RWJF-MSP Life Expectancy Map

Map: The Neighborhood You’re From & Life Expectancy

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, possibly best known for all the NPR sponsorship they perpetrate, also do a lot of research. They have recently published maps that show how socioeconomic factors that can be correlated to the neighborhood that you are “from” can influence your life expectancy.

RWJF-MSP Life Expectancy Map

 

Their conclusion: Where we live, work and play have greater impact on our health than we may realize. In the above map, as we travel west on I94 from downtown St. Paul, the approximate Frogtown shows a 70-75 year life expectancy. Moving towards Midway, the expectancy rises, until near the river and Mac Groveland/Merriam Park and across the river show an 83+ year life expectancy. As I94 heads north in Minneapolis, the life expectancy again drops, until the suburban border is reached.

Factors listed for the variance include behavioral factors, environmental factors, crime rates, schools, access to health care, and more. Unsurprisingly, in MSP and other metros, these distributions also correlate to property values. As ever, correlation is not causation, but the patterns suggested by this data are sobering, to say the least.

About Julie Kosbab

Julie Kosbab is an online marketing consultant and active transportation advocate living in Anoka County, Minnesota. She was one of Minnesota's only League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructors when certified in 2005, and is no longer lonely in that calling. A past member of the National Bicycle Tour Directors Association, she has 2 children and a garage full of bicycles. Find her on Twitter as @betweenstations, or read her (seldom updated) blog at Ride Boldly!