#1

It seems that we just need to move to one of these top areas to live longer (ah, if it was only this easy).

KEY FINDINGS:
  • Residents in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area in Connecticut have the longest life expectancy in the U.S. at 83 years.
  • Six of the 10 country’s metro areas with the longest life expectancy are in California and Florida.
  • Three of the 5 metro areas with the lowest life expectancy are in Alabama.
  • Jackson, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama metros have the lowest life expectancy among the 119 metro areas we analyzed.

See the top 20 metropolitan areas for life expectancy, and the worst 20 metropolitan areas:

BestCitiesLifeExpectancy
BestCitiesLifeExpectancy1622×1488 94.7 KB

This study isn’t the first to connect location with longevity. Researchers at Stanford and MIT found that moving to the Northeast, California and parts of Florida even after age 65 could grow people’s remaining life expectancy by as much as 5 percent.

Researchers found “the areas with the least favorable effects on life expectancy are concentrated in the deep South and Southwest.”

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#2

I think the statistics are stacked for Florida as retirees from colder states move there and push up the averages.

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#3

This isn’t true… Colorado is the highest (esp Summit County/Pitkin County)… Boulder, CO is probably higher than Denver metro. The further to the mountains you go, the higher the life expectancy.

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#4

The authors have data to back up their conclusions. Do you have a link to yours?

#5

Alex may be right (though data is of course helpful) but in the study mentioned in the first post they were looking at Metro areas of over 250,000 people… so it may be a case of different specifications.

#6

Two websites have it at 82.8 and 82.97. Still below Stamford, CT.

Okay. I see where Alex got his stats -wikipedia (2014)

For the period 2017-2019, based on data obtained from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program

The rankings are below:

  1. Aleutians East Borough, Alaska
  2. San Miguel County, Colorado
  3. Mono County, California
  4. Summit County, Colorado
  5. Pitkin County, Colorado
  6. Liberty County, Montana
  7. Golden Valley County, North Dakota
  8. Oliver County, North Dakota
  9. Eagle County, Colorado
  10. Stanley County, South Dakota
  11. Presidio County, Texas
  12. Teton County, Wyoming
  13. Haines Borough, Alaska
  14. Manassas Park, Virginia
  15. Sweet Grass County, Montana
  16. San Juan County, Washington
  17. Collier County, Florida
  18. Ouray County, Colorado
  19. Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska
  20. Arlington County, Virginia
  21. Fairfax County, Virginia
  22. Steele County, North Dakota
  23. Park County, Colorado
  24. Granite County, Montana
  25. Lake County, Colorado

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/places-in-the-us-with-the-longest-life-expectancy?onepage

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#7

The numbers in the above are suspect - it says Aleutians Borough has life expectancy >> 100, which cannot be true

This website suggests that Asian Americans living in states like Massachusetts and New Jersey have an unusually high life expectancy, roughly 89 years. Asians in those states tend to work in fields like science and finance. The estimated life expectancy of Asian females in Massachusetts (91.6) is the highest I’ve ever seen for any group. This estimate may be biased due to various factors, but it’s also likely measuring something real. (Full disclosure, my Chinese-American wife worked in Boston’s biotech industry–so I’m very familiar with their lifestyle.)

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#9

[to me the null hypothesis is that it’s mostly the coastal/HDI correlation]. But the effect above is WAY stronger in China where coastal pollution (esp near Shenzhen/Shanghai) is WAY lower than interior pollution (esp in Sichuan)

(this thread is far more manageable)

The research above neglects the “rich” countries in the interior [Pitkin/Summit County, CO or Teton County, WY or Blaine County, ID] - or MUCH of the states of Colorado and Utah. Yes, some far-from-water mountainside areas have very high HDI, but their populations are too low to meaningfully change the statistics above (still makes the statistics above quite misleading, however).

And the strong plurality of educated/“privileged” people gravitate towards the coasts (even in China - the coastal provinces like Zhejiang/Shanghai have higher HDI).

and even in Japan, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289613000949

[i could only find this because I searched for “pitkin county”]

#demographics

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