The average life expectancy in the United States is 79.0 years, based on 2024 data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. That figure rose 0.6 years from 78.4 in 2023, continuing a rebound after the sharp drop caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Life Expectancy for Men vs. Women
American women live roughly five years longer than men. The 2024 numbers put female life expectancy at 81.4 years and male life expectancy at 76.5 years. This gap has been a consistent feature of U.S. mortality data for decades, driven largely by higher rates of heart disease, accidents, and drug overdose deaths among men.
How the U.S. Compares to Other Countries
Despite spending far more on healthcare than any other nation, the U.S. ranks near the bottom among wealthy countries. The average life expectancy across OECD member nations was 81.1 years in 2023, more than two years higher than the current U.S. figure. Spain, Japan, and Switzerland lead a group of 27 OECD countries where life expectancy exceeds 80 years. The United States falls into a second tier alongside a handful of remaining members, all clustered between 75 and 80 years.
Several factors help explain the gap. The U.S. has higher rates of obesity, gun violence, and drug overdose deaths than most peer nations. It also lacks universal healthcare coverage, meaning chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure often go undertreated in lower-income populations.
Differences Between States
Where you live in the U.S. matters enormously. The gap between the longest- and shortest-lived states spans nearly a decade. Hawaii tops the list at 79.9 years, followed by Massachusetts (79.6), Connecticut (79.2), and a tie between New York and New Jersey at 79 years each.
At the other end, Mississippi has the lowest life expectancy of any state at 70.9 years. West Virginia follows at 71 years, then Alabama at 72. The pattern tracks closely with poverty rates, access to healthcare, and rates of smoking and obesity. States in the Deep South and Appalachia consistently fall at the bottom of rankings, while states in the Northeast and along the Pacific Coast tend to cluster at the top.
How Life Expectancy Has Changed Over Time
The long view is striking. In 1900, the average person born anywhere in the world could expect to live only about 32 years. That number was somewhat higher in the U.S. and Western Europe, but not by as much as you might think. Sweden, which had the best records and outcomes at the time, reached a life expectancy of 46 as early as 1840.
The biggest gains came from reducing infant and childhood deaths through clean water, sanitation, vaccines, and antibiotics. By the mid-20th century, those early wins had largely been captured, and further improvements came more slowly, driven by better treatment of heart disease, cancer screening, and safer workplaces. The global average reached just over 70 years by 2021.
In the U.S. specifically, life expectancy climbed steadily for most of the 20th century, then stalled in the mid-2010s. A rising tide of drug overdose deaths, particularly from synthetic opioids, combined with increasing rates of suicide and liver disease, actually caused life expectancy to decline for three consecutive years before the pandemic. COVID-19 then accelerated the drop, pushing the national figure down to 76.4 in 2021. The rebound to 79.0 in 2024 signals recovery, though the U.S. still hasn’t matched its pre-opioid-crisis trajectory.
What Drives These Numbers
Life expectancy is a statistical snapshot, not a personal prediction. It reflects the mortality rates across all age groups in a given year. When a large number of young people die from overdoses or accidents, that pulls the average down more dramatically than deaths among older adults, because each early death represents more lost years.
Heart disease and cancer remain the two largest killers in the U.S., together accounting for roughly 40% of all deaths. But the factors that have most affected recent trends are deaths that strike earlier in life: drug overdoses, which kill tens of thousands of Americans in their 20s, 30s, and 40s each year, along with gun violence, car accidents, and metabolic diseases linked to obesity. These are also the categories where the U.S. diverges most sharply from other wealthy nations.
Income plays a role too. Wealthier Americans live significantly longer than poorer Americans, a gap that research has consistently measured at 10 to 15 years between the highest and lowest income groups. That disparity reflects differences in diet, housing stability, environmental exposures, stress, and access to preventive care.