Life expectancy provides a way to understand a population's overall health. Differences between groups of people can highlight differing access to healthcare and public services, adequate nutrition and living conditions, all of which impact a population's mortality rate.
The data for this indicator is available through the Washington State Department of Health's Washington Tracking Network (WTN). For this measure, life expectancy is defined as a measure of the number of years a newborn can expect to live based on current age-specific death rates.
Go to: Life Expectancy Map | Life Expectancy Now | Life Expectancy Trend
Life Expectancy Map
Number of years a newborn can be expected to live based on current conditions
Source(s): Washington State Department of Health, 2016-2020 Washington Tracking Network, Life Expectancy at Birth; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Insights & Analysis
- Snohomish County has the highest life expectancy (80.7 years), followed by King (79.4 years), Kitsap (78.9 years), and Pierce (75.7 years).
- Communities with the highest life expectancy are in Auburn, Pierce County (95.4 years); Ravenna/U-District neighborhoods (Seattle), King County (92.1 years); Redmond, King County (91.3 years).
- Communities with the lowest life expectancy are in the Lincoln International District (Tacoma), Pierce County (67.3 years); Lakewood, Pierce County (69.7 years); Tulalip Reservation, Snohomish County (70.1 years).
- There is a 5 year difference between life expectancy in Snohomish and Pierce counties, counties with the highest and lowest countywide averages, respectively.
Source(s): Washington State Department of Health, 2016-2020 Washington Tracking Network, Life Expectancy at Birth; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Tables B02001, C17002, B22010, B11005, B11007, C16002
Note 1: Horizontal axis (low, medium, high) denotes concentrations of each community. See, "How is equity measured?" for more information.
Note 2: For Households with Limited English Proficiency, the low and low medium categories have the same value in Kitsap and Pierce counties. There are more census tracts in those places estimated to have 0 households with limited English proficiency than the number of tracts in the low quintile category. The values for the low and low medium categories were averaged.
Insights & Analysis
- The smallest difference in life expectancy between communities with high and low concentrations of households with lower income is in Snohomish County (3.6 years), while the largest difference is in Pierce County (17.4 years).
- The life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of households with limited English proficiency is lower in King and Pierce counties, but higher in Snohomish and Kitsap counties.
- There is no noticeable relationship between life expectancy and concentrations of people living with disabilities.
- When comparing the life expectancy of communities with high and low concentrations of households with youth, the difference varies across the region - with youth households having higher life expectancies in King (2.9 years) and Snohomish (1.4 years), and youth households having lower life expectancies in Kitsap (22.3 years) and Pierce (9.3 years).
- The life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of households with lower income is shortest in Pierce County at 63.5 years- 7.9 fewer years than the regional average for communities with high concentrations of households with lower income.
- The difference in life expectancy for communities with high concentrations of households with limited English proficiency is 6 years between Pierce County (71.3) and the region (77.3).
Source(s): Washington State Department of Health, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, 2016-2020 Washington Tracking Network, Life Expectancy at Birth; U.S. Census Bureau, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Tables B02001, C17002, B22010, B11005, B11007, C16002
Note 1: Line categories (low, low-medium, etc.) denote concentrations of each community. See, "How is equity measured?" for more information.
Note 2: For Households with Limited English Proficiency, the low and low medium categories have the same value in Kitsap and Pierce counties. There are more census tracts in those places estimated to have 0 households with limited English proficiency than the number of tracts in the low quintile category. The values for the low and low medium categories were averaged.
Note 3: Data for people with a disability and for households with limited English proficiency are only available starting in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
Insights & Analysis
- Snohomish County is the only county in the region where the life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of people of color exceeds the life expectancy of communities with low concentrations of people of color, a trend consistent over most of the past decade.
- The life expectancy gaps between areas with high and low concentrations of households with lower income increased in all counties between 2010 and 2020, with the largest gap change in Pierce County (7.2 years) and the smallest gap change in Kitsap County (1.6 years).
- The 2020 life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of households with limited English proficiency is shortest in Pierce County (70.4 years), compared to King County (77.6 years), Kitsap County (78.2 years), and Snohomish County (80.5 years).
- The regional life expectancy gap is 5.4 years between communities with high and low concentrations of people of color in 2020, a 35% larger gap than in 2010.
- The regional life expectancy gap increased 293% between areas with high and low concentrations of households with lower income between 2010 and 2020.
- The difference in regional life expectancy was 1.8 years in communities with high and low concentrations of individuals with a disability in 2020, a 1.5 year larger gap than in 2010.