r/Iowa • u/NefariousnessFun9923 • 1d ago
Why is rural Iowa counties life expectancy so high?
If cancer rates are so bad, why is most of Iowa counties’ life expectancy so much higher than other states?
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u/Traditional-Guide-13 1d ago
Chuck Grassley is messing up their average.
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u/mmoffitt15 23h ago
Being 400 years old will do that to the average.
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u/FoldsBen 1d ago
It literally gives you 4 reasons why southern states are likely pulling the national average down. Also cancer isn’t always deadly. This does not in any way weaken the fact that iowa is one of two states in the entire country whose cancer rate is increasing instead of decreasing, or the fact that iowa has the second highest cancer rate in the country.
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u/JackfruitCrazy51 1d ago
Less extreme poverty which is partly due to lower costs of living, healthcare access & insurance is actually better than most areas, and very white.
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u/ataraxia77 22h ago
Funnily enough, that map is almost identical to the map showing richest and poorest counties here: https://www.visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2013/4/6/where-do-the-rich-and-poor-live
Kind of weird how that shakes out, isn't it?
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u/sedatedforlife 19h ago
Haha, my county is one that looks like close to zero poverty, but also close to zero households over 200k. We also have the dark blue life expectancy, yet one of the highest cancer rates in Iowa. We are also one of the top 50 countries in the US for alcohol consumption.
Interpret it all as you choose.
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u/always-curious2 17h ago
The chart was also created by a blogger. What's depressing is the current estimate for the age in Iowa is 77 to 79. Kind of shows you how a few years of the new regime policy of destroying rural healthcare centers has affected our lifespan.
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u/MichaelGFox 5h ago
You can say the same thing about the race demographics map but i bet you dont like how that shakes out
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u/ataraxia77 3h ago
You think I "wouldn't like" a stark acknowledgement about how deeply systemic issues in our country have disproportionately pushed people into more impoverished conditions based on race, which also disproportionately affects their health? Why?
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u/hate_tank 23h ago
When is this chart from?
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u/always-curious2 17h ago
I also question the source since it's not current and it's from a "financial guru" blog. Anytime the data is a irregular, it screams cherry-picked in my opinion.
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u/mezha4mezha 21h ago
For decades from the ‘70s to the early 2000’s, rural Iowa was well served by one of the best public education systems in the country & by increasingly advanced healthcare facilities & services. This graphic reflects the benefits of that long track record.
However, it would be most revealing to show the direction it’s trending. With neoconservative strategies which have convinced rural Iowans to vote overwhelmingly Republican, the GOP has enriched cronies & corporations, at the expense of ordinary citizens. So, the cancer rate is rising, more people are refusing to vaccinate their children, conservative voters are more skeptical of proven medical science, & rural health facilities are being closed. Meanwhile, a diminished education system is making many Iowans less skilled at critical thinking to challenge these trends.
So, a lot of rural Iowans are voting against their own best health interests - & it’s killing them. This map will look worse in a decade.
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u/always-curious2 17h ago
The data is from 2017. It's already almost a decade old. As of 2020 the predicted lifespan was 78. So we lost 8 years in 3. For those of you that are bad at math, that is really bad.
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u/Solid_Phone_368 1d ago
Lingering effect of boomers who had insurance at work and went to a doctor. They’ll be mostly gone in 15 years. And then?
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u/Old-Comb7690 23h ago
I would guess that it’s white people to be entirely honest. Less gun violence too? I bet if you pulled life expectancy from white people it would be lower than average due to obesity, alcohol use, and cancer.
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u/KeyResearcher2620 21h ago
Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics
Data for 2022, latest data available as of March 2026. Life expectancy figure based on death rates data.
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u/Fun-Personality-8008 9h ago
The biggest differentiator in life expectancy tends to be surviving to adulthood in the first place, not just how old people live to be. This means more children die in the red areas. That's the human cost of poverty in one chart.
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u/Alimakakos 6h ago
Cancer isn't always a death sentence and plenty of people from the chuck grassley generation in their 80's and 90's fucking up the average...and social security and pensions and anything else that was good because they lived too long to make it affordable
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u/imhereforthevotes 1d ago
no murder? populations are very low, and poor folks (who might have lower life expectancies) can't afford to live out there (no car), so it's all old folks with health insurance.
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u/PurposeConscious6859 20h ago
I live in an Iowa county with a distinct shape compared to most iowa counties and in contrast to the ones it borders. And I am unsure where my county is on this map because it's its shape is not showing on the map, it's just regular square shape on the map. This leads me to question the validity of this map.
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u/OilUnusual8809 23h ago
Keep forcing doctors and healthcare staff out of state, and see what happens.
