CDC: Life spans in Washington in decline

BELLINGHAM — Washington had the 11th-highest life expectancy in the U.S. in 2021, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released Wednesday.

The report, which came from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, found that Washington residents had a life expectancy of 78.2 years in a pandemic-affected 2021, down from 79.2 the previous year and 80.0 in 2019. Women in Washington saw a longer life expectancy than men — 80.8 years compared to 75.8 years — although the gender gap was one of the lowest in the country.

Washington came in just behind California, which had the 10th-highest figure at 78.3 years, and 1.7 years behind Hawaii, which took the top spot. With the exception of Minnesota, which had the sixth-highest life expectancy, each of the 10 states with the highest life expectancy came from the western or northeastern parts of the country.

The top 10

The states with the highest life expectancy were:

• Hawaii 79.9
• Massachusetts 79.6
• Connecticut 79.2
• New York 79.0
• New Jersey 79.0
• Minnesota 78.8
• New Hampshire 78.5
• Rhode Island 78.5
• Vermont 78.4
• California 78.3

On the opposite end of the list, Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama saw the three shortest life expectancy figures, at 70.9, 71.0 and 72.0 years, respectively.

Despite seeing its life-expectancy drop, Washington remained well above the national average, as average life-span figures declined across the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-nine states saw their life-expectancy numbers fall between 2020 and 2021, with Alaska and West Virginia seeing declines by an average of roughly two years.

Nationally, the average life expectancy was 76.4 years in 2021, down from 77.0 the previous year and 78.8 in 2019.

With the onset of the pandemic, national life expectancy dropped to levels that hadn’t been seen since the early 2000s, according to CDC data. The nation’s life expectancy in 2021 was the lowest in a single year since the late 1990s. In addition to the pandemic, the report found that drug overdoses played a role in the decline.

While state-by-state data isn’t available yet for the following year, the CDC estimates that the national average rebounded in 2022 to 77.5 years.