List of U.S. counties with longest life expectancy
This list of U.S. counties with longest life expectancy includes 51 counties (and county equivalents) out of a grand total of 3,142 counties or county equivalents in the United States. Most of the counties where people live longest are either sparsely populated or well-to-do suburbs of large cities. Forty-seven of the counties listed have a population of which the largest racial component is non-Hispanic whites. Two have populations of which Hispanics are the majority. Asian Americans make up the largest component of two counties.[1]
Counties with the longest life expectancy are located in 21 states: Colorado (11); California and Iowa (5); Nebraska (4); North Dakota, Virginia, and Minnesota (3); Alaska, New York, and New Jersey (2), and Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Florida, Michigan, South Dakota, Idaho, Maryland, Utah, Wisconsin, and Oregon (one each).[1]
The residents of three adjacent counties in the high-elevation Rocky Mountains of Colorado enjoy the longest life expectancy.[2][1]
Among all the counties in the US there is a wide range in average life expectancy from birth. The residents of Summit County, Colorado, live the longest with an average life expectancy of 86.83 years. The residents of Oglala Lakota County (formerly Shannon County) of South Dakota live the shortest with an average life expectancy of 66.81 years—twenty years less.[3] Moreover, the gap between the counties with the longest life expectancy and the shortest is widening. The average life expectancy of the United States as a whole increased by more than 5 years between 1980 and 2014. The life expectancy of most of the longest-lived counties equaled or exceeded that increase. The life expectancy of most of the shortest-lived counties increased less than 5 years—and in a few counties, especially in Kentucky, life expectancy decreased.[3]
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2016 concluded that income was a major component of the difference in life expectancy in states, counties, races, and regions of the U.S.. Men in the richest one percent of the population lived 15 years longer than men in the poorest one percent of the population and women in the richest one percent of the population lived 10 years longer.[4]
Top 51 counties in 2014
| County and state | 2014 life expectancy (years) [5] | 1980 life expectancy (years)[5] | Plurality population in 2014 (%)[6] | Other factors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Summit County, Colorado | 86.83 | 79.18 | Non-Hispanic White: 82.6% | |
| 2. Pitkin County, Colorado | 86.52 | 78.81 | Non-Hispanic White: 86.5% | |
| 3. Eagle County, Colorado | 85.94 | 77.21 | Non-Hispanic White: 67.4% | |
| 4. Billings County, North Dakota | 84.04 | 79.44 | Non-Hispanic White: 96.6% | Population < 1,000. |
| 5. Marin County, California | 83.80 | 75.66 | Non-Hispanic White: 72.6% | |
| 6. San Miguel County, Colorado | 83.73 | 77.58 | Non-Hispanic White: 87.4% | |
| 7. Fairfax County, Virginia (and city) | 83.73 | 76.65 | Non-Hispanic White: 52.7% | Fairfax City 60.3% White |
| 7. Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska | 83.73 | 70.77 | Asian: 31.1% | |
| 7. Aleutians East Borough, Alaska | 83.73 | 70.77 | Asian: 41.4% | |
| 10. Presidio County, Texas | 83.72 | 75.27 | Hispanic: 82.0% | |
| 10. Douglas County, Colorado | 83.72 | 76.89 | Non-Hispanic White: 95.9% | |
| 12. Hinsdale County, Colorado | 83.66 | 76.76 | Non-Hispanic White: 92.5% | Population < 1,000. |
| 13. Los Alamos County, New Mexico | 83.49 | 78.22 | Hispanic: 51.1% | |
| 14. Teton County, Wyoming | 83.46 | 76.35 | Non-Hispanic White: 80.7% | |
| 15. Collier County, Florida | 83.43 | 74.48 | Non-Hispanic White: 64.8% | |
| 16. Loudoun County, Virginia | 83.19 | 73.98 | Non-Hispanic White: 60.1% | |
