Malibu: Top 5 Longest Life Expectancies In LA County

MALIBU, CA – Highway to Health: Life Expectancy in Los Angeles County is the first analysis of life expectancy rates in over a decade for cities and unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County. The report shows a nearly 15-year gap in life expectancy between communities.

Measure of America, a project of the Social Science Research Council, released the report Wednesday, which presents original life expectancy calculations using recent data from the California Department of Public Health available for 106 cities and unincorporated neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, as well as for community plan areas and city council districts within the City of Los Angeles, according to the Measure of America press release. It also includes recommendations for increasing life expectancy and reducing disparities.

According to the report, a baby born in Los Angeles County in 2014 can expect to live 82.1 years,
which is several years longer than the average American born that same year, 78.8 years. If LA County were a
country, it would be globally ranked eleventh in longevity, the press release said.

In 2000, the average LA County resident born that year could expect to live 78.7 years, but that jumped to 81.5 years by 2010. However, within LA County, life expectancy rates vary by community as much as 14.7 years.

The top five communities in LA County with the longest life expectancies are:

1. Walnut Park (90.5 years)
2. Malibu (89.8 years)
3. Castaic (88.9 years)
4. Rowland Heights (87.0 years)
5. Rancho Palos Verdes (86.7 years)

The bottom five communities in LA County with the shortest life expectancies are:

1. Lancaster (76.4 years)
2. Westmont (76.3 years)
3. Lake Los Angeles (76.2 years)
4. East Rancho Dominguez (76.1 years)
5. Sun Village (75.8 years)

“The good news is that life expectancy in LA County is up nearly three years since 2000,” said Kristen Lewis, co-director of Measure of America. “The bad news is that the disparities in life expectancies between communities within LA – some of which are even adjacent to one another and on the surface appear to be quite similar –are stark."

As a society, Lewis said, we need to pay far more attention to the social determinants of health—factors like access to green spaces for exercise, jobs with decent wages, social cohesion, clean air, nutritious foods, and quality schools—alongside access to doctors and medicine.

Measure of America included ways to improve key public health issues within the report, such as awareness campaigns targeted at practices that harm health and lead to earlier deaths. One in seven deaths in LA County is linked to cigarette smoking, so it has been made a priority by the LA Department of Public Health.

Homicide is the second leading cause of premature death in the county, and the leading cause of death among black and Latino young men in Southeast Los Angeles; suicide, the fifth-leading cause of premature death; and traffic fatalities, the third-leading cause of premature death in the county population, and the second-leading cause of death for children and young-adults, aged 5-24 years, according to the press release.

Efforts to increase access to public parks, reasonable living wages, supporting plant-based initiatives, and organizing communities to fight environmental justices are all ways actors are contributing to improved population health in LA County, the press release stated.

“LA County can help to close the gap between longer-living communities and those where life
expectancy is cut short by continuing to invest in policies and awareness campaigns that address
common obstacles,” said co-director of Measure of America Sarah Burd-Sharps. “This includes focusing on issues like cigarette smoking, violence, prenatal care, and depression.”

The full report is available here. You can also review the data with an interactive map here.

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