Photo: Genvievegarneau2 · CC BY-SA 4.0Sherbrooke scores better for health than 96% of Canadian towns
About as many adults call their health very good or excellent here as across Quebec, 57% against 57%. For Sherbrooke itself the measure is access: 3.7 km to the nearest hospital, much like the typical 3.7 km. Sherbrooke grades A+ for health, #75 of 503 in Quebec and #235 of 2,583 Canadian towns.
What stands out about health in Sherbrooke
Beating its deprivation on life expectancy
Sherbrooke’s region beats what its deprivation score of 3.0 predicts: 82.9 years against 81.0. For its deprivation ↓
Long-term conditions run low
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 9.1% diabetes. Conditions and habits ↓
A long-lived region
Sherbrooke’s region sits 1.4 years above the typical Canadian town, and those reaching 65 have 21.2 years ahead (2022/2024). The wider area ↓
More people feeling well
Even once age is allowed for, 5.4 points more adults here call their health very good or excellent than in the typical town’s region (56% as answered). Health survey ↓
From Statistics Canada: the health survey and life expectancy for the health region, the deprivation index for the town; distances from the healthcare facilities database and OpenStreetMap.
Sherbrooke 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: #75 of 503 in Quebec and #235 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.
Longer lives than deprivation would give: 1.9 years ahead of the trend
Compared region with region (102 health regions, each figure shared by all its towns); Sherbrooke’s region is above the line.
The trend over 102 regions (correlation −0.83) is clear, and Sherbrooke’s region sits above it: 82.9 years where a score of 3.0 predicts 81.0. Even beside regions as deprived, it stands out: 9 of its 10 closest matches fall short, their median 80.4 years. Judged by income, around $67,000 a household, the region would look poorly placed, but income tracks life expectancy only weakly between regions (0.14), and this one outlives most.
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.
19% of the region’s adults have high blood pressure and 9.1% diabetes
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
Self-reported obesity, 29%, 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.
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 3rd 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 Sherbrooke’s own areas.
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
For 20% of adults most days are quite a bit stressful, and 63% rate their mental health very good or excellent, near Quebec’s 64%.
Canadian Community Health Survey 2023/2024 (Statistics Canada table 13-10-0972), adults 18 and over, as published.
The nearest hospital is 3.7 km from the average home in Sherbrooke
Measured from where the town’s residents live, so this part is Sherbrooke’s own, not the region’s.
From Sherbrooke that is nearer than the 5.3 km of the typical town in Quebec, and the 3.7 km of the typical Canadian town. The centre of population is 1.0 km from a hospital, but spread-out homes take the residents’ average to 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.
Mid-table for hospital distance among towns its size: Sherbrooke comes 19th of 40
Ordered by residents’ distance to a hospital: 40 Canadian towns of 105,925 to 243,107 people, median 3.8 km.
| # | Town | People | Hospital | Very good health |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Catharines ON C+ | 153,865 | 2.6 km | 49% |
| 2 | Niagara Falls ON C+ | 113,983 | 2.7 km | 49% |
| 3 | Saanich BC A+ | 126,011 | 2.7 km | 55% |
| 17 | Saguenay QC A | 151,972 | 3.6 km | 66% |
| 18 | Abbotsford BC B | 175,358 | 3.6 km | 47% |
| 19 | Sherbrooke QC A+ | 184,135 | 3.7 km | 57% |
| 20 | Barrie ON B+ | 174,469 | 3.8 km | 54% |
| 21 | Lethbridge AB B− | 113,671 | 3.8 km | 52% |
| 40 | Terrebonne QC B+ | 126,872 | 9.7 km | 56% |
The region’s very good or excellent health column is regional: towns in one region share it.
Health in the places around Sherbrooke
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherbrooke | 3.7 km | 57% | 82.9 | A+ |
| Hatley 8.2 km | 9.8 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Waterville 11 km | 11 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Ascot Corner 12 km | 6.1 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Stoke 12 km | 7.7 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Saint-Denis-de-Brompton 15 km | 14 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 18 km | 7.3 km | 57% | 82.9 | A |
Nothing in the regional columns separates Sherbrooke from its neighbours; the hospital distance is what does. Residents of Saint-Denis-de-Brompton live further from a hospital, at 14 km against 3.7 km in Sherbrooke.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Deprivation is context. None of the four deprivation scores enters the grade; they come from the 2021 index, which skips the territories.
- Distances are straight lines. A straight line from each neighbourhood’s centre to the nearest facility, weighted by who lives there, is shorter than any drive.
- Adjusted for age. Because older people report more illness, the grade uses age-standardised shares; the charts above show the unadjusted answers.
- 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.
- What counts as a hospital. Hospitals and clinics come from Statistics Canada’s facilities database, built from provincial lists of different dates, and a listed hospital may have no emergency department.
- Regional figures. Only the distances on this page belong to Sherbrooke alone, because the health survey and life expectancy come for the whole health region.
Questions about health in Sherbrooke
How healthy is Sherbrooke?
Most of the region’s figures sit on the healthier side of the typical Canadian town’s, though not all. Its chronic-condition figure, age-standardised, is 14%.
What is the life expectancy in Sherbrooke?
Women in Sherbrooke’s region live to 84.8 on average and men to 81.0, Statistics Canada’s 2022/2024 estimate.
How is Sherbrooke’s Health Grade worked out?
It will once Canada’s single grading run is done, measured on the region’s survey and life expectancy and on how far Sherbrooke’s homes are from a hospital, against the typical Canadian town.
How far is Sherbrooke from a hospital?
Beyond the hospital, the average home in Sherbrooke is 1.9 km from a clinic and 1.2 km from a pharmacy.
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).