Where Women Live the Longest in Every State

Where you’re born can have a huge impact on your life expectancy. It’s not to say that how long you live is out of your hands. But if you live the life of most of your neighbors, you are likely to fall into the same longevity bucket as them. The two starkest examples in the United States are Hawaii and West Virginia. A girl born in Hawaii can expect to live to about 83 years old. While a girl born in West Virginia can expect to live to just 74. That’s a big difference: 8.9 years.

Those numbers are just statewide. When you dig a little deeper down to the county level, the gap in lifespan grows to a whopping 37.5 years.

The 8.9 Years Between Hawaii and West Virginia

As if you couldn’t tell from the stats above, Hawaii is the state where women live longest overall. And West Virginia is where they live the shortest. That’s the biggest gap, when it comes to states. Massachusetts is next at 82.2, almost a full year back. Connecticut follows at 82.0, then New York and New Jersey tied at 81.6. The top of the table is coastal and it is northeastern, with Hawaii sitting oddly on top of it. 

Women Outlive Men Everywhere, but Not by the Same Margin

We’ve got some bad news, male readers: women outlive you in every single state (including DC). But the margin changes significantly from state to state. Sometimes by nearly double. 

The states with the widest gaps are not the states where women do worst. They are the states where men do worst. New Mexico’s women rank 42nd in the country; its men rank 47th of 51. The gap is a measure of male mortality far more than it is a measure of female longevity, and reading it as a women’s-health statistic gets the story backward.

The Longest-Lived Counties in America Are Ski Towns

Seven of the top eight counties in America are mountain resort counties, and five of them are in Colorado. Only at ninth place does an ordinary American suburb appear: Fairfax County, Virginia, at 84.5, followed by Marin County, California, at 84.3. At the other end sits Dewey County, South Dakota, at 56.7 years. The distance from Pitkin County to Dewey County is 37.5 years.

Every State, From Alabama to Wyoming

States run in alphabetical order. Each card leads with the state’s longest-lived county, then how long women live in that state and where it ranks, how far ahead of men that is, and its longest-lived ZIP code. The state figures are women only; the county and ZIP figures count everyone.

Alabama

Alabama sits in the bottom five for women. Its best county, Shelby County, reaches 79.4 years counting all residents.

Alaska

Women and men die closer together in Alaska than in almost any other state. Its longest-lived county, Juneau Borough, runs 3.8 years above the state’s county median of 76.0.

Arizona

Women in Arizona reach 78.3 years. Its best county, Santa Cruz County, reaches 79.9 years counting all residents.

Arkansas

Women in Arkansas fall 3.7 years short of the national median. Men there reach 69.7 years, 5.9 fewer than women.

California

Women in California outlive the national median by 2.1 years. The 6.1-year gap between women and men there is the 38th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Colorado

The distance between Colorado’s best county and its typical one is among the widest in the country. The 5.6-year gap between women and men there is the 22nd narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Connecticut

Connecticut’s counties sit unusually close together. The 5.7-year gap between women and men there is the 26th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Delaware

Delaware’s counties sit unusually close together. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 19810 in Wilmington, reaches 81.6 years for all residents.

District of Columbia

Women in the District reach 78.5 years. The 6.6-year gap between women and men there is the 48th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Florida

The distance between Florida’s best county and its typical one is among the widest in the country. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 34119 in Naples, reaches 86.9 years for all residents.

Georgia

Women in Georgia fall 2.2 years short of the national median. Its best county, Forsyth County, reaches 81.0 years counting all residents.

Hawaii

No state does better for women than Hawaii. Its best county, Kauai County, reaches 82.4 years counting all residents.

Idaho

Women and men die closer together in Idaho than in almost any other state. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 83713 in Boise, reaches 83.4 years for all residents.

Illinois

Women in Illinois reach 80.0 years. Its longest-lived county, DuPage County, runs 5.2 years above the state’s county median of 76.1.

Indiana

Women in Indiana fall 1.8 years short of the national median. Men there reach 71.8 years, 5.7 fewer than women.

Iowa

Iowa ranks 15th in the country for women. Its best county, Sioux County, reaches 82.6 years counting all residents.

Kansas

Kansas comes 29th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. Men there reach 73.4 years, 5.3 fewer than women.

Kentucky

Kentucky comes 48th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. The 5.7-year gap between women and men there is the 26th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Louisiana

Louisiana carries one of the widest gaps between women and men anywhere in the country. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 70124 in New Orleans, reaches 83.5 years for all residents.

Maine

Women in Maine reach 79.8 years. Its longest-lived county, Sagadahoc County, runs 3.9 years above the state’s county median of 76.2.

Maryland

Women in Maryland reach 79.9 years. Men there reach 74.3 years, 5.6 fewer than women.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a top-five state for women. Its longest-lived county, Dukes County, runs 3.5 years above the state’s county median of 79.6.

Michigan

Michigan comes 30th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. Its best county, Leelanau County, reaches 80.9 years counting all residents.

Minnesota

Women and men die closer together in Minnesota than in almost any other state. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 55317 in Chanhassen, reaches 85.5 years for all residents.

Mississippi

Mississippi sits in the bottom five for women. Men there reach 67.7 years, 6.6 fewer than women.

Missouri

Women in Missouri fall 1.5 years short of the national median. Its longest-lived county, Nodaway County, runs 5.5 years above the state’s county median of 74.7.

Montana

Women in Montana reach 78.8 years. Men there reach 73.1 years, 5.7 fewer than women.

Nebraska

Women and men die closer together in Nebraska than in almost any other state. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 68505 in Lincoln, reaches 82.7 years for all residents.

