We Live Shorter Lives than Neighboring DuPage County

Using the map above, you can see how Will County residents compare with the rest of Illinois and the nation. And compared with neighboring DuPage County, men in Will die sooner by about six years.

The difference isn't quite as dramatic for women, but you're still more likely to have a longer life ahead of you if you live in DuPage. Women there, on average, live to age 83.4, while Will County ladies have a life expectancy of 81 years.

Across the country, people are living long than ever, according toa new study from the University of Washington, which analyzed life expectancy rates for both men and women from 1985-2010.

Throughout the US, major improvements in life expectancy occurred in areas with large metropolises, like parts of California, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, New York and Virginia. But the disparity is widening, with counties in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama seeing declines or stagnations in residents’ average age of death.

Researchers also found that women were living longer than men in every county in 2010. But men are catching up, having adding 5.3 years to their lives since 1985, while women only added 3.

Even more worrisome is that 45% of women in counties nationwide are dying younger now or at the same rate than they were in 1985. So while men are living longer in counties across the country, women are remaining stagnant in much of the country.

“As a nation, what we can do about that is have a concerted effort to tackle the key preventable causes in those communities where there is no improvement,” said IHME Director Christopher Murray. He told Patch that in places where there is stagnation, local communities should “focus on changing things there that we know can make a difference, like diet, tobacco, high blood pressure and physical inactivity.”