25 Counties With The Longest Life Expectancy Within America

Location and Life Expectancy

Social factors associated with where people live can play a crucial role in shaping their health and well-being. Wealthier and more educated people, for example, tend to live longer than those who are poorer or less educated.

The 2021 Healthiest Communities rankings assess nearly 3,000 U.S. counties and county-equivalents across 84 factors that shape and show the health of a community and its residents, in categories including the economy, equity, public safety, food and nutrition, and housing. The fourth annual project from U.S. News also allows comparisons between communities across these dozens of metrics, which include life expectancy.

These are the counties with the longest average life expectancies at birth for the period 2016-2018, based on data obtained from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute’s County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program and incorporated into the Healthiest Communities analysis. Also included are the margin of error for the life expectancy measurements, as well as communities’ overall Healthiest Communities scores, rankings, and population health category scores. The population figures listed are taken from 2019 Census Bureau estimates.

Scores are out of 100 points, and you can learn more about how communities were ranked and scored in their methodology by clicking here.

The 25 Counties Within America With The Longest Life Expectancy:

25:  Judith Basin County, Montana

Population: 2,007

Life expectancy: 85.29

Error margin: 81.3-89.3

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

24: Fairfax County, Virginia

Population: 1.1 million

Life expectancy: 85.3

Error margin: 85.1-85.5

Population Health score: 96.6

Overall score: 86.1

Overall rank: 14

23: Marin County, California

Population: 258,826

Life expectancy: 85.4

Error margin: 85.0-85.7

Population Health score: 90.5

Overall score: 80.4

Overall rank: 49

22: San Juan County, Washington

Population: 17,582

Life expectancy: 85.5

Error margin: 83.9-87.1

Population Health score: 87.1

Overall score: 84.5

Overall rank: 21

21: Hudspeth County, Texas

Population: 4,886

Life expectancy: 85.7

Error margin: 79.8-91.6

Population Health score: 33.0

Overall score: 23.5

Overall rank: Not ranked

20: Grand County, Colorado

Population: 15,734

Life expectancy: 86.0

Error margin: 83.1-88.8

Population Health score: 76.9

Overall score: 71.7

Overall rank: 191

19: Collier County, Florida

Population: 384,902

Life expectancy: 86.1

Error margin: 85.7-86.4

Population Health score: 69.5

Overall score: 54.9

Overall rank: Not ranked

18: Blaine County, Idaho

Population: 23,021

Life expectancy: 86.2

Error margin: 84.5-87.9

Population Health score: 73.7

Overall score: 74.2

Overall rank: 136

17: Kidder County, North Dakota

Population: 2,480

Life expectancy: 86.598

Error margin: 81.9-91.3

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

16: Frontier County, Nebraska

Population: 2,627

Life expectancy: 86.604

Error margin: 82.2-91.0

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

15: Golden Valley County, North Dakota

Population: 1,761

Life expectancy: 87.58

Error margin: 80.4-94.8

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

14: Williamsburg, Virginia

Population: 14,954

Life expectancy: 87.65

Error margin: 85.5-89.8

Population Health score: 75.2

Overall score: 56.7

Overall rank: Not ranked

13: Stanley County, South Dakota

Population: 3,098

Life expectancy: 88.0

Error margin: 80.2-95.9

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

12: Liberty County, Montana

Population: 2,337

Life expectancy: 88.7

Error margin: 83.7-93.7

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A

11: Oliver County, North Dakota

Population: 1,959

Life expectancy: 89.1

Error margin: 81.9-96.3

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

10: Presidio County, Texas

Population: 6,704

Life expectancy: 89.2

Error margin: 85.0-93.3

Population Health score: 39.1

Overall score: 19.6

Overall rank: Not ranked

9: Teton County, Wyoming

Population: 23,464

Life expectancy: 89.5

Error margin: 87.3-91.7

Population Health score: 84.8

Overall score: 86.1

Overall rank: 13

8: Jeff Davis County, Texas

Population: 2,274

Life expectancy: 89.7

Error margin: 83.5-95.8

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

7: Eagle County, Colorado

Population: 55,127

Life expectancy: 90.1

Error margin: 87.8-92.4

Population Health score: 83.0

Overall score: 78.3

Overall rank: 68

6: Aleutians East Borough, Alaska

Population: 3,337

Life expectancy: 91.1

Error margin: 82.1-100+

Population Health score: N/A*

Overall score: N/A*

Overall rank: N/A*

5: Manassas Park, Virginia

Population: 17,478

Life expectancy: 92.5

Error margin: 83.2-100+

Population Health score: 73.1

Overall score: 67.1

Overall rank: 352

4: Pitkin County, Colorado

Population: 17,767

Life expectancy: 93.4

Error margin: 89.5-97.3

Population Health score: 90.9

Overall score: 88.2

Overall rank: 7

3: Mono County, California

Population: 14,444

Life expectancy: 96.5

Error margin: 89.5-100+

Population Health score: 81.8

Overall score: 74.6

Overall rank: 129

2: Summit County, Colorado

Population: 31,011

Life expectancy: 96.8

Error margin: 90.2-100+

Population Health score: 85.2

Overall score: 83.1

Overall rank: 26

1: San Miguel County, Colorado

Population: 8,179

Life expectancy: 100+

Error margin: 83.3-100+

Population Health score: 82.6

Overall score: 89.2

Overall rank: 6