NEW REPORT: Working-Class Americans Can Expect to Die at Least 7 Years Earlier than the Wealthy » Senator Bernie Sanders
www.sanders.senate.gov
WASHINGTON, March 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today released a new report exposing the stark disparities in life expectancy based on income, education, race and geography. The findings show that working class people in America die much younger than the wealthiest […]
  • Wealthy Americans live longer than the working class. People living in the top 1% of counties ranked by median household income live an average of 84.3 years, while people living in the bottom 50% of counties ranked by median household income live an average of 77.4 years – a difference of 7 years.
  • Rural counties face the greatest disparities. Urban and suburban counties with a median household income of $100,000 have an average life expectancy of 81.6 years, while small rural counties with a median household income of $30,000 have an average life expectancy of 71.7 years – a 10-year gap.
  • Geographic disparities persist. In Loudoun County, Virginia, the highest-earning county in the U.S., life expectancy is 84 years. Just 350 miles away, in McDowell County, West Virginia, one of the lowest-earning counties in the U.S., the life expectancy is 69 years – a 15-year difference.
  • Higher incomes translate to longer lives. Among rural counties, a $10,000 increase in median annual household income is associated with an additional 2.6 years of life expectancy. Among lower- and lower-middle income populations in urban and suburban counties, the same income increase is associated with a 2.1-year gain in life expectancy.