We have had statistics that track the health of Reno County and even the city of Hutchinson alone. Now a special study from The National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems has narrowed the life expectancy for residents to an area as small as an individual neighborhood.
It’s the first time ever that public health officials, community leaders, and others working to improve health in Kansas can access census tract-level data to measure and compare differences in life expectancy in each area of the county and the city of Hutchinson. The United States Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project is a joint effort of the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics Access. Estimates like these help public health experts quantify how people living just a few miles apart can have vastly different opportunities for a long life.
In Reno County, the longest life expectancy is in the western half of the county at 80.1 years. Residents in the central and east-central parts of the county have a life expectancy of 80 years. The shortest life expectancy in the county was in the Nickerson area at 76.4 years.
(Read more: Hutch Post)