ZIP Code DestinyWhere the comparison starts1 of 19

Scene 1 of 19, Life expectancy falls with each step toward more deprived neighborhoods. Step 1 of 3, The two ends.

Census tracts, weighted by population

Life expectancy falls with each step toward more deprived neighborhoods

Tract life expectancy at birth by tenth of the Area Deprivation Index

Life expectancy at birth in census tracts, one ridge for each tenth of the deprivation rankingTen ridgelines, one for each tenth (decile) of U.S. census tracts ranked by the Area Deprivation Index, from the least deprived tenth at the top to the most deprived tenth at the bottom. Each ridge shows how life expectancy at birth, 2010 to 2015, is distributed across the tracts in that tenth, from shorter on the left to longer on the right, with each tract weighted by its population. A short tick under the crest of each ridge marks its median. Every ridge is drawn on one scale and encloses the same area. The ridges step to the left from top to bottom: each tenth is centered on a shorter life expectancy than the one above it. The ridges at the bottom are lower and wider than the ones at the top. The ridges overlap, so some tracts in the most deprived tenth have a longer life expectancy than some tracts in the least deprived tenth. Tracts with a large share of residents in group quarters, such as prisons, nursing homes and dormitories, are left out. Tract estimates are modeled and carry error, so each ridge is wider than the true spread across places.

Scenes

Where the comparison starts

  1. Life expectancy falls with each step toward more deprived neighborhoods
  2. Inside each New York borough, neighborhoods differ widely in life expectancy
  3. Home values set most of the deprivation ranking

Growing up

  1. Babies in more deprived counties are more often born small or early
  2. Test scores rise with county income, and gaps between groups remain inside districts
  3. Black and white children raised in the same neighborhood reach different adult incomes
  4. Former students of for-profit colleges earn the least a decade after entry

Adult life

  1. Where local jobs are scarce, residents hold better-paid jobs than the county offers
  2. Whether rent burden rises with deprivation depends on the comparison
  3. More deprived places have less traffic pollution nationally, but more within their own county
  4. Young adults report more distress than a decade ago, and the top income bracket the least at every age
  5. Smoking falls as income rises, while binge drinking climbs
  6. People rate their lives lowest in midlife, while stress declines with age

Reading the patterns

  1. The most deprived places usually stand farther from the national value than the least deprived
  2. Neighborhoods a few kilometers apart can differ by years of life expectancy
  3. Most differences in life expectancy lie inside counties, not between them
  4. Neighborhood types line up on outcomes but blur into one another
  5. Mobility beyond what census measures predict clusters by region
  6. These comparisons describe places, not what moving would do

Read the bookExplore the figuresMethods

Life expectancy falls with each step toward more deprived neighborhoods

Scene 1 of 19, step 1 of 3: The two ends. Census tracts, weighted by population.

What to say

Open on the two ends before the full plate. The ticks are medians and the numbers in the last step are population-weighted means from the chapter, not the tick positions. The estimates describe tracts, not the lifespan of any resident, and the deprivation index describes later years than the deaths.

About the chart

Tract life expectancy at birth by tenth of the Area Deprivation Index

Source

Life expectancy at birth by census tract, 2010 to 2015 (USALEEP, National Center for Health Statistics), grouped by national Area Deprivation Index decile (Neighborhood Atlas, 2023) and weighted by tract population. Tracts with many residents in institutions and other group quarters are left out. Tract estimates carry error, so each ridge is wider than the true spread across places.

Open in The cover of the bookThe chapter’s report, with every estimate and table

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