Despite the many medical advances that have helped millions live well into their 90s, several states lag way behind when it comes to life expectancy. (Photo by Chad Madden from Unsplash)
Story by StudyFinds Staff
U.S. Life Expectancy Study Shows Southerners Barely Living Any Longer Than Those Born In 1900. Northeast, West Coast residents gain decades of life over century, especially women
In a nutshell
- Southern states like Oklahoma, Mississippi, and West Virginia have seen minimal improvements in life expectancy over the past century, with some showing less than three years of gain since 1900.
- Northeastern and Western states have experienced dramatic improvements, with Washington, D.C. seeing the most striking increase—female life expectancy rose from 63.9 to 93 years.
- State policies on issues like tobacco control, healthcare access, and environmental protections likely contribute to these persistent geographic health disparities.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — For those living in Southern states like Mississippi and Oklahoma, a century of medical advances has barely moved the needle on life expectancy, according to a new study. Meanwhile, residents in Northeast and West Coast states have gained decades of extra life over the same period.
Researchers analyzing mortality data across America report that a baby girl born in Oklahoma today might live only a few months longer than one born in 1900 – a shocking contrast to places like New York, where female life expectancy jumped 20 years over the same timeframe.
The study, which examined a massive dataset of 179 million deaths across the United States from 1969 to 2020, reveals how deeply geography determines health trajectories in America. While we often think of medical advances benefiting everyone equally, the paper, published in JAMA Network Open, demonstrates that reality is far more complex and uneven.
Regional Health Disparities Persist Across Generations
Researchers from Yale, the University of Michigan, and the University of British Columbia tracked mortality not just by calendar year but by birth cohort—following groups born in the same year throughout their lives. This approach reveals how early-life conditions and public policies affect entire generations.
A closer look at America’s falling birth rates | Watch
“The birth cohort perspective is particularly important for capturing potential changes in mortality that would otherwise be masked in cross-sectional analyses,” the researchers explain.
The findings paint a troubling picture: eight Southern states (Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia, and Mississippi) consistently show the weakest improvements in life expectancy. In some, female life expectancy improved less than three years over an entire century, while male life expectancy gained less than two years since 1950.
“Cohort-specific patterns across states reveal wide disparities in mortality,” the researchers write. “Some states have experienced little or no improvements in life expectancy from the 1900 to 2000 birth cohorts.”
By contrast, a child born in Washington, D.C. in 2000 could expect to live to 93—nearly 30 years longer than one born in 1900. New York and California residents also saw dramatic improvements, with female life expectancy increasing about 20 years over the century.
How Quickly We Age: The ‘Doubling Time’ Factor
Beyond life expectancy, the study measured how rapidly mortality rates accelerate with age after 35—what researchers call “doubling time.” This metric reveals how quickly a population is aging.
Women in Oklahoma had the fastest mortality acceleration, with death rates doubling every 7.96 years, while New York women enjoyed a slower pace at 9.39 years. For men, Iowa had the fastest acceleration at 8.95 years, while Florida had the slowest at 11.47 years.
These differences correlate with overall life expectancy: states with longer doubling times (slower aging) generally show better life expectancy outcomes.
Policy Choices Shape Health Outcomes
The regional variations likely reflect different state-level approaches to public health issues like tobacco control, healthcare access, and environmental protections. California’s early adoption of workplace smoking restrictions in 1995, for example, helped reduce smoking rates and improved mortality outcomes compared to states like Kentucky that implemented few tobacco controls.
Washington, D.C.’s dramatic improvement stands as an outlier, possibly reflecting demographic shifts as more affluent residents with better healthcare access moved into the capital over time.
Study authors suggest that understanding these historically entrenched patterns could help policymakers target resources to regions that have benefited least from a century of medical progress.
“Without conscious policy changes, these gaps will likely persist or even widen,” says lead author Theodore Holford, of the Yale School of Public Health. “Where you are born shouldn’t determine how long you live. But in America, it still does.”
Life Expectancy by Birth Cohort
Selected states showing the range of changes over time
Females (Birth Cohort Life Expectancy in Years)
Click here to see the full list.Females (Birth Cohort Life Expectancy in Years) – Search
Males (Birth Cohort Life Expectancy in Years)
Click here to see the full list.Males (Birth Cohort Life Expectancy in Years) – Search
Note: “Change” column shows total life expectancy increase or decrease from 1900 to 2000 birth cohorts.
Source: Holford TR, et al. JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(4):e257695.
