US Life Expectancy: A Century of Gains — and a Recent Setback

One of the great achievements of the past century is hiding in plain sight: an American born in 1900 could expect to live to about 47, while one born today can expect nearly 79. That 30-plus-year gain came from clean water, vaccines, antibiotics, and safer childbirth — not from any single breakthrough. But the rise has not been smooth or evenly shared: the pandemic caused the sharpest drop in decades, and life expectancy still varies by nearly a decade from one state to another. This guide traces the long climb and the wide state gap.

How much has U.S. life expectancy risen?

Life expectancy at birth climbed from about 47 years in 1900 to roughly 79 before the pandemic — a gain of more than three decades. Most of the early rise came from sharply lower infant and child mortality as sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics took hold; later gains came from progress against heart disease and other adult killers. The line rises steeply through the first half of the 20th century, then more gradually, with brief dips for events like the 1918 flu pandemic.

The pandemic setback

After the period shown in the long-run chart, COVID-19 caused the largest drop in U.S. life expectancy since World War II — falling from about 78.8 years in 2019 to roughly 76.4 in 2021 — before recovering as the pandemic eased. It was a stark reminder that life expectancy can move backward, and that the U.S. had already been lagging other wealthy nations even before the pandemic, due in part to drug overdoses, gun deaths, and chronic disease.

Which states live the longest?

Geography matters enormously. The map shades each state by life expectancy at birth, and the gap between the top and bottom states is close to a decade — a difference comparable to the effect of a major disease. The longest-lived states cluster in the Northeast and the West (Hawaii is typically highest), while the shortest are concentrated in the Deep South. The ranking below lists every state.

Why life expectancy varies so much by state

The state gap reflects differences in income, education, smoking and obesity rates, access to health care, and the toll of drug overdoses and violence. States with higher poverty and less access to care tend to have shorter lives, while wealthier, better-insured populations live longer. Because these factors are deeply tied to economics and policy, the geography of life expectancy has been remarkably persistent over time.