Where you live determines when you’ll die

Author: Frank Jacobs / Source: Big Think

• These maps show strong links between location and life expectancy
• Hawaiians live longest, Mississippians die earliest
• County-level ranking shows short-life hotspots in Kentucky, long-life ones in Colorado

High in Hawaii…

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Howcheng, CC BY S.

A 2.0

Hawaii (pictured: Diamond Head on Honolulu) is the state with the longest average life expectancy at birth.

Tell me where you live, and I’ll tell you how long you’ve got left. Fortunately, it’s not quite that simple; but as these maps show, there is a strong link between location and average life expectancy.

Americans born in 2015 can expect to live to the age of 78.8 years. That’s one-tenth of a year less than in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported, and the first time US life expectancy declined since 1993.

The CDC cited the rise of preventable deaths – notably traffic accidents (+6%) and ‘accidental poisonings’ (+13%) as the main causes for the drop in longevity. The latter category consists almost entirely (97%) of alcohol and drug overdoses, with the opioid epidemic a major contributor to the increase.

… low in Mississippi

Image: Titlemax

After Hawaiians, Californians and Minnesotans live the longest. Mississippi scores worst, followed by Alabama and Louisiana.

As these maps show, the national average tells only a small part of the story. The first one breaks down the national result in averages per state. It shows both huge disparities and regional similarities.

• Hawaii is the best-performing state. Newborns can expect to reach the ripe old age of 81.15 years. That puts the Aloha State on a par with Belgium (which according to the World Health Organisation had a life expectancy at birth of 81.1 years in 2015) and the UK (81.2 years) – countries placing 21st and 20th in the WHO world ranking.
• There’s a gap of more than six years with Mississippi, the state with the lowest life expectancy in the Union: 74.91 years. That puts Mississippians on a par with Nicaraguans (74.8 years; 73rd in the WHO ranking) and the Lebanese (74.9 years; 70th).
• Living in the South is bad for your health: the 10 states with the lowest life expectancy form a single bloc centred on the southeast of the US.

1. Mississippi (74.91 years)
2. Alabama (75.65 years)
3. Louisiana (75.82 years)
4. West Virginia (76.03 years)
5. Oklahoma (76.08 years)
6. Arkansas (76.18 years)
7. Kentucky (76.26 years)
8. Tennessee (76.33 years)
9. South Carolina (76.89 years)
10. Georgia (77.38 years)

There’s a similar bloc in the northeast, but on the other end of the scale: here, six of the ten best-performing states congregate.

1. Hawaii (81.15 years)
2. California (80.92 years)
3. Minnesota (80.90 years)
4. Connecticut (80.56 years)
5. Massachusetts (80.41 years)
6. New York (80.36 years)
7. Vermont (80.24 years)
8. Colorado (80.21 years)
9. New Hampshire (80.15 years)
10. New Jersey (80.04 years)

Two decades’ difference

Image: Titlemax

The difference in life expectancy between the top and bottom counties is a full two decades.

By focusing on counties rather than states, the second map throws new light on the subject. The top 20 and bottom 20 countries cluster in a very different pattern.

For one, Hawaii, the best performer at state…

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