Paper Summary
Methodology
The researchers analyzed all-cause mortality rates for each U.S. state and Washington, D.C., by single years of age (0-119) and birth cohort (1900-2000). They obtained mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics, the CDC, and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, covering calendar years 1969-2020 and ages 0-84. The team employed an age-period-cohort model with constrained cubic splines to estimate mortality trends, allowing them to calculate life expectancy at birth and at 40 years of age for each cohort. They also determined the doubling time for death rates after age 35, which measures how quickly mortality increases with age. This comprehensive approach enabled them to track how mortality patterns evolved across different generations in each state.
Results
The study analyzed 179 million deaths (77 million female and 102 million male) across the United States. Researchers found dramatic differences in life expectancy trends between states. While states in the West and Northeast showed substantial improvements in cohort life expectancy from 1900 to 2000, many Southern states experienced minimal gains or even declines. For females in states like Oklahoma, life expectancy actually decreased by 0.7 years over the century studied. Washington, D.C. showed the most dramatic improvement, with female life expectancy rising from 63.9 to 93.0 years across the century. After age 35, mortality doubling times varied significantly by state, with New York having the highest (slowest mortality acceleration) at 9.39 years for females and Florida at 11.47 years for males. The shortest doubling times were 7.96 years for females in Oklahoma and 8.95 years for males in Iowa.
Limitations
The researchers note several limitations to their approach. While their model performed well with available data, predictions extending to 2119 (for the 2000 cohort) should be used cautiously as they cannot account for future events or healthcare changes. The study also does not explicitly control for demographic shifts and migration patterns within states, though the underlying data reflect those population changes. The researchers did not report results by race or ethnicity in order to maximize precision in estimates for all states. Additionally, data from after 2020 was not included, meaning the impact of COVID-19 and related policies on state mortality disparities was not fully captured in the analysis.
Funding
This research was supported by grant U01CA253858 from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The funding organization had no role in the design and conduct of the study, data analysis, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish.
Publication Information
The study, titled “All-Cause Mortality and Life Expectancy by Birth Cohort Across US States,” was published in JAMA Network Open on April 28, 2025. It was authored by Theodore R. Holford, Lisa McKay, Jamie Tam, Jihyoun Jeon, and Rafael Meza from Yale School of Public Health, University of Michigan, and University of British Columbia. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Yale University School of Medicine and complies with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline for cohort studies.
This is Gibberish ⤵️
This Is liberal unintelligible or meaningless speech or writing, such nonsense:
You can’t argue with facts: the more conservative a state is, the shorter the lifespan.
Nothing could be more clear-cut than that, yet many will still argue and obfuscate.
Tune out the trolls, the frauds, and the zealots: your lifespan depends on it.
Follow their policy of you should just die and stop collecting Social Security.
The more conservative the state, the more it depends on subsidies from blue states. 
Also, the Old Confederacy is tops for porn viewership of all stripes and teen pregnancy. Life choices often amount to teeth or a new bass boat.
Is anyone really surprised by this?
It’s not like the south has ever been known for its healthy cuisine. Maybe stop eating fried everything. And for those wanting to blame politicians, especially more recent ones, go pound sand. This isn’t a political issue, this is a social issue. Want to place blame, place the blame at the vast majority of those living in these areas.
… and the lack of people who have healthcare insurance in red MAGAbillie states… definitely a political issue.
This tells me that soon there will be more liberals than MAGAs in America. Otherwise the article speaks for itself.
Better health care, concern for your neighbor and you live longer. These values are sorely lacking in the southern US states.
It’s only a matter of time until the US runs out of people trying to drag it backward to a fictionalised version of the 1950’s that never actually existed and joins the rest of the developed world in moving toward (however slowly) the Scandinavian model of social democracy where people’s NEEDS are guaranteed and their wants are addressed through capitalism.
Nah. Liberals pay attention to the world around them, which means they are generally more aware of the hardships that having children causes in our current economy/society, so liberals are less likely to have children. Whereas conservatives either don’t pay attention or think it’s their duty to outbreed liberals, leading them to having children they shouldn’t and generally way more of them.
Societal intelligence is dropping like a brick.
Quis custodiet Ipsos custodes?
Who will guard the guards themselves?
The US is a bad place to have kids right now, one person can barely live, let alone support 2 more.
Unfortunately, those people are quite prolific even if it means teen pregnancy and incest.
And most of them are the ones that voted to put someone like Trump in office that doesn’t give a damn about helping them get the kind of healthcare they need and providing environmental improvements and regulations for achieving clean air and water for better living, health and life expectancy. Their only concern is having someone in office that thinks and treats others the same way they do. They are getting what they want.
The GLUE is what people they hold prejudices against. Bigotry is a very bad thing. Nothing else explains maga.
