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, 2018-2022 Washington Tracking Network, Life Expectancy at Birth; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Insights & Analysis
- King County has the highest life expectancy (80.8 years), followed by Kitsap (80.6 years), Snohomish (79.8 years), and Pierce (78.2 years).
- There is a 2.6 year difference between life expectancy in King and Pierce counties, counties with the highest and lowest countywide averages, respectively.
- Communities with the highest life expectancy are in DuPont, Pierce County (99.4 years); the Uptown neighborhood in Seattle, King County (96.6 years); Redmond, King County (95.8 years).
- Among the communities with the lowest life expectancy are the South End neighborhood in Tacoma, Pierce County (68.4 years); Auburn, King County (71.7 years); Tulalip Reservation, Snohomish County (70.0 years); the Charleston neighborhood in Bremerton, Kitsap County (73.2 years).
Source(s): Washington State Department of Health, 2018-2022 Washington Tracking Network, Life Expectancy at Birth; U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 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
- Communities with high concentrations of households with lower income have lower life expectancy than those with low concentrations; the smallest difference is in Snohomish County (3.3 years) and the largest difference is in Pierce County (6.3 years).
- The life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of households with limited English proficiency is lower in all counties - ranging from Pierce (76.3 years), with the lowest life expectancy, to Kitsap (79.7 years), with the highest life expectancy.
- Regionally, communities with higher concentrations of people with disabilities have lower life expectancies than those without disabilities by 3.5 years.
- Communities with high concentrations of households with youth have life expectancies 1.4 years longer than households without youth in 3 of the counties: King, Kitsap, and Snohomish. The difference in Pierce County is almost negligible (0.1 year).
- The life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of households with lower income is shortest in Pierce County at 75.1 years- 2.1 fewer years than the regional average for communities with high concentrations of households with lower income (77.2 years).
Source(s): Washington State Department of Health, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, 2018-2022 Washington Tracking Network, Life Expectancy at Birth; U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, 2018-2022 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 households with limited English proficiency are only available starting in 2016.
Insights & Analysis
- Snohomish County is the only county in the region where the life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of people of color is similar to or slightly higher than 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 decreased in King (-0.5 years), Kitsap (-9.8 years), and Pierce (-5.4 years) counties between 2012 and 2022. In Snohomish County the gap increased from 1.2 years in 2012 to 3.3 years in 2022.
- The 2022 life expectancy of communities with high concentrations of households with limited English proficiency is shortest in Pierce County (76.3 years), compared to Kitsap (79.7 years), King (79.6 years), and Snohomish (79 years).
- The regional life expectancy gap is 2.2 years between communities with high and low concentrations of people of color in 2022, a 33% smaller gap than in 2012.
- The regional life expectancy gap decreased 27% between areas with high and low concentrations of households with lower income between 2012 and 2022.
- In 2022, communities with high concentrations of individuals with a disability had a lower life expectancy (77.9 years) than communities with low concentrations of individuals without a disability (81.4 years).