New study finds life expectancy varies by neighborhood

Evanston Now

A new study from New York University finds substantial variations in life expectancies among census tracts in American cities -- including here in Evanston.

For Evanston the citywide average life expectancy was 82 years. That's 3.2 years longer than the nationwide average.

For individual tracts the life expectancy ranged from 75.5 in tract 8092 in west Evanston to 88.8 in tract 8088 in northeast Evanston.

By comparison, Chicagoans had an average life expectancy of 77.3 years with a range from 59 to 90 years across census tracts -- the largest spread in the nation in the study.

Arlington Heights residents had an average life expectancy of 81.3 years with a range of 77 to 86 years.

Compared to the rest of the 500 largest cities in the country that were included in the study, Evanston scored substantially higher on racial/ethnic diversity but slightly higher on racial/ethnic segregation. The study's authors consider diversity to be a positive indicator for good health outcomes but segregation a negative indicator.