(NEXSTAR) – As Ben Franklin once famously said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Eventually, we all die, but that may appear sooner than others for a variety of reasons, and where you live in the country may play a role in that as well.
A new study from MoneyGeek researched healthcare across the U.S., with one of its variables being the average life expectancy for every state in the country.
What they found was that the average life expectancy for a U.S. resident was 76.4 years old. And that Americans in general pass away sometime in their 70s on average.
The state where residents tend to live the longest is Hawaii, with an average life expectancy of 79.9.
While you’d imagine the beautiful weather and surroundings play a part, a larger reason may be that Hawaii ranks as the top state for health care in the country, says MoneyGeek. Hawaii also has the lowest mortality rate in the entire U.S.
Not far behind is Massachusetts at 79.6, which has the highest insurance coverage rate in the country, with 97.4% of residents insured.
You can check out the average life expectancy in your state in the map below.
On the other end of the spectrum are many states in the southeast of the U.S. At the very bottom is Mississippi, where the average life expectancy is 70.9, most likely because Mississippi has the highest mortality rate in the country.
Other states at the bottom include West Virginia (71), Alabama (72), Louisiana (72.2) and Kentucky (72.3).
To read the full study, you can check out MoneyGeek’s website.