Photo: Wilfredor · CC0Few places match Charlesbourg for health: it beats almost every Canadian town
Adults here are more upbeat about their health than the province: 62% very good or excellent, against 57% in Quebec. The town’s own part is the trip to care: residents of Charlesbourg live 4.2 km from a hospital on average, close to the typical town’s 3.7 km. Charlesbourg grades A+ for health, #29 of 503 in Quebec and #34 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Charlesbourg
Upbeat about their health
The survey’s age-standardised figure sits 10.1 points over the typical Canadian town’s, and 61% answered very good or excellent. Health survey ↓
Less chronic illness
Arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure are rarer here than in the typical town’s region, even for its ages: 18% report high blood pressure and 7.2% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
Longer lives in the region
Charlesbourg’s region sits 1.4 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 21.1 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
Plenty of pharmacies
The average resident of Charlesbourg can reach 15 pharmacies inside 3 km; the closest is 0.7 km off. Getting care ↓
Survey and life expectancy: the health region (Statistics Canada). Distances and deprivation: the town’s own areas.
Charlesbourg 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: #29 of 503 in Quebec and #34 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: 61% 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 tracks Quebec, 66% very good or excellent to 64%; 22% 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.
High blood pressure for 18% of adults in the region, diabetes for 7.2%
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
Self-reported obesity, 30%, sits within a few points of Quebec (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.
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
Ranked 3rd of 18 in Quebec: the regions span 65.2 to 84.1 years at birth.
Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation · national quintile, 1 least to 5 most deprived
This is the one part of the block measured for Charlesbourg 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.
From Charlesbourg, a hospital is 4.2 km away on average
Straight-line distances from each part of Charlesbourg, weighted by who lives there.
For distance to care Charlesbourg is ordinary: 5.3 km is the typical figure in Quebec, 3.7 km for the typical Canadian town.
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 close to where deprivation puts it, a shade under
Plotted region by region (102 in all, since towns have no figures of their own), Charlesbourg’s region comes out on the trend.
Placed among 102 regions by deprivation (correlation −0.83), the region Charlesbourg belongs to lives about as long as its score of 2.3 predicts: 82.9 years, the trend 83.4. Among its 10 nearest neighbours on the index it sits mid-table: 5 above, 5 below, a median of 82.9 years. Income would point the wrong way: households in the region’s towns earn about $75,000, 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.
Charlesbourg is 23rd of 40 towns its size for nearness to a hospital
The 40 Canadian towns nearest its population (9,451 to 9,852 people), nearest a hospital first; their median is 3.4 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North London ON A− | 9,584 | 0.7 km | 52% |
| 2 | South Cambie BC A+ | 9,846 | 0.7 km | 50% |
| 3 | Daniel McIntyre MB B+ | 9,584 | 0.8 km | 52% |
| 21 | Devonshire ON B | 9,852 | 3.5 km | 52% |
| 22 | Willowgrove SK B+ | 9,787 | 3.5 km | 49% |
| 23 | Charlesbourg QC A+ | 9,660 | 4.2 km | 62% |
| 24 | Glastonbury AB B | 9,745 | 4.3 km | 51% |
| 25 | Lorraine QC A+ | 9,721 | 5.8 km | 60% |
| 40 | Shediac NB C | 9,849 | 24 km | 43% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Charlesbourg
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlesbourg | 4.2 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Jésuites 1.5 km | 2.9 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Saint-Rodrigue 1.9 km | 2.4 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Orsainville 2.6 km | 6.0 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Bourg-Royal 3.0 km | 4.7 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf 3.3 km | 2.8 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Lairet 3.4 km | 1.2 km | 62% | 82.9 | A+ |
One health region covers Charlesbourg and every place in the table, so the survey and life-expectancy columns read the same. Residents of Lairet live nearer a hospital, at 1.2 km against 4.2 km in Charlesbourg.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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 Charlesbourg’s own.
Questions about health in Charlesbourg
How healthy is Charlesbourg?
The region beats the typical Canadian town on each of its four survey and life-expectancy figures. Chronic conditions there average 14% across arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure.
What is the life expectancy in Charlesbourg?
Women in Charlesbourg’s region live to 84.7 on average and men to 81.1, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Charlesbourg’s Health Grade worked out?
Canada’s grades haven’t been set, so Charlesbourg has none yet; when they are, Health will set its region and its hospital distance against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Charlesbourg from a hospital?
A clinic is 0.8 km from the average resident of Charlesbourg and a pharmacy 0.7 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).