New data will allow state officials to track life expectancy at the neighborhood level.
The data, compiled by the United States Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project, compiles life expectancy information at the census level - allowing state health officials to track individual neighborhoods.
Bob Wheaton is with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. He said individual neighborhood data has never been available to the state.
“Now you can start asking questions and try to determine why life expectancy is lower in smaller geographic areas where it might be masked if you looked at county or even zip code data.”
In one case, a neighborhood of Genesee county had a life expectancy of 64.7 years while the county as a whole averaged roughly 75.3 years.
Wheaton said now the health department can ask questions about why life expectancy would change within a few square miles.
“So now it’s just a matter of trying to see why life expectancy is different in different neighborhoods and come up with solutions to remove barriers that people may have to living healthy and thus living a longer life.”
Wheaton says the information will help the state better target regions with lower life expectancy for aid or launch investigations into what is impacting the community.
Across the state, county life expectancy averages remained close to the overall state average.
Clare had an average life expectancy of 75 years while Grand Traverse and Mackinaw counties were at 80 and 82 years respectively.
Michigan’s average life expectancy is 77 years, below the national average of roughly 79 years.