Check Out These Texas Counties With The Shortest Life Expectancy

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My goal in life is to live a long healthy life and to be there for my wife and daughter as they age too and with any luck play with any grandchildren that I may be blessed with. I'd like to live a life like my grandfather who lived to be 96 and at the time of his death, the only medication he took was the occasional Tylenol. I guess that other Texans have the same goal in mind too.

While life expectancy has been on the rise here in the U.S. for the last 60 years, as of the past few years it has declined a couple of years. Life expectancy grew by nearly a decade from 1960 to 2020. The average life expectancy in 1960 was 69 years old and grew to 78 years by 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic and opioid epidemic struck the U.S.

Unfortunately, things are not equal across the United States or even Texas. There are areas of the country and the Lone Star State that have lower life expectancies than the average age of 79. A report was created by Stacker that takes all 254 counties in Texas and ranks them using data from 2022 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps along with other data to create the list of the 46 Texas counties with the lowest life expectancy.

It was eye-opening to find so many East Texas counties on this top 46 list.

Here's a look at the East Texas, Deep East Texas, and Northeast Texas counties that were on the list. Duplicate numbers indicate a tie.

• #46. Shelby County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.6 years (3.8 less than the statewide average)

• #46. Henderson County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.6 years (3.8 less than the statewide average)

• #46. Gregg County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.6 years (3.8 less than the statewide average)

• #41. Marion County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.5 years (3.9 less than the statewide average)

• #41. Bowie County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.5 years (3.9 less than the statewide average)

• #39. Trinity County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.3 years (4.1 less than the statewide average)

• #32. Morris County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.1 years (4.3 less than the statewide average)

• #32. Jasper County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.1 years (4.3 less than the statewide average)

• #32. Panola County
  - Average life expectancy: 74.1 years (4.3 less than the statewide average)

• #23. Delta County
  - Average life expectancy: 73.9 years (4.5 less than the statewide average)

• #21. Lamar County
  - Average life expectancy: 73.8 years (4.6 less than the statewide average)

• #11. Anderson County
  - Average life expectancy: 73.2 years (5.2 less than the statewide average)

• #6. Polk County
  - Average life expectancy: 72.5 years (5.9 less than the statewide average)

See the full list of 46 Texas counties with lower life expectancies.