Local News

Grand County 29th in US for longest life expectancy

September 9, 2019

With a life expectancy approaching 83 years, Grand County landed 29th on USA Today’s list of the top 50 U.S. counties with the longest life expectancies.

In the annual report published Friday, Colorado’s High Country fared better than any other region with five of the top 10 counties for life expectancy credited to the Mile High State.

In fact, the top three slots were all in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains with Summit, Pitkin and Eagle counties ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively.

Also in Colorado, San Miguel (7^th), Douglas (10^th), Hinsdale (12^th), Ouray (21^st), Routt (30^th) and Park (39^th) counties made the list. Along with Grand County, that gave Colorado 10 counties among the top 50, far more than any other state.

To determine the counties where people are living the longest, researchers reviewed county-level life expectancy figures, death records, and poverty and obesity rates.

They found that Grand County has a life expectancy of 82.73 years with a 16.3% adult obesity rate and a 13.1% poverty rate. From 1980 to 2014, the life expectancy rate increased 9.4% in Grand County.