Over the past 160 years, life expectancy (from birth) in the United States has risen from 39.4 years in 1860, to 78.9 years in 2020. One of the major reasons for the overall increase of life expectancy in the last two centuries is the fact that the infant and child mortality rates have decreased by so much during this time. Medical advancements, fewer wars and improved living standards also mean that people are living longer than they did in previous centuries.

Despite this overall increase, the life expectancy dropped three times since 1860; from 1865 to 1870 during the American Civil War, from 1915 to 1920 during the First World War and following Spanish Flu epidemic, and it has dropped again between 2015 and now. The reason for the most recent drop in life expectancy is not a result of any specific event, but has been attributed to negative societal trends, such as unbalanced diets and sedentary lifestyles, high medical costs, and increasing rates of suicide and drug use.

Historical chart and dataset showing U.S. life expectancy by year from 1950 to 2025.

The life expectancy of men at birth in the United States saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 75.8 years. However, 2023 marked the second consecutive increase of the life expectancy. Life expectancy at birth refers to the number of years the average newborn is expected to live, providing that mortality patterns at the time of birth do not change thereafter.Find more statistics on other topics about the United States with key insights such as total fertility rate, infant mortality rate, and total life expectancy at birth.

The total life expectancy at birth in the United States saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 78.39 years. However, 2023 marked the second consecutive increase of the life expectancy at birth. These figures refer to the expected lifespan of the average newborn in a given country or region, providing that mortality patterns at the time of birth remain constant thereafter.Find more statistics on other topics about the United States with key insights such as crude birth rate, life expectancy of women at birth, and life expectancy of men at birth.

Graph and download economic data for Life Expectancy at Birth, Total for the United States (SPDYNLE00INUSA) from 1960 to 2023 about life expectancy, life, birth, and USA.

The life expectancy for men aged 65 years in the U.S. has gradually increased since the 1960s. Now men in the United States aged 65 can expect to live 17 more years on average. Women aged 65 years can expect to live around 19.7 more years on average.

Life expectancy in the U.S.

As of 2021, the average life expectancy at birth in the United States was 76.33 years. Life expectancy in the U.S. had steadily increased for many years but has recently dropped slightly. Women consistently have a higher life expectancy than men but have also seen a slight decrease. As of 2019, a woman in the U.S. could be expected to live up to 79.3 years.

Leading causes of death

The leading causes of death in the United States include heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases and cerebrovascular diseases. However, heart disease and cancer account for around 38 percent of all deaths. Although heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death for both men and women, there are slight variations in the leading causes of death. For example, unintentional injury and suicide account for a larger portion of deaths among men than they do among women.

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex. Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below). Life expectancy data are available up to 2017. Due to changes in categories of race used in publications, data are not available for the black population consistently before 1968, and not at all before 1960. More information on historical data on age-adjusted death rates is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/hist293.htm. SOURCES CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov). REFERENCES National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

Life expectancy at birth, female (years) in United States was reported at 81.1 years in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United States - Life expectancy at birth, female (years) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on May of 2025.

The dataset presents life expectancy at birth estimates based on annual complete period life tables for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) in 2021 for the total, male and female populations.

United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth: Female data was reported at 81.200 Year in 2016. This stayed constant from the previous number of 81.200 Year for 2015. United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 78.300 Year from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 81.300 Year in 2014 and a record low of 73.100 Year in 1960. United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

The life expectancy of women at birth in the United States saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 81.1 years. However, 2023 marked the second consecutive increase of the life expectancy. Life expectancy at birth refers to the number of years that the average newborn can expect to live, providing that mortality patterns at the time of their birth do not change thereafter.Find more statistics on other topics about the United States with key insights such as infant mortality rate, total life expectancy at birth, and total fertility rate.

United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth data was reported at 84.700 Year in 2050. This records an increase from the previous number of 84.600 Year for 2049. United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth data is updated yearly, averaging 82.400 Year from Jun 2014 (Median) to 2050, with 37 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 84.700 Year in 2050 and a record low of 79.500 Year in 2014. United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.US Census Bureau: Demographic Projection.

