CDC says U.S. life expectancy hit a record high in 2024

CDC reports record 79-year life expectancy as COVID-era deaths fade

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that U.S. life expectancy climbed to 79 years in 2024, the highest level in American history. The CDC said the change reflects both the fading of the COVID-19 pandemic and broader declines in death rates from several of the nation’s leading causes of death.

Robert Anderson, a researcher with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, said the overall direction was positive. “It’s pretty much good news all the way around,” Anderson said as the CDC released the 2024 life expectancy data on Thursday.

Life expectancy is an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might be expected to live, based on that year’s death rates. For decades, the United States saw life expectancy rise gradually, peaking in 2014 at just shy of 79 years, before it flattened for several years and then dropped during the pandemic.

The CDC’s briefing tied the 2024 rebound to a “complete turnaround” from the COVID-19 era. It also pointed to continued improvements in the drug overdose epidemic, which is part of a broader shift in deaths from unintentional injuries, including overdoses.

In 2024, the CDC reported that about 3.07 million U.S. residents died—about 18,000 fewer than the previous year. The CDC said death rates declined across racial and ethnic groups and for both men and women, with heart disease remaining the top cause of death even as its death rate fell by about 3% for a second year in a row.

Dr. Sadiya Khan of Northwestern University, who treats and studies heart disease, said advances in medical treatments and weight management are among the factors likely at play in the declining heart disease death rate. The CDC said deaths from unintentional injuries fell the most in 2024, dropping more than 14%, and that COVID-19 dropped out of the top 10 causes of death.

With COVID-19 declining, the CDC said suicide moved into the top 10, even as suicides in 2024 declined, and it reported that homicides fell that year as well. The CDC did not finalize detailed death statistics for 2025, but it said preliminary data suggest around 3.05 million deaths had been recorded, and Anderson said he expects 2024 to end with at least a slight improvement.

Andrew Stokes, a researcher at Boston University, said the improvements reflect gains including the lasting progress in the drug overdose epidemic, but he cautioned that the U.S. still ranks below dozens of other countries. “There’s a lot more to be done,” Stokes said.