| 17. Santa Clara County, California | 83.14 | 75.80 | Non-Hispanic White: 58.6% | |
| 18. San Mateo County, California | 83.11 | 75.67 | Non-Hispanic White: 41.1% | |
| 19. Leelanau County, Michigan | 83.10 | 75.99 | Non-Hispanic White: 90.8% | |
| 20. Lincoln County, South Dakota | 83.03 | 77.24 | Non-Hispanic White: 93.9% | |
| 21. Ouray County, Colorado | 83.00 | 76.48 | Non-Hispanic White: 92.5% | |
| 22. Blaine County, Idaho | 82.99 | 76.84 | Non-Hispanic White: 77.6% | |
| 23. Howard County, Maryland | 82.98 | 75.18 | Non-Hispanic White: 58.6% | |
| 24. Mono County, California | 82.96 | 76.06 | Non-Hispanic White: 66.3% | |
| 25. Sioux County, Iowa | 82.86 | 78.16 | Non-Hispanic White: 91.6% | |
| 26. Wayne County, Nebraska | 82.82 | 77.66 | Non-Hispanic White: 90.6% | |
| 27. Carver County, Minnesota | 82.80 | 76.67 | Non-Hispanic White: 90.1% | |
| 28. Arlington County, Virginia | 82.76 | 78.16 | Non-Hispanic White: 63.6% | |
| 29. Grand County, Colorado | 82.73 | 75.61 | Non-Hispanic White: 89.0% | |
| 29. Routt County, Colorado | 82.73 | 73.89 | Non-Hispanic White: 90.3% | |
| 31. Winneshiek County, Iowa | 82.62 | 77.23 | Non-Hispanic White: 95.2% | |
| 32. Sioux County, Nebraska | 82.57 | 76.37 | Non-Hispanic White: 93.1% | Population < 2,000. |
| 33. Rockland County, New York | 82.54 | 74.67 | Non-Hispanic White: 63.9% | |
| 34. Bergen County, New Jersey | 82.47 | 75.27 | Non-Hispanic White: 59.7% | |
| 35. Hunterdon County, New Jersey | 82.45 | 75.70 | Non-Hispanic White: 86.9% | |
| 36. Sheridan County, North Dakota | 82.44 | 77.54 | Non-Hispanic White: 95.4% | Population < 2,000. |
| 37. McPherson County, Nebraska | 82.41 | 76.47 | Non-Hispanic White: 97.73% | Population < 1,000. |
| 38. Summit County, Utah | 82.39 | 76.59 | Non-Hispanic White: 85.2% | |
| 39. Park County, Colorado | 82.37 | 75.60 | Non-Hispanic White: 90.5% | |
| 40. Westchester County, New York | 82.29 | 75.09 | Non-Hispanic White: 74.9% | |
| 41. Orange County, California | 82.27 | 76.19 | Non-Hispanic White: 42.6% | |
| 42. Stevens County, Minnesota | 82.22` | 76.68 | Non-Hispanic White: 90.5% | |
| 43. Oliver County, North Dakota | 82.19 | 77.30 | Non-Hispanic White: 94.0% | Population < 2,000 |
| 44. Hayes County, Nebraska | 82.14 | 77.73 | Non-Hispanic White: 98.4% | Population < 1,000 |
| 44. Bremer County, Iowa | 82.14 | 77.04 | Non-Hispanic White: 96.0% | |
| 46. Ozaukee County, Wisconsin | 82.13 | 76.69 | Non-Hispanic White: 95.0% | |
| 47. Story County, Iowa | 82.11 | 78.62 | Non-Hispanic White: 86.2% | |
| 48. Stearns County, Minnesota | 82.10 | 76.66 | Non-Hispanic White: 89.7% | |
| 49. Archuleta County, Colorado | 82.08 | 75.24 | Non-Hispanic White: 77.5% | |
| 49. Benton County, Oregon | 82.08 | 77.39 | Non-Hispanic White: 82.4% | |
| 49. Johnson County, Iowa | 82.08 | 77.38 | Non-Hispanic White: 86.3% | |
| United States (all) | 79.08 | 73.75 | Non-Hispanic White: 62.1% | |
See also
References
- "Life Expectancy at birth, both sexes, 2014". Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Retrieved 16 August 2017. Calculated from table below.
- Queen, Jack (8 May 2017). "Summit County has the highest life expectancy in the nation, according to new study". Summit Daily. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- "U.S. County Profiles", Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, accessed 25 July 2017; Khazan, Olga, "Kentucky's Home to the Greatest Declines in Life Expectancy," The Atlantic, May 8, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/05/kentucky/525777/
- "A growing health disparity: Life expectancy for richest, poorest Americans," accessed 25 July 2017
- "US data for download" Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, accessed 25 July 2017
- "Index mundi: United States Facts," accessed 26 July 2017