Life expectancy at birth, male (years) in United States was reported at 75.8 years in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United States - Life expectancy at birth, male (years) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

BackgroundLife expectancy at birth in the United States will likely surpass 80 years in the coming decade. Yet recent studies suggest that longevity gains are unevenly shared across age and socioeconomic groups. First, mortality in midlife has risen among non-Hispanic whites. Second, low-educated whites have suffered stalls (men) or declines (women) in adult life expectancy, which is significantly lower than among their college-educated counterparts. Estimating the number of life years lost or gained by age and cause of death, broken down by educational attainment, is crucial in identifying vulnerable populations.Methods and FindingsUsing U.S. vital statistics data from 1990 to 2010, this study decomposes the change in life expectancy at age 25 by age and cause of death across educational attainment groups, broken down by race and gender. The findings reveal that mortality in midlife increased for white women (and to a lesser extent men) with 12 or fewer years of schooling, accounting for most of the stalls or declines in adult life expectancy observed in those groups. Among blacks, mortality declined in nearly all age and educational attainment groups. Although an educational gradient was found across multiple causes of death, between 60 and 80 percent of the gap in adult life expectancy was explained by cardiovascular diseases, smoking-related diseases, and external causes of death. Furthermore, the number of life years lost to smoking-related, external, and other causes of death increased among low- and high school-educated whites, explaining recent stalls or declines in longevity.ConclusionsLarge segments of the American population—particularly low- and high school-educated whites under age 55—are diverging from their college-educated counterparts and losing additional years of life to smoking-related diseases and external causes of death. If this trend continues, old-age mortality may also increase for these birth cohorts in the coming decades.

This dataset contains replication files for "The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014" by Augustin Bergeron, Raj Chetty, David Cutler, Benjamin Scuderi, Michael Stepner, and Nicholas Turner. For more information, see https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/lifeexpectancy/. A summary of the related publication follows. How can we reduce socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes? Although it is well known that there are significant differences in health and longevity between income groups, debate remains about the magnitudes and determinants of these differences. We use new data from 1.4 billion anonymous earnings and mortality records to construct more precise estimates of the relationship between income and life expectancy at the national level than was feasible in prior work. We then construct new local area (county and metro area) estimates of life expectancy by income group and identify factors that are associated with higher levels of life expectancy for low-income individuals. Our findings show that disparities in life expectancy are not inevitable. There are cities throughout America — from New York to San Francisco to Birmingham, AL — where gaps in life expectancy are relatively small or are narrowing over time. Replicating these successes more broadly will require targeted local efforts, focusing on improving health behaviors among the poor in cities such as Las Vegas and Detroit. Our findings also imply that federal programs such as Social Security and Medicare are less redistributive than they might appear because low-income individuals obtain these benefits for significantly fewer years than high-income individuals, especially in cities like Detroit. Going forward, the challenge is to understand the mechanisms that lead to better health and longevity for low-income individuals in some parts of the U.S. To facilitate future research and monitor local progress, we have posted annual statistics on life expectancy by income group and geographic area (state, CZ, and county) at The Health Inequality Project website. Using these data, researchers will be able to study why certain places have high or improving levels of life expectancy and ultimately apply these lessons to reduce health disparities in other parts of the country.

This dataset provides estimates for life expectancy at birth at the county level for each state, the District of Columbia, and the United States as a whole for 1980-2014, as well as the changes in life expectancy and mortality risk for each location during this period.

In 2021, a woman in the United States aged 65 years could expect to live another 19.7 years on average. This number decreased in the years 2020 and 2021, after reaching a high of 20.8 years in 2019. Nevertheless, the life expectancy of a woman aged 65 years in the United States is still higher than that of a man of that age. In 2021, a man aged 65 years could be expected to live another 17 years on average.

Why has the life expectancy in the U.S. declined? Overall, life expectancy in the United States has declined in recent years. In 2019, the life expectancy for U.S. women was 81.4 years, but by 2021 it had decreased to 79.3 years. Likewise, the life expectancy for men decreased from 76.3 years to 73.5 years in the same period. The biggest contributors to this decline in life expectancy are the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic. Although deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic have decreased significantly since 2022, deaths from opioid overdose continue to increase, reaching all-time highs in 2021.

The leading causes of death among U.S. women The leading causes of death among women in the United States in 2020 were heart disease, cancer, and COVID-19. That year heart disease and cancer accounted for a combined 37 percent of all deaths among women, while around 10 percent of deaths were due to COVID-19. The overall leading causes of death in the United States generally reflect the leading causes among women with some slight variations. For example, Alzheimer’s disease is the fourth leading cause of death among women, but the seventh leading cause of death overall in the United States.

The dataset presents life expectancy at birth estimates based on annual complete period life tables for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) in 2020 for the total, male and female populations.

Life expectancy at birth, total (years) in United States was reported at 78.39 years in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United States - Life expectancy at birth, total (years) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth: Male data was reported at 76.300 Year in 2016. This stayed constant from the previous number of 76.300 Year for 2015. United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth: Male data is updated yearly, averaging 71.400 Year from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 76.500 Year in 2014 and a record low of 66.000 Year in 1968. United States US: Life Expectancy at Birth: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;