Wanna Live Longer? Move to Maryland!

A recent Yahoo news story reports that life expectancy is tied to race, income, and where you live. Although not unexpected, it makes for quite interesting food for thought on the disparities that exist in the current health care system in America, as well as genetic factors involved in life span.

Asian-American women living in Bergen County, N.J., lead the nation in longevity, typically reaching their 91st birthdays. Worst off are American Indian men in swaths of South Dakota, who die around age 58 -- three decades sooner.

Compare those longest-living women to inner-city black men, and the life-expectancy gap is 21 years. That's similar to the life-expectancy gap between Iceland and Uzbekistan.

The longest-living whites weren't the relatively wealthy, which Murray calls "Middle America." They're edged out by low-income residents of the rural Northern Plains states, where the men tend to reach age 76 and the women 82.

Yet low-income whites in Appalachia and the Mississippi Valley die four years sooner than their Northern neighbors. He cites American Indians as another example. Those who don't live on or near reservations in the West have life expectancies similar to whites'.

And the down-and-dirty numbers? (Income/Lifespan)

_Asian-Americans, average per capita income of $21,566, have a life expectancy of 84.9 years.

_Northland low-income rural whites, $17,758, 79 years.

_Middle America (mostly white), $24,640, 77.9 years.

_Low income whites in Appalachia, Mississippi Valley, $16,390, 75 years.

_Western American Indians, $10,029, 72.7 years.

_Black Middle America, $15,412, 72.9 years.

_Southern low-income rural blacks, $10,463, 71.2 years.

_High-risk urban blacks, $14,800, 71.1 years

Original PLOS Medicine paper online here.