City skyline in Philadelphia. (Photo by: Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA - Living up to 100 years old is a rare milestone achieved by a small portion of the population.
In the United States, life expectancy rose to its highest mark in history at 79 years in 2024 — but how does that number shift when it comes to life in major cities?
By the numbers:
The estimated life expectancy at birth for Philadelphia was 75 years in 2023, according to data released by the City Health Dashboard.
Philadelphia's age is more than 2 years younger than the average life expectancy of the analyzed cities, which is 77.3 years.
Here's how Philadelphia compares to other cities:
- New York City: 82.3 years
- Washington DC: 77.4 years
- Los Angeles: 79.6 years
- Chicago: 77.9 years
- Houston: 74.8 years
Women in Philadelphia will likely live longer than men on average, with a life expectancy of 79 years, compared to men's at 70.9 years.
The study also broke down the city's life expectancy based on rase/ ethnicity:
- Asian: 84.1 years
- Black: 70.9 years
- Hispanic: 77.1 years
- White: 77.1 years
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Big picture view:
Life expectancy in the United States reached 79 years in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The age is an all-time high for the country and that is thanks to the decline of the COVID-19 pandemic and decreasing death rates from all the nation’s top killers, including heart disease, cancer and drug overdoses.
Preliminary statistics also suggested a continued improvement in 2025.
Data also suggests that the number of Americans ages 100 and older is projected to more than quadruple over the next three decades, from just 0.03% in 2024, to 0.1% in 2054.
Dig deeper:
The City Health Dashboard, a program created by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine's Department of Population Health, offers data on over 1,200 U.S. cities with populations over 50,000.
To determine life expectancy in these cities, the Dashboard analyzed the Multiple Cause of Death Data, National Vital Statistics System, and the National Center for Health Statistics from 2023 with a 3-year estimate.
The Source: Information from this article was provided by the City Health Dashboard, CDC and Pew Research Center.