The Biggest Nassau-Suffolk Divide? Life Expectancy

There are many things that differentiate Nassau and Suffolk counties. And now there's one more thing that can be added to that ever-growing list: life expectancy.

According to data compiled by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, people in Nassau County, on average, live longer than those in Suffolk. And it's not a little bit longer, either — people in Nassau live almost two years longer than Suffolk residents.

With an average life expectancy of 82.21 years, Nassau residents are also the third-longest-lived in New York, being beat out just barely by Rockland County at 82.54 years and Westchester at 82.29. Suffolk's average was 80.61. Both are above the New York State average of 80.36 years.

The data is part of an analysis of life expediencies in every county in the United States. And while there's almost two years between Nassau and Suffolk, the gap is much larger in other places. There's more than a 20 year difference between the best- and worst-rated counties. Oglala Lakota County in South Dakota was one of the lowest in the country, with an average life expectancy of just 66.81 years. Compared to extremely long-lived counties — like Summit County, Colorado, which had a life expectancy of 86.83 years — the disparity is striking.

Across the country, the discrepancies have much to do with poverty and access to healthcare, with many of the areas with the lowest life expectancy also being incredibly poor, according to NPR.

On Long Island, though, the causes is harder to determine. Since data started being kept in 1980, Nassau's average life expectancy has consistently been higher than Suffolk's. And the gap has only grown over the years.

To see the map of life expectancy across the country, click here.

Photo: Shutterstock