Between rent, subway delays and the occasional rat encounter, New York doesn’t always feel like a place that adds years to your life. But the city’s health data offers a surprisingly encouraging counterpoint: New Yorkers live roughly four years longer than the national average.
Provisional NYC Health Department figures put the city’s life expectancy at 83.2 years in 2024, its highest recorded level. Nationwide, life expectancy was 79 years that year, according to finalized CDC data—a 4.2-year gap.
The city figure also meets a target New York set for 2030. HealthyNYC, the public health campaign launched in 2023, aimed to raise life expectancy to 83 years by tackling major causes of premature death, including chronic diseases, overdose, violence and COVID-19. The city announced the milestone last November, using preliminary figures for the previous year…