2010-2015 estimates of life expectancy at birth for 65,662 census tracts across the United States, covering 88.7% of all U.S. census tracts. The data was produced by the U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project (USALEEP), a collaboration between the National Center for Health Statistics, NAPHSIS, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It includes estimates for the District of Columbia and all states except Maine and Wisconsin.
Use Cases
- Analyzing health inequality by comparing Life Expectancy across different Census Tract Number and County using the Life Expectancy Range column.
- Modeling the relationship between geographic location (State, County) and health outcomes using Life Expectancy as a target variable.
- Assessing the statistical reliability of estimates for small areas by incorporating the Life Expectancy Standard Error into analyses.
- Creating geospatial visualizations of health metrics by joining data on Census Tract Number with shapefiles.
Strengths
- Covers 65,662 census tracts, representing 88.7% of all U.S. census tracts.
- Includes a Life Expectancy Standard Error column, allowing for assessment of estimate precision.
- Produced by a major collaborative project (USALEEP) involving authoritative institutions like the National Center for Health Statistics.
Limitations
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Excludes data for Maine and Wisconsin, limiting nationwide completeness.
- Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
Provenance
- Source
- National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) via data.cdc.gov
- Collection Method
- Estimates produced by the U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project (USALEEP).
- Time Range
- 2010-2015
- Freshness
- Last updated 2025-04-21 16:20:35; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- United States, at the state, county, and census tract level (excluding Maine and Wisconsin).