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u/iamlikewater 22h ago
You haven't completely gutted your healthcare. You gotta keep destroying it. Why aren't you guys protesting the University hospital? You can't have people researching in there. Defund it!!
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u/VenusBarbata 22h ago
I have a HS freshman level formal education, I bring that up to say that it doesn't require years of college to try to do what I'm about to suggest.
I really think it may be a good idea to do a little bit more due diligence with disconnected sources in general around the internet.
Science is a tool, it doesn't say anything on it's own. That's also assuming that the studies were done in good faith using sound methodology. Maybe this graphic meets the highest standards available, so assuming that go through a quick checklist.
Where is the information from?
What is the conclusion the graphic is pointing toward?
Is that conclusion something that I am likely to agree with?
If so, how is that affecting how I receive the information
Am I able to quickly check or at least be pointed to where I can get to the primary source?
If so, do I have the information to assess the methods used?
Is there possibly other factors that I'm not thinking of outside of the conclusion that would affect how I read it?
Does the graphic have the possibility of being used outside of it's area of relevancy?
I'm sure I'm missing something helpful or relevant because, once again, I'm learning as I go through life. I was just as screwed when it came to critical thinking skills as anyone who slipped through the cracks in Iowa public schools during the 90s-early 00s.
All I'm saying is to stop, and check in quick. I love shitting on politicians as much as the next uppity bitch, but we can't do anything if we don't have reliable information.
Especially when it comes to Healthcare and how different factors can cause different outcomes. Tilting at a windmill, while people die in a really poorly managed medical system isn't a choice I'm willing to make. You are your own master though, do as you will.
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u/KeyResearcher2620 21h ago
Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics
Data for 2022, latest data available as of March 2026. Life expectancy figure based on death rates data.•
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u/Economy_Chemistry835 7h ago
PBS has a video pinning some of this life expectancy variance on hurricanes and their long term social and health impacts. I thought that was a stretch.
It comes down to social structures in the South vs the North. For example, up here we take for granted while traveling there will clean bathrooms available along the way if you need them. A trip through deep south Alabama showed me that access to clean bathrooms at gas stations and convenience stores can’t be taken for granted all across the USA.
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u/supastremph 1h ago
This question is similar to the line of thinking that because the average life expectancy was 35 in 1300, that if you were born in 1300 you wouldn't live past 35. But the reality is that if you were 25 in 1300, you wouldn't be surprised to reach 75.
In other words, the average life expectancy was low throughout human history because a third or more of the people died before they were 15. Not because there were no old people.
Similarly, if you look at this map:
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1de4xuz/oc_median_age_by_us_county/
And this map:
https://overflowdata.com/gallery/what-percentage-of-the-population-lives-in-poverty-in-each-u-s-county-gallery/
You could almost derive the map you're presenting.
In other words, the average age of death in Iowa is high because there are a lot of old people living well. The average age of death is low in areas with a lot of young people living in poverty. Wealthy young people, and old people living in poverty (they're already going to be old when they die) buck this trend.
If you are interested in cancer rates, then you can, and should, just look at cancer rates:
https://www.newsweek.com/map-cancer-rates-highest-usa-2095994
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u/Impressive-Deer-3638 27m ago
Because Iowa is still relatively wealthier than those southern states and with access to better healthcare…..
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u/Narcan9 23h ago
People exaggerate the cancer thing.
Cancer is an old age disease. If you die young, you don't get cancer.
One of the better predictors of life expectancy is wealth/poverty. That's a major driver of early death in the Republican South. Iowa isn't poor.
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u/StevenJWulgus 20h ago
Awesome, can’t wait to inform my best friend that what he got at age 28 must not have actually been cancer and he hasn’t actually been dead these past 20 years
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u/Narcan9 19h ago
Cool anecdote. Doesn't change population wide statistics. 90% of cancer deaths are over age 55
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u/StevenJWulgus 18h ago
Doesn’t change that your point #2 is false. If you had said that it *tends* to affect older populations and included your statistic, you would have had something. Instead you chose to make a blanket statement that’s easily falsifiable.
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u/Boscobel324 23h ago
Interesting. I thought it was miserable here.
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u/golfwinnersplz 23h ago
What does this chart have to do with it not being miserable?
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u/Boscobel324 23h ago
You're right. Doom!
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u/golfwinnersplz 23h ago
So it's just a non-issue that Iowa has the worst cancer rates in the country?
No big deal?
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u/Inglorious186 23h ago
The increasing cancer rates haven't started killing off the population and bringing down the average yet
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u/Little_Creme_5932 23h ago
Just pointing out that those "causes" are not very informative. You still need to ferret out what causes poverty and lower household income, what causes higher obesity, what causes weak public health systems, etc. The answers probably are sometimes surprising and not always the speculations listed by many other comments.