Sad to think that the very people most in need of improvements in healthcare and better environmental conditions are the ones that voted to put someone like Trump in office that doesn’t give a damn about the environment or the healthcare for others and won’t make any improvements that would have a positive impact on such life expectancy. His only mission is to dismantle the government as we know it, limit our healthcare and educational systems to keep people as ignorant as possible, easier to control that way. Yet, they see him as their grand leader leading them to greater things. Like they say, ignorance is bliss.
They call his ass daddy! LOL fools that they are !
Ignorance is NEVER BLISS though.
It’s indicative of Red State rural life. Smoking, drinking, poor food choices, and lack of exercise. And in many cases lack healthcare facilities. And Trump cutting off their Medicaid is just going to make it worse. This administration is not pro life.
Some people should be healthier due to growing their own food in gardens. Not everyone smokes. Not everyone can afford groceries, much less healthy ones. 2 potatoes cost the same as 1 garlic. Weird!
Southern food is toxic…fried, salted, sugary….. Its excessive smoking, drinking, BBQ, poor diets, fried foods, little exercise, low levels of education, and poor health care all of these dominate the south. Very, very few people grow enough food in their gardens to even make a dent in this.
So, the states where they would rather eat horse meds than take the covid shot, choose prayer over going to the doctor, are opposed to universal healthcare (which literally goes against their best interest), and haven’t seen a dentist since the invention of the toaster oven…have a shorter lifespan? I’ll try to act shocked.
The stereotypes are over the top.
They’re not, though. Of course it’s not fair to paint with a broad brush, but the suspicion of science, healthcare, and government has obvious outcomes.
Boy!! I likely live in one of the states that was referred to and am a Christian. I have never known of a single family that does not take vaccines, nor do I know of a single person that prays and doesn’t see a doctor. Never going to a dentist? ok lol It’s shocking some people really believe this. We just have to laugh when we hear these things, it actually says a lot about the people that believe it. Some people just don’t like certain groups of people and certain states and leave it at that. lol
It is a combination of accessibility and affordability to healthcare. There is also a lack of healthcare advocacy in some states. Furthermore, many clinicians decide not to practice in the remote areas or the Southern states.
Well, the Southern economic development model is a set of policies and practices, characterized by low wages, few regulations, weak worker protections, and staunch opposition to unions, that has been adopted by many Southern states. This model, while often presented as a way to attract businesses and boost the economy, has been criticized for prioritizing the interests of businesses and the wealthy over the well-being of workers and families. It has been linked to persistent poverty, low wages, and limited economic mobility in the region.
The problem with conservatives is they are not really conservative, they borrow and spend, liberals tax and spend. My point being they don’t want to pay taxes to support America, just support themselves. True conservatives are poor people, watch what they spend and don’t throw away anything that might be useful in the future.
And I imagine life expectancy will only be reduced once statistics start coming in from Trump’s administration’s changes to Health and Human Services and the CDC and the CMS, etc….
Happiness is learning that there are no preconceived perceptions and regional biases in the USA ;<) ;<)
The goal is not a long life, it is a productive enjoyable life, When that is no longer viable for me, I hope I am no longer here.
I tried to expand upon your comment but community guidelines would not let me. Evidently they don’t like words like smart, middle age, wisdom, learning.
I find that my Buddhist practice has brought me opportunities to create value on a daily basis.
Creating value brings me joy and brings me closer to enlightenment (perceiving and experiencing the living connections between all people – the silver cords).
I do volunteer work with the poor and disadvantaged. Former President Carter found joy in that too.
Trump and MAGA are the symptom, not the cause. Maga is less than 10 years old and this is a 125 year old process. When you are left behind in the present, of course you will romanticize the past and hate new changes.
Everything is wrong with those states, so why not short lives as well. On the bright side, the republicans will run out of MAGA voters quicker than the other 2/3rd’s of the country.
Life Expectancy by State 2025
Half the states only have a life expectancy of 70 to 72 years.
And they are changing the SS retirement age to 70 years which means half of the people will never access their Social Security. BTW, Why are they raising the retirement age when so many older people died from covid?
I don’t believe they are raising it to 70. They were considering changing to 69 years of age, but there are complications that some people don’t think about, they just blurt out a number and think it will solve the problem. While most people aren’t healthy enough to hold a job for 8-16/hrs a day, when they’re 70. It’s absurd.
Agreed. Retirement should have stayed at 65 and if people want to work longer, good for them. Increasing Social Security every year until 70 is a nice idea and it puts money into the system because people are still working, but it also puts a strain on the system as a whole when collecting at 70.
