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New National City Data Tool Explores Life Expectancy Factors

By Jill Sheridan, IPB News | Published on in Community, Health, Local News
(City Health Dashboard)
(City Health Dashboard)

The average life expectancy for a person in Indiana is 77 years, but across the state that number increases and decreases based on where you live. A new national tool called the City Health Dashboard highlights health impacts neighborhood by neighborhood.

In Carmel, Indiana, life expectancy is 83-years-old, in Gary it’s 72.

The online data is presented in 35 different categories including healthy behaviors and clinical care.  The information also explores social and environmental factors that influence health.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Program Officer Oktawia Wojcik says in Indiana, social health factors are often influenced by economics.

“If that person doesn’t have a living wage that can have an impact on the type of housing a person lives in, there could be mold or rodents or maybe crime in the neighborhood which has an impact on life expectancy,” says Wojcik.

Eleven Indiana cities are analyzed.  The cities included are Bloomington, Carmel, Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Muncie and South Bend.

Muncie, Indiana

In Muncie, the average life expectancy is 76 years old. Looking at individual neighborhoods, those in the west part of the city towards Yorktown have a life expectancy of 80 years. Two neighborhoods – one near the White River and West Kilgore Avenue … and the other south and west of Memorial and Madison – show life expectancies in the mid-60’s.

The tool is meant for anyone to from parents to policy makers.

“We hope that this data is going to spur action and target intervention in these locations and also the allocation of resources,” says Wojcik.

The City Health Dashboard also allows for city comparison and data breakdown by demographics.