Funny... 3 years later I took this and got everything, but was ready to come to the comments section and say I was surprised to not see Utah. hm... well I was. Also surprised that Florida beats out some other places like Rhode Island, Vermont, and Oregon.
I lived in Oregon for three years. It's not as healthy as you'd think. There's definitely health conscious people in the I-5 corridor of Portland, Salem, and Eugene, but a lot of poverty and obesity on the coast, and in the South and East. A bit surprised that Vermont and Rhode Island didn't make the cut as well.
More and more people from New England retiring to Florida and from other states? I'm not sure that's the way the statistic is calculated though, just a guess.
Highly urbanized state. Contrary to popular belief rural living is not especially good for your health. Probably mostly has to do with money, health insurance, and access to good hospitals though.
Access to good doctors is a problem. It takes months to get in to see a specialist. Hospitals in my area have to offer all kinds of crazy perks to get doctors to move here. I also see attitudes of rugged individualism - "I'm too busy to worry about that spot on my skin - if I keep working hard enough it will probably go away. I don't need to waste money on a doctor visit."
Three out of the four states with 'New' in their name are all in the top ten (excepting New Mexico). Therefore renaming ones state with the word 'New' should raise the life expectancy.
At a glance I'd say it's a combination of affluence, urban living, moderate climate, liberal politics/adequate health care/healthy living, and Mormons.
Since 9/10 of these are blue states, while 10/10 of the lowest life expectancy states are red, this would seem to forecast that Florida will switch sides in 2020.
I suspect that Florida is a unique case, and makes the list primarily because so many people retire there when they are already older, many of whom come from those very states with longer life expectancy. It'd be interesting to find stats that correct for that and look at life expectancy of the native Floridian population.
The reason states with mild climates are underrepresented could also be due to the fact that there are more states and there is more land in the northern part of America
I don't really think that has anything to do with it. How much land there is certainly isn't relevant. Population size is a factor because it's easier to swing an average with fewer citizens, but you've got very populous states like Florida, New York, and California here, as well as less populated states like Connecticut and Hawaii.The disparity in the number of states in different regions certainly doesn't account for the fact that the South is entirely absent, except for Florida, which is unique because it is where so many elderly people move from the northeast. You've got big states, small states, very populous states, not-so populous states all on this list. These states all rank low on the obesity rankings. They also tend to have better hospitals and better-educated populations in the their large urban centers that carry a disproportionate share of these state's populations. There is no single cause for dying, but you can assess all these factors and identify patterns.
A resident of New Kansas.