Where Do Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey Rank for Life Expectancy?

The latest life expectancy rates have arrived, and those rates fell in all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2019 to 2020 by 1.8 years, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from experts. So, where do Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey rank for life expectancy? Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey Life Expectancy Rates, According to Experts The life expectancy at birth for the U.S. fell from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77 years in 2020. Now, before you start freaking out about expectancy rates dropping in the U.S., note that according to the study, the national decline was mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increases in "unintentional injuries," such as drug overdose deaths. Not that it's a good thing that COVID-19 and drug overdose deaths cause the life expectancy rates to drop, but at least it's not an unknown why the numbers are trending downwards. In 2020, life expectancy was recorded as 74.2 years for males and 79.9 years for females. The state with the biggest change in expectancy in a negative way was New York, going down three years. Consequently, the state that had the smallest drop in life expectancy was Hawaii, which had just a 0.2 drop to 80.7 years. Hawaii has the highest life expectancy in the country at 80.7 years. Other states inside the top five for the highest expectancy were Massachusetts at 79.6 years, Connecticut at 79.2 years, New York at 79 years and New Jersey at 79 years. Mississippi had the lowest expectancy in the U.S. at 71.9 years. The other states in the bottom five for the lowest life expectancy rates were West Virginia at 71 years, Alabama at 72 years, Louisiana at 72.2 years and Kentucky at 72.3 years. Also note that in the report, the experts at the CDC state, "The methodology used to estimate the 2020 complete life tables for the 50 states and D.C. presented in this report is the same as that used to estimate the annual U.S. national life tables, with some modifications." They add, "For some states, very small age specific or zero numbers of deaths in childhood ages sometimes required the use of additional smoothing techniques not needed in constructing the national life tables." So, what about Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey? Pennsylvania is ranked No. 25, so right in the middle of the states, at 76.8 years. Delaware is right behind at No. 27 and 76.7 years. New Jersey is the best of our cluster, coming in at No. 20 at 77.5 years.