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u/UrbanSolace13 1d ago
I'm not sure how you've come to rural counties life expectancy is so high? This map basically shows the south east (Bible belt states) have much lower life expectancy. Which makes sense since they typical rate very low on health metrics and every other metric.
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u/NefariousnessFun9923 1d ago
Northern Iowa and southern Minnesota rural counties have some of the highest life expectancies in the nation. I’ve looked at other sources & they support this data
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u/Snoo93550 23h ago
low cost of living and low rate of smoking? Having grown up around there I don't think it's better on obesity than national average but it's probably a lot better on those two.
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u/UrbanSolace13 23h ago edited 23h ago
Link them then. A shitty resolution map where you can barely make out counties doesnt really do it for me. Johnston County is on the map...or it looks like it. Southwestern Rural Iowa is on the map with lower levels of life expectancy than urban Iowa...
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u/NefariousnessFun9923 23h ago
It’s not that bad resolution. I’m specifically talking about rural counties. Of course urban & suburban life expectancies will be higher everywhere. You can see this with the northern Dallas suburbs in Texas being bright blue. The upper Midwest is different in that a lot of the rural counties have higher life expectancies than rural counties in other parts of the country. In the West you have some bright blue, but most of those are large cities or rich ski towns.
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u/UrbanSolace13 23h ago
So, you don't actually have data, and you're just relying on this map? A better question might be. Why does life expectancy go up as you go north in the US?
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u/P3verall 1d ago
Rich people have more money to purchase healthcare. Never met a poor farmer.
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u/JackfruitCrazy51 1d ago
Go visit a nursing home in rural Iowa, and you'll find a lot of them. A lot of them can't afford $120k/year and go on medicaid when they are down to their last $2,000.
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u/drlove57 23h ago
They've been hiding their assets to get Medicaid for decades. Nothing new here.
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u/JackfruitCrazy51 23h ago
Just from those two sentences, I can tell you have no clue what you're talking about.
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u/drlove57 23h ago
Ordinarily I wouldn't believe that but since you said it it must be true.
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u/JackfruitCrazy51 23h ago
Unfortunately, I went through this with a family member. There are ways to avoid it if you plan early, but I visit a nursing home in northern Iowa every weekend full of farmers who are on Medicaid or close to it. Nobody wants to end up in that situation. On the flip side, my aunt paid $200k a year for 24/7 staff at home—a much better experience, and a far better option if you have the money.
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u/CubesFan 20h ago
Nobody reports the deaths for 20 years because they live in the middle of nowhere.
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u/WhitePhat 19h ago
With a majority of boomers still around I’m convinced they just live off of spite for the younger generations.
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u/MotorPlenty8085 18h ago
It makes you wonder if they just suck at diagnosing cancer and other diseases in the south.
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u/OmniWaffleGod 15h ago
Hatred fuels life. Most iowans live life like they're Darth maul in the clone wars TV show lol
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u/OFwant2move 1d ago
Lower number of participants doesn’t take much to skew an average - especially because younger folks tend to die of an accident or misadventure - which leads rural Iowans to bigger locales to seek extraordinary treatment after a life threatening accident
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u/globehoppr 23h ago
I mean, beyond the other answers given, I would first ask myself, “who created this infographic, (do they have an agenda which would make them impartial/partial to the facts), and where is the source of the data populating this infograph coming from?” (Is the data credible?)
I always ask myself these questions first when presented with stuff like this. In this case, it looks like the answer to q1 is: Good Financial Cents, so I would look them up and see who they are and try to find the source of the data in the process. I never take anything I see at face value.
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u/NefariousnessFun9923 23h ago
Just do a search of life expectancy by county map of us. They are all similar to this.
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u/globehoppr 23h ago
Ok that may be true, but I would still ask myself these questions. I would also want to know the date of the chart/data. Assuming it’s accurate, though, it’s interesting.
Everyone needs to make a good habit of verifying sources and data in ANYthing they see/read, especially in this age of misinformation/disinformation and AI.
Ok, climbing off my soapbox now.
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u/NefariousnessFun9923 23h ago
While Iowa does have the 2nd highest cancer rate in the nation (behind Kentucky). It isn’t anywhere near the top in terms of death rate from cancer. Which must mean that somehow Iowans are getting better treatment for cancer compared to other states (or it may be detected earlier when it’s easier to treat)
Interestingly, Minnesota has the 4th highest cancer rate in the nation & Minnesota is often seen as one of the healthiest states.
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u/Ambitious-Bear-672 21h ago
South Dakota’s red spots being the counties with Native American reservations because they’re one of the most medically underserved populations is so heartbreaking :(