Life Expectancy Trend by Geographic Classification in the Finger Lakes Region

Life expectancy for residents of urban zip codes is significantly lower than residents of rural and suburban zip codes in the Finger Lakes. The gap between urban and rural/suburban was closing until 2013, but that gap has since grown, with urban residents in 2021 living 5.0 and 7.5 years less than their rural and suburban counterparts. This is in contrast to the difference between rural and suburban has been consistent the last 22 years (about 2 years). The main causes of death leading to lower life expectancy in urban zip codes are drug overdoses and homicide, with the YPLL rate being two times and eight times for these causes in rural and suburban zip codes from 2019-2021.

Methodology note: Years of potential life lost (YPLL) is a widely used measure to assess the rate of premature mortality. YPLL places a larger weight on the deaths of younger people, in contrast with overall mortality statistics which are dominated by deaths of the elderly. The YPLL rates in Common Ground Health analyses are derived using 75 years as the baseline. A death at age 65 has YPLL of 10, where as a death at age 35 has a YPLL of 40. The rates are calculated per 100,000 population and are age-sex adjusted to account for differences in population distribution.