Stark County Men and Women Living Longer Compared to Residents in Neighboring Counties

At 75.5 years for men and 80.6 years for women, both genders in Stark County live longer than residents in Cuyahoga and Summit County. 

Another encouraging fact is that men in Stark have extended their live expectancy by over four years and women by nearly three years compared against data from 1985. 

Interested in more local life expectancy data? Utilize the interactive map above. 

Throughout the US, major improvements in life expectancy occurred in areas with large metropolises, like parts of California, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, New York and Virginia. But the disparity is widening, with counties in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama seeing declines or stagnations in residents’ average age of death.

Researchers also found that women were living longer than men in every county in 2010. But men are catching up, having adding 5.3 years to their lives since 1985, while women only added 3.

Even more worrisome is that 45% of women in counties nationwide are dying younger now or at the same rate than they were in 1985. So while men are living longer in counties across the country, women are remaining stagnant in much of the country.

“As a nation, what we can do about that is have a concerted effort to tackle the key preventable causes in those communities where there is no improvement,” said IHME Director Christopher Murray. He told Patch that in places where there is stagnation, local communities should “focus on changing things there that we know can make a difference, like diet, tobacco, high blood pressure and physical inactivity.”