Around five miles separate Lakewood and Fair Park in Dallas, but new research shows that distance could mean losing nearly 18 years of life one’s expectancy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.6 years—76.1 years for men and 81.1 years for women, and new research from the National Health Statistics and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation show how life expectancy at birth can vary widely from block to block.
Environmental factors, segregation, access to healthcare, public transportation, healthy food, affordable housing, and good jobs impact life expectancy, with short distances having often resulting in a decade of life expectancy difference. Virginia Commonwealth University made a series of maps that show how just a few miles can impact life expectancy, which can be found here.
If you want to dig in deep, complete census track life expectancy information for Texas can be found here.
While we didn’t search every census tract, Lakewood was the highest life expectancy we found, topping out at 83.8 years for those born in that part of 75214. Fair Park was the lowest we found at 65.9 years. The data closely aligns with other poverty and health measures, as would be expected. Below, look at how neighborhoods around Dallas compare to the county, state, national average and each other in regards to life expectancy.
Check your own census track here.
US-78.6
Texas-78.5
Dallas County-78.3
Lakewood (75214)-83.8
Highland Park (75205)-83.0
Lake Highlands (75243)-81.0
Preston Hollow (75230)-80.9
Uptown (75201)-80.9
Northwest Dallas (75220)-77.7
Kessler Park (75208)-77.7
Oak Cliff (75233)-77.6
Pleasant Grove (75217)-75.6
Casa View (75228)-74.8
Southern Dallas (75232)-74.6
East Oak Cliff (75216)-72.8
West Dallas (75212)-71.7
Fair Park (75215)-65.9
