In 2023, life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 78.4 years for the total U.S. population — an increase of 0.9 years from 2022, according to a summary of data from the National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System. As of Feb. 8, 2025, any downloaded data files are inaccessible — files cannot be unzipped and appear to be corrupted. Journalists are able to conduct searches through CDC Wonder for this information; however it is unclear whether all variables for prior data is included.
This CDC search tool allows users to set parameters by census region, state, leading causes of death and other variables. Simply select several variables and the tool will produce a table of requested results. Some variables, such as age-adjusted rates and leading causes of death can only be processed as stand-alone data — they can’t be combined with other variables using this tool. Be sure to read the dataset documentation page for any additional limitations, as these may have changed from prior years.
However, this data, even with limitations, are important because national-level mortality data help researchers track the characteristics of those who have died, monitor and make decisions about public health challenges, determine life expectancy, and compare death trends with other countries. Queries can also be sorted by variables including state, metropolitan statistical areas year, sex, and ICD-10 codes. For example, a query using “10-year age” and “ICD-10” produced a comprehensive breakdown of the population from less than 1 year old to 85 years old and up, number of deaths by ICD-10 code, and crude rate per 100,000.
According to the data summary, life expectancy for males increased by one year, from 74.8 in 2022 to 75.8 in 2023. For females, life expectancy increased 0.9 years from 80.2 in 2022 to 81.1 in 2023. In 2023, the difference in life expectancy between females and males was 5.3 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2022.
If you reach age 65, you can expect to live another 19.5 years on average, an increase of 0.6 years from 2022.
- For males, life expectancy at age 65 increased from 17.5 in 2022 to 18.2 in 2023 (+0.7 years).
- For females, life expectancy at age 65 increased from 20.2 in 2022 to 20.7 in 2023 (+0.5 years).
- The difference in life expectancy at age 65 between females and males was 2.5 years in 2023, a decrease of 0.2 years from 2022.
The 10 leading causes of death in 2023 remained the same as in 2022, with heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries remaining the top three leading causes.
Deeper dive
Age-adjusted death rates are declining among all populations:
Total population (down 6%)
- 798.8 deaths per 100,000 U.S. standard population in 2022 to 750.5 in 2023
When corrected for race and ethnicity misclassification, death rates decreased:
- 10.5% for Hispanic males (774.2 to 692.8).
- 7.9% for Hispanic females (512.9 to 472.4).
- 11.5% for American Indian and Alaska Native males (1,444.1 to 1,277.7).
- 13.5% for American Indian and Alaska Native females (1,063.6 to 920.3).
- 8.8% for Asian males (522.2 to 476.1).
- 5.7% for Asian females (354.9 to 334.6).
- 8.8% for Black males (1,263.3 to 1,151.6).
- 7.3% for Black females (813.2 to 753.6).
- 6.7% for white males (971.9 to 906.4).
- 4.2% for white females (691.9 to 662.8).