Average life expectancy in the USA

US life expectancy at birth is 79.0 years in 2024 (CDC NCHS provisional), up from 78.4 in 2023 final and from a COVID-era trough of 76.4 in 2021. That puts the United States back above its 2014 peak — and still about four years behind the wealthiest countries.

The shape of the curve

From 47 years in 1900 to 79 years in 2024, the US gained roughly three decades of average life. Most of the gain came in the first half of the 20th century from clean water, vaccinations, antibiotics and the collapse of infant mortality. Progress slowed in the late 20th century, peaked at 78.9 in 2014, then did something developed countries rarely do: declined.

The 2014–2018 fall was driven by what Anne Case and Angus Deaton (Princeton, 2015) named "deaths of despair" — rising mortality from drug overdoses, suicide and alcohol-related liver disease, especially among middle-aged Americans without a college degree. The fentanyl wave from 2013 onward turned a public-health problem into an emergency. COVID-19 then hit a population already losing ground: life expectancy fell from 78.8 (2019) to 76.4 (2021), the largest two-year decline since the early 1920s.

The 2022–24 recovery has been faster than expected. Drug overdose deaths fell ~27% in 2024 (CDC) — the steepest single-year drop on record. Heart disease, cancer and unintentional-injury deaths all fell. Whether the US can hold the gain and close the gap with peer nations is the open question.

The gap with peer countries

Despite the highest per-capita health spending in the world, the US ranks roughly 40th globally. Every comparable wealthy country lives longer:

Peer figures from WHO Global Health Observatory and the latest national statistics offices (2022–24).

Why the US lags

The 2013 National Research Council and Institute of Medicine report U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health identified a tight cluster of causes, and the same list keeps showing up in updates:

• Drug overdose deaths — over 100,000/year at the recent peak, falling sharply through 2024.
• Firearm deaths — more than 40,000/year; suicide accounts for over half.
• Motor vehicle deaths — about 12 per 100,000 in the US versus 2–4 in peer countries.
• Obesity and diet-related disease — adult obesity ~42%, far above peer norms.
• Maternal mortality — about 22/100,000 live births, several times higher than most wealthy countries.
• Healthcare access — uneven insurance coverage produces delayed care for chronic disease.

State by state

The variation within the United States is wider than the variation between countries. Hawaii's ~80 years would put it among wealthy western European peers; Mississippi's ~72 years would put it alongside lower-middle-income countries. CDC State Life Tables, 2021:

Source: CDC NCHS U.S. State Life Tables, 2021 (released 2024). Hawaii–Mississippi spread ≈ 8 years.

The race and ethnicity picture

CDC's 2023 final tables give Hispanic Americans the highest life expectancy at about 80.5 years (sometimes called the "Hispanic paradox"), then non-Hispanic White at ~77.5, non-Hispanic Black at ~72.8, and American Indian / Alaska Native lowest at ~67.9. The Native American figure rose sharply in 2023 as COVID and overdose mortality eased, but the gap remains the largest by race in the country's records.

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Above its 2014 peak again, four years behind its peers, and unequal enough internally to span a country's worth of difference between Hawaii and Mississippi.