Let’s face it, there is a large population in the US that is living longer and longer and a smaller work force contributing. It has to break at some point. Living in a statistical area where longevity is behind 20 years everywhere else, people should still be able to fully retire with decent benefits at 65. Raising the age is the government trying to offset their mistakes with the Social Security funds. Living longer is a benefit we should enjoy, not be penalized for it.
Here in Houston, TX, we are a democrat city with a democrat mayor.
So, would one be more inclined to have a discussion as to why life expectancy is shorter? Or just wish an early death to everyone while calling Trump a dictator?
Sorry, I forgot to mention Houston as being on the non-death threat list for democrats. I also did not call Trump a dictator, in fact I never even mentioned Trump.
Houston actually has a pretty good life expectancy though…mostly.
“In the Houston area, life expectancy varies by neighborhood, with some areas having significantly higher life expectancies than others. The average life expectancy in Harris County is 78.9 years, but it ranges from 69.8 years in some areas to 89.7 years in others. Fort Bend County has a higher average life expectancy (82.3 years) compared to Harris and Montgomery counties”
Breed more squirrels? Sounds like a MAGA plan to conquer the world. Maybe you are thinking of Project 2025. Does Trump give you that idea?
It’s straight from the DNC handbook, page 80.
FINAL MASTER PLATFORM
There are only 92 pages to the DNC Handbook.
Charter_Bylaws_amendments_9.10.22.pdf
Wrong book. This is their secret 110-page communist manifesto.
Biden And Sanders Release Their Joint Policy Recommendations : NPR
The Cloward–Piven strategy – Search is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. The strategy aims to utilize “militant anti poverty groups” to facilitate a “political crisis” by overloading the welfare system via an increase in welfare claims, forcing the creation of a system of guaranteed minimum income and “redistributing income through the federal government”.[1][2][3]
That’s because southerners work harder.
Northerners stay out of the sun. Hard to get skin cancer from your moms’ basement.
That’s a laugh, moved south from the north to retire in better temps. Learned quickly the art of the wait, everything is sooooo slow, and it’s not because they are working hard LOL.
Good thing we retired to slow down, time is no longer an issue, slow mow is the southern way.
Wasn’t aware that skin cancer was America’s leading killer.
That definitely explains the huge difference in GDP between Blue and Red states.
California has the highest GDP. However, a large part of that is due to Hollywood productions, real estate, tourism and tech. Most of those areas are rapidly failing. Silicon Valley will soon be a museum as many tech companies are moving out of state. As far as New York, it’s all corporate offices that keep New York City afloat. Those folks come from all over the nation. New York will most likely stay near the top, but California’s days are counted.
Smoking, swimming biscuits with sausage gravy, fried potatoes and 3 eggs for breakfast plus a daily ration of beer will shorten your life every time.
Maybe that is why republicans are taking away health insurance from the poor! They want everyone to live shorter, more difficult lives.
The poor know the Democrats are no better. They are not stupid. I believe Democrats are better when they prove it. So far, they have not.
democrats want to make healthcare a human right vs republicans whos biggest goal has always been to take it away. it’s not an equal equation.
That is just not true. They do not want to make healthcare a human right, because when they do, they will have nothing left to run on.
That’s what we thought about Republicans and abortion. Turns out, there was more to it than that. Unfortunately.
I can’t help but think of Darwin when I read this article. Evolution is slow moving but it works. – Search
It is really simple: They vote against themselves with the GOP- That never actually does anything for them, even though they lie and say they do.
All they do is pass stuff that benefits big business and the already wealthy-I.E., the top 9% ers-
Well does that really surprise anyone?
Look at how they vote and who and what they Believe It’s not a surprise at all really. It is a Sad fact all the same.
The reddest states in the country are also the sickest and the poorest.
Why is Oklahoma being considered a “Southern” state by the “StudyFinds staff”?
Is it just because the University of Oklahoma’s sports teams are now part of the SEC?
It wasn’t even a state when “Southern” states were defined as such (usually from being a part of the Confederacy during the Civil War)i…. Can anyone else justify this?
This is good for getting rid of MAGAts, but unfortunate for those who live among them that actually have values and integrity.
If you break the data down, it’s actually African Americans not living longer, and it’s because they get shafted on public resources.
I think it will extend the span of SS. Maybe that’s the goal. When you stop paying the government you no longer matter.
Trump’s big, beautiful bill will cut 17 million people off of medicaid. You don’t think that is going to make the problem worse?
U.S. Life Expectancy Study Shows Southerners Barely Living Any Longer Than Those Born In 1900
Us States Life Expectancies – Search
Hot Club of Cowtown – “High Upon the Mountain”