Rich New Yorkers Live 10 Years Longer Than Poor, City Report Shows

MURRAY HILL, NY — Residents of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods are expected to live up to 10 years longer than those in poorer areas, a new survey by the city found.

The city's overall life expectancy in 2015 increased slightly to 81.2 years, according to a new analysis of health data released by the city on Friday. But the study showed a huge disparity between rich and poor neighborhoods, and between black and non-black New Yorkers.

Newborns in Murray Hill and the Upper East Side had a life expectancy of 85.9 years in 2015 – the highest in the city, the report shows.

But in Brownsville, Brooklyn, people were expected to live to 75.1 years, the lowest of any neighborhood for the second year in a row.

By race, the disparity is also drastic: Black New Yorkers have the shortest life expectancy at 77.3 years compared to 81.3 for whites.

"It's encouraging that New York City has experienced a significant increase in overall life expectancy and decline in the rates of premature death and teen pregnancies over the last decade," New York state assembly member Richard Gottfried said in a statement.

"But the persistent and troubling disparities in health outcomes by race and economic status point to the need for new administration initiatives to expand and improve health care services in poorer neighborhoods with a lower life expectancy."

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