Average age of death in WV counties

This is another in a series of looking at West Virginia and Appalachia statistically.

Where in West Virginia are you likeliest to live to a ripe old age? Try Grant County, where the average age at death in 2004 was 78 years.

The place where you die youngest? Clay County, at 67.2 years.

That’s not a totally accurate interpretation of data compiled by the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, but it’s in the same county.

If you want to look at counties in our area:
Cabell, 73.3
Wayne, 70.1
Lincoln, 67.8
Mason, 72.6
Putnam, 70.5

Here’s a what-but-not-why: Five counties typically associated with coal production all had an average age at death of less than 70:
Boone, 68.9
Logan, 69.6
Mingo, 68.3
Wyoming, 67.7
McDowell, 68.1