Nevada

Nevada comes 34th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. Its longest-lived county, Douglas County, runs 3.8 years above the state’s county median of 75.3.

New Hampshire

Women and men die closer together in New Hampshire than in almost any other state. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 03031 in Amherst, reaches 83.4 years for all residents.

New Jersey

New Jersey is a top-five state for women. The 5.3-year gap between women and men there is the 13th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

New Mexico

New Mexico carries one of the widest gaps between women and men anywhere in the country. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 87571 in Taos, reaches 84.1 years for all residents.

New York

New York comes 4th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. Its best county, New York County, reaches 83.0 years counting all residents.

North Carolina

The distance between North Carolina’s best county and its typical one is among the widest in the country. The 5.9-year gap between women and men there is the 35th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

North Dakota

North Dakota ranks 13th in the country for women. Its longest-lived county, Richland County, runs 3.3 years above the state’s county median of 77.9.

Ohio

Women in Ohio fall 1.8 years short of the national median. The 5.8-year gap between women and men there is the 32nd narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Oklahoma

Women in Oklahoma fall 3.7 years short of the national median. Its longest-lived county, Logan County, runs 5.6 years above the state’s county median of 72.3.

Oregon

Oregon comes 17th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 97229 in Portland, reaches 84.5 years for all residents.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania comes 25th of the 51 jurisdictions for women. Its longest-lived county, Centre County, runs 5.1 years above the state’s county median of 76.2.

Rhode Island

Women in Rhode Island outlive the national median by 1.7 years. Men there reach 75.9 years, 5.1 fewer than women.

South Carolina

Women in South Carolina fall 2.6 years short of the national median. Its longest-lived county, Beaufort County, runs 7.9 years above the state’s county median of 72.7.

South Dakota

Women in South Dakota reach 79.3 years. The 5.2-year gap between women and men there is the 9th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

Tennessee

Tennessee sits in the bottom five for women. Its longest-lived county, Williamson County, runs 9.6 years above the state’s county median of 71.9.

Texas

The distance between Texas’s best county and its typical one is among the widest in the country. Men there reach 72.7 years, 5.6 fewer than women.

Utah

Nowhere in the country do women and men die closer together than in Utah. Its best county, Summit County, reaches 84.0 years counting all residents.

Vermont

Vermont ranks 8th in the country for women. Its best county, Chittenden County, reaches 80.8 years counting all residents.

Virginia

The distance between Virginia’s best county and its typical one is among the widest in the country. Men there reach 74.2 years, 5.2 fewer than women.

Washington

Women in Washington outlive the national median by 1.5 years. Men there reach 75.8 years, 5.0 fewer than women.

West Virginia

West Virginia sits in the bottom five for women. Its best county, Monongalia County, reaches 77.6 years counting all residents.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin ranks 13th in the country for women. Its longest-lived ZIP code, 53705 in Madison, reaches 84.2 years for all residents.

Wyoming

The distance between Wyoming’s best county and its typical one is among the widest in the country. The 5.2-year gap between women and men there is the 9th narrowest of the 51 jurisdictions.

How We Built This, and What the Numbers Do Not Cover

This article stacks three data sets, and they do not all measure the same population. Keeping them straight is the whole methodology.

The figures for women and men are state-level and sex-specific. They come from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. State Life Expectancy by Sex, for 2021. That is the most recent year the agency publishes machine-readable life expectancy split by sex; a 2022 edition exists as a printed report. State level is as fine as sex-specific life expectancy gets in the United States. No federal source publishes it by county or by ZIP code, which is why the rest of the piece changes population.

The county figures cover all residents. They come from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps 2025, which builds county life expectancy from National Vital Statistics System death records for 2021 through 2023. A county qualifies for a winner slot here only if it has at least 5,000 residents, matching County Health Rankings’ own reliability floor, and only if its confidence interval is narrower than 10 years with an upper bound under 100. That rule set aside 253 of the 3068 counties with a published figure, nearly all of them very small places where a handful of deaths swings the estimate by decades.

The ZIP code figures also cover all residents, and they are older. They come from the CDC’s small-area life expectancy project, which modeled life expectancy for individual census tracts using deaths from 2010 through 2015. We combined those tract estimates into ZIP codes, weighting each tract by the population it contributes. It remains the only ZIP-level life expectancy data the federal government has ever published, and it has not been updated. For the per-state ZIP winners we required at least 10,000 residents behind the estimate; the lookup tool above will answer for any of the 18,215 ZIP codes we have, regardless of size.

Three limits worth stating plainly. Life expectancy at birth is not a prediction about anyone alive today; it describes what would happen to a baby who lived her whole life under current death rates, which is not a thing that happens. Second, these figures are recorded at place of death, so retirement destinations and medical-care destinations both distort in ways nobody has a clean fix for. Third, the 2021 state figures land in the middle of the pandemic, which cut American life expectancy sharply and unevenly, and the county figures cover 2021 through 2023, which overlaps it. The rankings are steadier than the levels.

One more caution is worth carrying. These are small places, and small places produce unstable estimates: Pitkin County’s figure of 94.2 carries a confidence range running from 90.2 to 98.3, which is another way of saying the model is fairly sure Pitkin is extraordinary and fairly unsure exactly how extraordinary.

Women’s and men’s figures are state-level and sex-specific (CDC/NCHS, 2021). The county and ZIP figures count all residents, because no federal source publishes life expectancy by sex below the state line.

Cory Jones

Cory Jones has spent 20 years in media and publishing and now leads the data and editorial operation behind The Greenest.