Philadelphia’s Life Expectancy Gap: Why Suburban Counties Live Years Longer

Crossing the Philadelphia city line can correspond with gaining several years of life expectancy.

The gap is not a matter of cleaner air or better weather on one side of the county line.

It shows up in mortality data collected year after year across the five-county Philadelphia region, and it holds even in a city known nationally for its hospitals and medical research.

That contradiction, a city rich in world-class care but poor in years lived, is where this story starts.