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 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 higher life expectancy than men — 80.8 years compared to 75.8 years — although the gender gap was one of the lowest in the country.
States with the highest life expectancy
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 10 states with the highest life expectancy were:
On the opposite end of the list, Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama saw the three lowest life expectancy figures, at 70.9, 71.0 and 72.0 years, respectively.
Life expectancy down nationwide amid the pandemic
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.
