Is New York One of the Healthiest or Unhealthiest States in U.S.?

A lot of factors go into maintaining your long term health, and diet, lifestyle, and exercise only name just a few. Some people may still have predisposition to certain diseases due to family history? And then again, sometimes health problems can still arise with little or no warning.

New York State Sees Biggest Drop in Life Expectancy

New York state took quite a hit over the past few years. According to numbers from the CDC, New York state saw the biggest decline in life expectancy in the nation, from 80.7 years in 2019 to 77.7 in 2020.

The CDC found that the steep decline was mainly due to factors such as COVID-19 and rising drug overdoses.

But now that COVID is mostly behind us, where does New York rank for overall health in the country?

So, Is New York One of the Healthiest or Unhealthiest States in the Country?

Forbes released its rankings of the healthiest states in the U.S. for 2024, according to News 10. The new study used twenty-one metrics across three major categories of disease risk factor, substance abuse, and lifestyle habits.

New York ranked 10th overall. The findings reveal that New York did quite well when it came to disease risk, and lifestyle, though ranked only 21st in the substance abuse category. This could mean excessive drinking, and misuse of illicit drugs and prescription pain relievers.

LOOK: Counties with the longest life expectancy in New York

Stacker compiled a list of counties with above average life expectancy in New York using data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Gallery Credit: Stacker

Is New York the Best State to Live?

U.S. News & World Report has once ranked the states, using thousands of data points and statistics. Such metrics as health, economy, environment, as well as crime & correction were thoroughly analyzed to come up with final results, according to the report.

According to the study, Utah topped Washington as America's top state.

As far as neighboring states; Vermont was 9th, Massachusetts 11th, Connecticut 16th, New Jersey 19th, Maine 28th, and Pennsylvania 40th.

Louisiana came in dead last at 50th.

The Conclusion

According to the new report, New York was ranked 20th overall. New York state performed very in the category of Natural Environment, where we ranked 2nd. With 47,000 square miles of land, from the Adirondacks, to over 3,000 lakes and ponds, New York is one of the most scenic states in the country.

The state also ranked 9th in the nation for Education and Health Care.

The Most, Least Diverse Cities In New York State

A recent study ranked 501 of America's largest cities across five major diversity categories: socioeconomic, cultural, economic, household and religious.

Hudson Valley Post looked into the data to rank the most and least diverse cities in New York State.