of 503 in Quebec and #1,023 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in La Tuque
Ahead of regions as deprived
Deprivation alone, a score of 3.2, would put La Tuque’s region near 80.0 years; it reaches 81.6. For its deprivation ↓
Far from a hospital
Distance is La Tuque’s own health question: 4% of residents live beyond 30 km of a hospital, and the trip from its centre is 4.2 km. Getting care ↓
More households under strain
On the index’s situational vulnerability, which follows housing, income and education, La Tuque’s neighbourhoods average 4.2 out of 5, among the most deprived fifth of the country. 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: 21% report high blood pressure and 8.2% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
La Tuque 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: #353 of 503 in Quebec and #1,023 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.
Deprivation predicts less: the region outlives the trend by 1.6 years
The comparison runs between 102 health regions, each shared by its towns; La Tuque’s region’s dot is above the line.
Life expectancy and deprivation move in opposite directions across 102 regions (correlation −0.83); at 3.2, the expected figure is 80.0 years, and La Tuque’s region does better with 81.6. Narrow the field to the 10 regions most like it on deprivation and it still beats 7, with 80.5 years in the middle. Its towns’ household income, about $62,000, sits below most regions’ while its life expectancy sits above; 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.
In the region, high blood pressure (21%) and diabetes (8.2%)
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 runs higher than in the province, at 34% of adults against 29% for Quebec. Heavy drinking runs above the province, 25% to 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 La Tuque: 9.8 km on average
Straight-line distances from each part of La Tuque, weighted by who lives there.
Residents of La Tuque 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. Homes are spread out: from the town’s centre of population the hospital is 4.2 km, while the average resident is 9.8 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.
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 11th 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
This is the one part of the block measured for La Tuque 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.
More people rate their health highly here than in Quebec: 59% to 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 health beats Quebec as well: 68% very good or excellent to 64%, with 20% facing stressful days.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
Among 40 towns its size, La Tuque is 36th nearest a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (11,109 to 11,510 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 2.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milton-Parc QC A | 11,369 | 0.2 km | 54% |
| 2 | Cabbagetown-South St.James Town ON A | 11,205 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | New Toronto ON A | 11,502 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 34 | Katimavik-Hazeldean ON A | 11,437 | 7.5 km | 56% |
| 35 | New Kleinburg ON A− | 11,333 | 9.4 km | 51% |
| 36 | La Tuque QC A− | 11,309 | 9.8 km | 61% |
| 37 | Thornbury ON C+ | 11,162 | 12 km | 48% |
| 38 | Millbrook ON C | 11,507 | 15 km | 47% |
| 40 | Farnham QC A− | 11,315 | 20 km | 57% |
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
- Deprivation is context. Statistics Canada’s 2021 deprivation index describes the town’s own areas for context only, with no index for the territories.
- 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.
- Adjusted for age. Self-rated health, chronic conditions and smoking enter the grade adjusted to Canada’s adult age mix, though the survey block prints them as people answered.
- Regional figures. Statistics Canada reports the survey and life expectancy by health region, not by town: La Tuque shares them with its neighbours, while the distances are measured for it alone.
- 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.
Questions about health in La Tuque
How healthy is La Tuque?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. The three chronic conditions the grade counts average 14% of adults.
How far is La Tuque from a hospital?
In a straight line from where people in La Tuque live: 4.0 km to a clinic, 9.9 km to a pharmacy.
How is La Tuque’s Health Grade worked out?
Not so far; the grade arrives with Canada’s grading run and will set the region’s figures, plus La Tuque’s own distance to care, against the typical Canadian town.
What is the life expectancy in La Tuque?
There is no figure for La Tuque alone; its health region’s is 83.3 for women and 79.9 for men in 2022/2024.
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).