Why is Life Expectancy Important?

Life expectancy is a measure of premature death that tells us the average age of death in a population. Over the last 200 years, life expectancy has greatly improved due to advances in hygiene practices, medical knowledge, housing, and education. Despite great improvements, inequalities in life expectancy still exist both globally and within the United States. In the U.S., the life expectancy of women is about 5 years longer than that of men. The average life expectancy at birth among African Americans is also much lower than the average life expectancy at birth among white individuals in the US.

Life Expectancy in Our Community

Darker colors on the interactive maps indicate a higher life expectancy, or longer average lifespan. Areas that have a gray color indicate that life expectancy information was not available.

Life expectancy information in Taylor County is available by census tract, which is subdivision of a county with a population between 1,200 and 8,000 residents. Census tracts change slightly over time depending on results of each census and how people move within an area. In Taylor County, the census tracts with the highest life expectancy were in the southernmost part of Abilene, which corresponds with the 79606 and 79602 zip codes. The census tracts in the northwestern part of Abilene, which correspond with zip codes 79601 and 79603 had the lowest life expectancy in 2018.